Meet Jane Martin

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jane Martin. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jane below.

Hi Jane, so happy to have you on the platform and I think our readers are in for a treat because you’ve got such an interesting story and so much insight and wisdom. So, let’s start with a topic that is relevant to everyone, regardless of industry etc. What do you do for self-care and how has it impacted you?

I’ve historically been bad at self-care. I’m a recovering people pleaser. I’ve also had three separate departures from teaching in the classroom. My mental and physical health were always the reason. In March of 2023, I was sitting in my classroom, barely able to walk up the two flights of stairs to get to my classroom.. I spent my entire day in that room to hold my boundaries of planning and teaching within the hours of school every day. Isolated from other adults, I thought I’d be able to find balance so that I could live a fulfilling life after school. It worked for a little bit. Then I got attached to the kids.
Fast forward to May. Telling your students that you are choosing yourself over them is the hardest thing to do. “I love you all so much, that I am forgetting to love me.” I left teaching. Again. Corporate life is very different, but I leave my work at work. My stress level drops, and my nervous systems starts to regulate for the first time in 15 years. I have energy, not just physical, but creative energy that doesn’t need to go into planning something that will keep 30 11th graders entertained, engaged, and on grade level. I started play with water colors and scraps of paper. I’d paint blobs and then doodle with black paint pens. I loved abstract shapes.
Painting calmed my brain in a way I’d never experienced before. I was diagnosed with ADHD in my early 30’s when I returned to school for my undergrad. Medication wasn’t something that worked for me without raising my blood pressure, so I’ve been unmedicated all my life. The immense peace that painting allowed my brain, I made the huge decision to put all my energy into teaching myself how to paint.
I found a tiny studio. I mean it was really small , around 7’x10”. Daily practice of warming to get my creativity flowing, and then diving into whatever work in progress looked good to me. I’d have 10 paintings going at once to just play and learn about what materials I liked together. The metacognition that followed has changed my life. Through the process of learning my patterns of how I engage with curiosity, I’ve been able to apply how my brain works to other aspects of my life.
My time painting allows my brain freedom to be itself instead of trying to be the perfect model that someone else tells me to be. I paint patterns and layers in short bursts so that my nervous system and muscles release residual anxiety, allowing my calmer brain enough to think with a level of clarity that I haven’t experienced before. I don’t quite know how to describe how that has changed my life over the past two years except this; 1. My physical health is the best I’ve ever had in my adult life and I see no sign of that continuing to improve. 2. I have a clarity of what I need in my life, versus what I want. 3. I’m able to set boundaries to protect my energy. 4. My confidence has skyrocketed in so many areas of my life, all of which came after my first art show. 5. My confidence, combined with a lot of therapy, has led to clarity of my personal goals and how to get to them.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

This is the big question. I left teaching because the education system is broken and doesn’t do what it promises for all children. I was just notified that I will be reduced from the job that allowed me personal and professional balance. I’m really standing at a pivotal moment of my life. My ADHD benefited my career trajectory with an extremely diverse skill set. My passion lies in organization, strategy, youth mentorship, and most importantly, social emotional intelligence/learning.

I’m figuring out what comes next, but I’m going through through the process with intention and at my own pace. My creativity brain is overlapping with my organizational muscles. Yes, I’m worried about my next paycheck, but I also know that my following my intuition and valuing my own natural process has slowly shifted my quality of life, and I know there is so much more.

Want to see more of Jane’s work? Take some time to slow down and watch Jane paint on Instagram. Follow her at @watchjanepaint. The relaunch of watchjanepaint.com is set for the end of January 2025. Use code BOLDJANE for a 10% off discount upon the relaunch.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

1. Even though you need to think about how you make others feel, you also need to think about yourself.
2. Stigmas are poisonous. Diversity of all forms are gifts.
3. Anxiety is a symptom, so deal with the root, not the triggered states.

Bonus #4: We all have generational trauma that impacts our behaviors. Recognizing and changing is within our grasp.

Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?

I’m a firm believer that well rounded is a good way to start your journey of any discovery. Dabbling a little in different areas allows you to see where your strengths, interests, and dislikes lie. Sometimes we do the things that we are told we would be good at, but that doesn’t lead to achieving our goals, and make us unhappy. Organic discovery of passion is next level motivating.

I tend to cycle through all skills to get base understanding and build them up my areas that align with current goals. If I need a skill that I haven’t specialized in yet, because I have a broad knowledge that I developed at the beginning of the process, The familiarity makes my learning comfortable by having a starting spot. Sometimes I might modify as I learn and make the process my own. When I find a technique that really speaks to me, I practice and strengthen these. When I feel confident in the skill, I apply it to any paintings in progress that may benefit from it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://watchjanepaint.com
• Instagram: @watchjanepaint

Image Credits

n/a