Her Daughter Made Her Do It — And It Changed Everything
She's a great-grandmother to 3, a grandmother to 24 — and for the first time in her life, she's building something with her name on it. Her daughter made her do it.
Early this morning, I was sitting out in my garage studio here in Mill Valley, looking at a stack of old sketchbooks. The fog was still rolling low over the redwoods, and the studio was completely quiet.
I was flipping through pages of doodles I drew years ago — flowers, geometric shapes, messy ink lines. Back then, those drawings lived entirely in the margins of my life. They were a quiet escape, a hobby I loved but never took "seriously."
And then my mind flashed to a conversation I had recently with a student named Alice.
Alice is a mother of 7, a grandmother to 24, and a great-grandmother to 3. For decades, Alice's incredible creative eye was poured entirely into making life magical for her massive family. She sewed, she crafted, she made beautiful things — but she always tucked her own aspirations into a corner, labeling herself a "wanna-be artist."
When she first looked at enrolling in Doodles Coaching Week, she balked at taking time away from her extended family. That familiar, heavy wave of guilt set in. Is it selfish to invest my time in a passion project for me? Shouldn't I devote my time to family instead?
If you are standing at that exact crossroads today, wondering if it's "allowed" for you to invest in your own creative future, I want you to take a deep breath.
Choosing to invest time and resources in your own creativity isn't a betrayal of your family — it's one of the most powerful, generational gifts you can give them.
If you've been waiting for someone to tell you it's okay to finally say yes, I want to give you a simple framework to work through that guilt and come out the other side with complete clarity.
Here are the three permissions you need to give yourself today:
Permission #1: Permission to Claim Your Creative Calling
Can we talk honestly about something?
There's a voice that follows a lot of creative women around — and I've heard it from thousands of students over the years. It sounds something like this: "It's just a silly little hobby." Or: "I have Artist's ADD — I can never finish anything." Or simply: "I'm not a real artist."
I hear this so often. And every single time, it breaks my heart a little. Because I know exactly what's underneath it.
Here's what I need you to know: That pull you feel toward creating — the one that lights you up when you're doodling in a notebook, or flipping through a fabric shop, or sketching flowers on a notepad during a phone call — that isn't random. That isn't frivolous. That is a legitimate creative calling, and it deserves real time, real space, and real tools.
Alice W. put it beautifully when she first came to me:
"I've been a wanna-be artist forever and have never really made the time to pursue my artistic desires except through sewing, crocheting, making cards & invitations via picmonkey online, and making life fun and creative for my family. I knew I needed to get through the wall that stopped me from transforming my own drawings to vector graphics but I didn't know how to do that — until Doodles to Dollars."
That wall she's describing? It's not a skill gap. It's a permission gap. And she's not alone.
Vicki E. told me: "I have little confidence as an artist, except very specifically in textiles. I don't see myself as someone who can draw, for instance... Lots of lack of confidence there."
And Asha M. shared: "In the past I learned to paint repeats but got discouraged when they first introduced Illustrator because it was difficult to understand, so I quit design altogether."
Quit design altogether. Can you imagine? All that talent, all that longing — set down because one tool felt too hard, and no one told her she was allowed to try again.
Research confirms what I've seen in my own community over and over: creative engagement isn't a luxury for women in midlife — it's a vital component of cognitive health and emotional wellbeing. A study published in the Journal of Positive Psychology found that everyday creative activity is directly linked to higher levels of positive emotion, flourishing, and a sense of purpose in daily life.[1]
You weren't given this creative longing to ignore it. You were given it to use.
Meet Brandi D. Brandi is a 41-year-old math education specialist who lost her career during a restructuring. For years, she poured herself into everyone else — fixing a swimsuit strap for her 2-year-old niece, sewing valances for her sister-in-law — while her own creative spark sat on a shelf, waiting. She'd started courses before and never finished them. She wasn't sure she had the follow-through.
Then she heard me talk about my own corporate reinvention story — how I was laid off in my late 50s and built something entirely new from scratch. She felt what she described as a literal tug on her heart. A God-wink.
She enrolled in Doodles Coaching Week. And for the first time, she didn't sit on the sidelines. She showed up. She participated. The spark came back.
That spark was always hers. It was just waiting for her to claim it.
Yours is too.
Permission #2: Permission to See Your Creativity as a Legacy, Not a Luxury
Now let's talk about the thing most of us are really wrestling with.
It's not just time. It's the feeling that spending anything — money, energy, focus — on yourself is somehow taking it away from the people you love.
Oh, sweet friend. I understand that feeling more than you know.
But here's what I've learned after years of walking alongside women just like you: that guilt isn't the truth about who you are. It's just an old story that was never really yours to carry.
Listen to how Alis P. described the moment she finally gave herself permission:
"This time, I decided to dedicate my time to ME, and found that I really enjoy your teaching style. I ultimately decided to jump in because after spending 20+ years taking care of everyone else, I want to invest in my dreams."
Twenty years. And she is not unusual. Adelina told me something similar that stopped me in my tracks:
"This time I want to do this for me and also to surprise my kids... I need to find another means of income and I'm hoping this will help me instead of working my life away at another job especially because I felt so trapped day in and day out looking out the window from my office and just praying to enjoy time outside."
And Susan P., who is 56, said it as plainly as I've ever heard it said:
"I am 56 and sick of struggling with income. I love quilting for customers. However, there is only 24 hours in each day. My capacity is at its limit... So I'm looking to change my world. I think your journey and experience is the perfect fit."
These women aren't being selfish. They're being brave. For the first time, maybe in decades, they're choosing to be a full person — not just a role.
Think about what you're actually doing when you say yes to your creativity. You're not draining the family pool. You're introducing a brand-new legacy into your family — a living, breathing example of what it looks like to grow, to learn, to build something with your name on it, at every stage of life.
A landmark study by the Harvard Business Review found that one of the most powerful things a mother can model for her children isn't sacrifice — it's ambition. Daughters of women who pursued their own goals were significantly more likely to hold leadership positions and earn higher incomes. Sons were more likely to contribute equally at home.[2] The ripple effect of a woman who invests in herself is not contained to her own life. It moves through generations.
Doodles Coaching Week is just $37. That's under $5 a day for a full eight days of live coaching. Think about what you spend $5 on without a second thought. This is different. This is seed capital for your creative sanctuary. It's the first brick in something that belongs entirely to you.
Permission #3: Permission to Let Your Family Watch You Flourish
Here's what nobody tells you about this season of life.
Your children — adult or otherwise — are watching you. Your grandchildren are watching you. And what they're hoping to see isn't a woman who quietly, gracefully steps back. They want to see you lit up.
They want to see you learn something hard. They want to hear you say, "I figured it out." They want to watch you build something with your name on it — a pattern on a tea towel, a design on a tote bag, a collection of work that is unmistakably, beautifully yours.
Alice W. said it best:
"Even though I initially balked, I'm glad I made the investment to take the course... You can thank my oldest daughter for encouraging me to invest in myself!"
Alice's daughter didn't want her mother to sit on the sidelines. She wanted to watch her mom build something. And Alice — mother of 7, grandmother to 24, great-grandmother to 3 — is now doing exactly that.
Allison T. shared something that moved me deeply:
"My whole life has been focused on providing a great life for her [my special needs adult daughter] but it's time now to make room for me, too. Plus, she's my biggest fan, loves art and has been cheering me on as I realize more of my creative projects."
Her daughter — the one she has given everything for — is her biggest fan. That's the real story here.
And Michelle P. told me something that I think about all the time:
"My love of design comes from sewing and drawing classes in school. I never thought I was good enough for the graphic design industry and always felt like other people were better than me... Much to my surprise, my 28-year-old daughter took home two charcoal watercolor drawings and framed them for her bathroom. My 24-year-old daughter took three flower watercolor paintings home for her living room... They told me I could sell my work and encouraged me to produce more designs."
Her daughters are hanging her art on their walls. They framed it. They're proud of her.
When you flourish, you give everyone around you permission to flourish too. That's the real legacy. Not what you leave behind. What you demonstrate while you're still here.
Research from Stanford's Center on Longevity shows that adults who engage in purposeful learning activities in their later decades report significantly higher life satisfaction — and that sense of purpose has measurable positive effects on the people closest to them.[3]
You're not too old. You're not too behind. You're not too anything.
You're at the beginning of something. And the women in your life — the daughters, the granddaughters, the sisters and friends who are watching — they are quietly, desperately hoping you'll say yes.
Let them watch you go first.
Your Next Step
If you've been waiting for your permission slip, I hope this is it.
Doodles Coaching Week is a live, 8-day coaching experience where I walk you — step by step, slowly and with so much encouragement — through creating your very first seamless repeating pattern in Adobe Illustrator. No prior experience needed. No technical background required. Just a pen, a few simple shapes, and five days to prove to yourself that you can do this.
This isn't a course you buy and forget. This is a live week. I'll be there every day. Your community will be there every day. I know how easy it is to let a recording sit on a digital shelf — and I refuse to let that happen to you. The live energy, the real-time accountability, the momentum of doing it together? That's what makes it work.
Enrollment for Doodles Coaching Week is just $37 — and honestly, for a full eight days of live coaching, community, and your very first creative breakthrough, it's incredibly good value.
Click here to claim your spot.
Because your creativity isn't a hobby to be tucked into a corner. It's a calling. And it's been waiting long enough.
Xo,
Anne
It’s Never Too Late to Create®
Footnotes
Tamlin S. Conner, Colin G. DeYoung, and Paul J. Silvia,"Everyday Creative Activity as a Path to Flourishing", Journal of Positive Psychology 13, no. 2 (2018): 181–189.
Kathleen L. McGinn, Mayra Ruiz Castro, and Elizabeth Long Lingo,"Mums the Word! Cross-National Effects of Maternal Employment on Gender Inequalities at Work and at Home", Harvard Business School Working Paper, 2019.
Laura L. Carstensen,"The Influence of a Sense of Time on Human Development", Science 312, no. 5782 (2006): 1913–1915. Stanford Center on Longevity.
More Resources for You!
Check out my new Video Podcast on YouTube!
From Doodles to Dollars® Coaching Week is back! Claim your space HERE. Starts June 22.
Click HERE for details.
The Creative Business Spark Podcast.
Subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Check out the latest episodes HERE.
MEET ANNE
Hi…I’m Anne!
My creative inspiration comes from a lifetime of observation. I grew up in Paris on the Place St. Sulpice and walked to school through the Luxembourg gardens. And that was only the beginning… Learn more by watching the video on my About page.
