We recently connected with Eric Lee and have shared our conversation below.
Eric, thank you so much for making time for us today. We can’t wait to dive into your story and the lessons you’ve learned along the way, but maybe we can start with something foundational to your success. How have you gone about developing your ability to communicate effectively?
Man, learning to communicate well is a huge uphill climb. I feel like I trying to learn to be a good communicator.
It really helps if you’re married, because you are forced to become a good communicator of your feelings or motives on a daily basis. My wife may know me the best and can predict a lot of my reactions, but there is still a lot of unknown grey area that is not directly communicated and thus- can be be misunderstood.
Along the way, I also learned a valuable lesson on the importance of when is the best time to effectively get your point across. When I feel compelled to say something that is on my mind- I always try to stop and ask myself three questions:
Does this topic need to be said?
Am I the one who is best to talk about this topic?
Is this the best time for me to talk about this topic?
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?
My creativity comes from a weird and somewhat-disparate place. In my day career, I work in mental health as school psychologist. But on my off-hours, I am trying to create and draw- specifically in the comic book medium- since that’s what I grew up with.
I enjoy writing or collaborating on writing projects because it really gives me a voice to say about stuff in life. I take a lot of my personal and professional fears and insecurities and dump it into my writing projects.
Like, as a school psychologist, I try to come into the job with one axiom in mind: I believe anybody can change. However, that can open a can of worms that leads from one existential thought to another. What really affects real change? Why are some people seemingly unable to improve? Where does my responsibility to help truly end?
This neurotic thinking led me to write and illustrate my first web comic “The Breakup Artist”- a rom com about a girl who other girls hire to breakup with their boyfriends. It’s funny, compelling, but most importantly- personal.
When I write and draw, I want to take what’s important or fun for me and try to take it to the most logical conclusions.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I’d say the three biggest qualities to have is confidence, resilience, and consistency. You need to have confidence to put yourself out there and be the person to affect change. Whether that means affecting change in your work or community or affecting change within your own life- you need to have the courage to do it. Honestly, it is a struggle to always maintain the level of confidence you need to do that. It helps to have a support network who can push you. I don’t personally think I’m a super ambitious person, but my wife is. She continues to push me and support as I did my artistic pursuits,
Which then comes to having resilience when it gets hard. To me, resilience is being able to let a bad experience slide off and not internalize it, then bounce back and continue being you. You made a mistake? Learn from it. You get harsh feedback? Take the constructive criticism, but don’t think that means you’re a bad writer or artist. I try to make sure I have a clear and objective view of myself. I don’t want to fall into depressive spirals, so I to analyze my negative self-talk. Is it true? Probably not. If you can’t trust yourself and your internal monologues, you can ask a trusted friend or confidante.
Finally, I value consistency- especially when it comes to writing or art. You need to make sure you are always improving on your skills or writing on a semi-regular basis. Try to avoid taking long breaks when you’re being creative. You can’t think that you will be struck by creative brilliance during a random time. It comes from consistently working at your craft, particularly with writing. It is easy to start a cool idea. But then you are faced with the creeping sense of dread. How does this scene go? Where should the characters be? Will this all make sense in the end? Writing is a willful act of consistency. You need to produce pages- even if they’re crummy. You can come back to them later. It is okay to not have a good idea. Just get it on the page and you can edit it later.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
Easily my biggest obstacle is self-doubt. It constantly creeps in your brain, telling your that you’re not good enough or that you will never achieve your goals, so don’t bother trying. I know that I said earlier that my wife is supportive of me and boosts my self-confidence, but that is a back-and-forth. It’s not one really good pep talk and I am reinvigorated. It’s hours and days of my wife pushing me and me pushing back on all of her assumptions. Only after a while, do I think back at both of our talking points and then synthesize it into something productive.
I also find that the best way for me to overcome crippling self-doubt is to look back at my accomplishments. I never thought I’d be able to make anything artistically worthwhile, but then I look back and see how blessed I’ve been with my network of industry professionals and like-minded creatives and all that we’ve accomplished together. It’s easy to forget all that you’ve done, because it becomes so routine at times. I try to step out of myself and congratulate my works. What I’ve done is not easy. However, I will always need to regularly remind myself of that.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.meeleeart.com
- Instagram: @meeleeart
- Twitter: @meeleeart
Image Credits
All photos are by Sherry Lee
