The Morning I Stopped Trying to Convince You That You Can Draw

Cindy contemplating life in the garden

After 33 years, I finally understood why you don’t believe me—and this is what I’m doing about it.

Yesterday morning, something shifted.

I was sitting in my garden here in Cairns, Queensland Australia in that beautiful, peaceful hour when the rest if the world is still waking up. The light was soft, the air was cool, and I was just… thinking.

Thinking about all the conversations I’ve had about drawing, over the past 34 years, since I first realised that learning to draw was possible, at 23 years of age.

All I wanted to do was tell the rest of the world. To shout it from the roof tops. “We can learn to draw afterall!” I made a decision to help as many others learn to draw that I possible could.

Yes, over all those years I have helped tens of thousands of women like you, learn to draw through my private coaching programs, learn to draw and self-help books, magazine articles, public speaking events and video courses. These are accomplished analytical women. Intelligent women. Women who spent decades as nursing directors, school principals, hospital administrators, corporate executives, mothers and grandmothers. See this small handful of amazing ‘before (left side) and after (right side)’ examples at this link Before and After

Women who facilitated everyone else’s growth, everyone else’s creativity, everyone else’s dreams.

But…. for so many other women the story has been different.

For all the women out there who haven’t said ‘yes Cindy, this is me, I want to learn to draw.’ For all those other women who said ‘no, sorry Cindy but I can’t. I want to so much, I don’t believe you, I don’t believe I can draw. I can’t.’

Also, for many women who have trusted me and stepped into coaching with me. Some of the many women I’ve helped learn to draw also doubted themselves at first.

Many women, at the start of almost every single conversation about drawing, have said the same words: “I’ve always wanted to learn to draw, but I don’t know if I can. I think I can’t. I’m just not creative.” Thank goodness many women trusted me to guide them and stepped forwards. They’ve said ‘”I don’t believe it now, but I trust you and so I’ll try.”

There are so many more of you out there who could also join us. All you have to do is start today. Pick up a pencil and draw.

For 33 years, I’ve been trying to convince women to try drawing, so that you can experience the same joy, happiness and wonder that we all do.

I’ve shown you before-and-after galleries. I’ve explained the methodology. I’ve shared transformation stories. I’ve demonstrated techniques. I’ve cited neuroscience. I’ve offered proof after proof after proof.

And yesterday morning, sitting in the quietness of my garden, it hit me like a lightning bolt:

I’ve been doing this all wrong.

To all those women out there, the women who really want to learn to draw, but haven’t said yes to drawing yet. This is for you.

You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

Here’s the truth I finally accepted:

You don’t know what you haven’t experienced yet.

How can I possibly expect you to believe that drawing will change your life when you’ve never experienced that moment? That profound sense of wonder when you look down at your paper and think, “I did this. I actually created this.”

How can I convince you that drawing accesses dormant creativity faster than anything else when you’ve never felt that sacred quiet that descends when pencil meets paper?

That incredibly beautiful feeling of escapism, surrender and retreat when all the worries of the world just disappear. Time just stands still and fear falls away when you enter into that flow state just like you did as a child. Peace. Absolute peace.

How can I explain the healing power of art when you’ve never experienced drawing taking you into another world—a world where “Who am I now that I’m not [your profession] anymore?” doesn’t matter because you’re simply present, creating, being?

I can’t explain it.

I can’t convince you.

I can only invite you. I can present this special, sacred opportunity to you. You have to receive it from me. So that’s what I’m doing from now on.

My Story: When Drawing Found Me

Let me tell you how I know where drawing comes from, how you can have it too, and how it changes everything.

I was 23 years old, so ill with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis that I had to learn to walk again. I lost my cognitive abilities and my entire life slipped through my fingers. I just barely existed. The simple act of moving from my bed to the bathroom left me exhausted for hours.

Then one day as I watched a little blue wren hop along my window sill, I said to myself “If he can do that, so can I.” After that moment I gathered all my strength and began to set myself goals to get further each day. It took several weeks because I always had to plan the return trip. The lounge room, then finally the garden.

I remember standing at my letterbox one day after weeks of effort—just standing there, propped by the letter box, thinking about how far I’d come just to get there. The goals I’d set. I cried my eyes out. Not because I’d just learned the power of goal-setting, but because I realised something profound.

If I could learn to walk again, I could learn to do anything I wanted. What was it that I really wanted to do more than anything in the world. The answer came in a huge wave of emotion. I wanted to learn to draw. I didn’t realise it was the one big thing missing in my life that caused me to feel less than. To feel incomplete. Not good enough.

You see, I’d believed for nine years that I “wasn’t talented enough to draw.” I’d put down my pencil and paint brushes at 14 and accepted that drawing wasn’t for me. I didn’t draw again.

But in that moment of vulnerability, standing at the letter box using all of my will-power to do whatever I could to recover from an illness that had stolen my body’s basic functions, I realized something:

Limiting beliefs are just that—beliefs. Not facts.

I decided to learn how to draw. Drawing became my therapy. My anchor. My portal to another world when this one felt too hard.

And here’s what I discovered: Drawing isn’t a mysterious gift. It’s not about talent or being born artistic. It’s actually available for almost everyone. Yes I do acknowledge and respect the limitations of some people’s physical and mental limitations. However, for most people drawing is a learnable, systematic skill built on four comparison abilities you already possess.

When you straighten pictures on walls—that’s comparing angles.
When you cut cake into equal pieces—that’s comparing sizes.
When you know what time of day it is by the tone of the sky—that’s comparing tones.
When you arrange furniture so a room doesn’t feel too crowded—that’s comparing spaces.

You already have everything you need to draw. You just don’t know it yet. You just need to be shown how to use these 4 natural abilities specifically for drawing.

The Facilitator Paradox

You see, here’s what I’ve noticed after working personally with hundreds of accomplished retired women:

You spent 30, 40, 50 years facilitating other people’s growth.

You created safe spaces for students to learn. You enabled patients to heal. You mentored young professionals. You solved complex problems. You led teams through challenges.

You watched other people discover their potential, achieve their goals, transform their lives.

But when did you give yourself permission to be the one discovering? The one transforming? The one creating something just for the pure joy of it?

You spent decades being the facilitator. Now it’s your turn to be the creator.

And here’s the cruel irony: Your analytical mind—the very thing that made you excellent at your profession—is the exact thing that makes you doubt your creativity.

You think systematically. You solve problems logically. You assess situations rationally.

So when traditional art teachers say things like “just look harder” or “feel the emotion of the subject,” your brain rejects it as unhelpful nonsense. Because it IS unhelpful nonsense.

But here’s what they never told you: Your analytical mind isn’t a barrier to creativity. It’s your greatest creative advantage.

What I’m Doing Differently Now

So here’s my declaration:

I’m done trying to convince you that you can draw.

Instead, I’m going to do two things:

1. I’m going to explain what drawing actually is—the facts, the methodology, the systematic approach that honors how your analytical mind actually learns.

2. I’m going to give you micro-doses of drawing you can experience right now—not someday when you’re “ready,” but today. This moment.

Because conviction doesn’t come from my words. It comes from your experience.

The Question Only You Can Answer

Right now, you’re at a crossroads.

You can continue believing “I can’t draw, so I’m not creative.”

Or you can get curious about whether that belief is actually true.

If you’ve got even a small whisper inside you saying “I wish it were possible for me…”—that’s not wishful thinking. That’s your creative self, the part you set aside decades ago, trying to get your attention.

She’s been waiting patiently.

She waited while you built your career. While you raised your family. While you took care of everyone else. While you proved yourself in a profession that demanded everything from you.

She’s still there. And she’s ready.

What Happens When You Pick Up That Pencil

I won’t promise it will be easy. Learning any new skill requires humility, patience, and practice.

But I will tell you what I know to be true:

When you prove to yourself that you CAN draw—when you complete your first realistic portrait and you look at it and think “I can’t believe I created this”—something fundamental shifts.

You stop asking “Who am I now that I’m no longer in this role [your profession]?”

You start discovering “Who have I always been beneath all those roles?”

You become the creative matriarch of your family. The grandmother who illustrates books for her grandchildren. The woman who creates beautiful portraits or just because she can. The artist who proves that your most powerful, creative years aren’t behind you.

They’re right now.

My Invitation

I’m not going to try to convince you anymore.

But I am going to show up differently from now on.

You’ll see me more often—not selling, not convincing, just explaining the facts about drawing and offering small doses you can try immediately.

Because I believe that once you experience it even once—that moment of “Wait, I actually just drew something”—you won’t need convincing anymore.

You’ll know.

And if you’re sitting there right now feeling that pull, that whisper, that tiny voice saying “What if she’s right?”—

Just pick up a pencil.

Any pencil. Any paper.

Practice drawing circles. You can learn how here: How To Draw A Circle Freehand

That’s it. That’s the first step.

You just drew. And your life can be different from this moment forward if you choose it.

I’m standing alongside you. Cheering you on.

Welcome to the other side. The creative side where you were always meant to be.

About My New Book

My new book Your Creative Identity Transformation™ is now available:

You can view inside the first few chapters here: DrawPj.com

Stay connected with me:

📧 cindy@drawpj.com
🌐 DrawPj.com | CindyWider.com
📘 facebook.com/CindyWiderArtist
📷 instagram.com/cindywider/
🎙️ youtube.com/@CindyWiderArtist

💬 LEAVE A COMMENT

Have you been experiencing a creative identity shift? What questions are you asking yourself? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.