The photo above was snapped after a nice little chat with my younger brother at ASU -- he left for his biology class, and I walked back to the car via Palm Walk. I couldn't help taking a photo of the palm trees lining the walkway and the few clouds in the blue sky.

October marks my one-year aniversary of living in Phoenix.

One thing I've heard consistently since I began creating art out here is that the desert has transformed my artwork and sensibilities. And I'm going to tell you why this is true.

When I headed out here, I didn't have a job. Or an apartment lined up. I had a few numbers of online friends who were here, as well as Twitter followers (a few of which helped find a dentist when my mother lost a temporary crown while we were driving down from Flagstaff). We packed what we needed into a little U-Haul trailer attached to the back of our car, put the dogs in the back seat, and headed out.

It's scary. And daring. Everyone I've told my story to has been impressed or amazed that I would do something like that. It takes guts, they say. Bravery.

I just knew I needed a change.

I was being rubbed out, erased, or becoming stagnant where I was. I needed a shift.

When I lived in Los Angeles, it was scary. I was across the country from everyone and everything I knew, with a few friends from college there and some old acquaintances from an anime convention I'd staffed a few years previous. I was petrified of the change. But I decided something while I was there, something that has stayed with me to this day:

You never know what is going to happen, so go with the change, do the move, the shift, and let it all work out.

When you've jumped in a car and left your world, experimenting with a painting is child's play.

What scary thing can you do today? What change are you resisting? Why? And what can you do to take that first step to a new you?