Changed my username to TorturedChicken since that's the name of my website and at this point all the other social media accounts I'm still using are under the same handle so it was kind of a matter of consistency. Also I'm like 30 now so maybe it's time to start telling people my real name like an adult?
Or at least fully commit to a catfishing identity.

Besides, I've been using dA for... damn near 14 years now?! The least I can do is throw them a few dollars every so often for a change in username.

Moving forward I am no longer taking commissions or freelancing. The only reason I'd been attempting to pursue creative interests professionally was due to external expectations- don't get me wrong, a lot of people are very successful in creative careers, but I've wound up in the unenviable position of having no work/life boundaries and hating my hobbies. It's been like, if I'm not getting paid I shouldn't be sewing and ultimately devaluing my skills to the point where for some months I wasn't really working at all. Which in turn led to social isolation from the shame of not wanting to explain the situation to people who may be disappointed.

Things are tentatively improving thanks to objectively less interesting work, but still, capitalism is hard and I feel guilty about cultivating hobbies for their own sake.