My Bohemian Lifestyle Journey: From Wall Street to Bohemian Artist

Transitioning to Artistic Life: My Bohemian Lifestyle Journey 

When I was a wide-eyed and naive pre-business major in college, my heart was set on Wall Street. I envisioned myself striding through sleek office buildings, briefcase in hand, a head full of financial strategies, and the click and clack of my designer stilettos like the rhythmic hum of a calculator tallying profits. This dream was everything I thought I was supposed to want: graduate from college, land a job on Wall Street, meet a good man, and get married a few years later.

But that dream was never truly mine. I was an artist in disguise, and it wasn’t until I moved to Asheville, North Carolina, at 22 that I found the bohemian lifestyle—or rather, that it found me.

Embracing Creative Living: How I Found A Bohemian Life 

In 2023, I stumbled into the bohemian lifestyle under dim stage lights as a music photographer in Asheville’s bustling music scene. In the raw moments between songs, I was dizzy from the clash of drums, the wail of guitars, and the floor rumbling as if an earthquake were happening. The front of the stage felt like the trenches—I maneuvered between dancers and drunk strangers, dodging flailing limbs and flying beer as my camera clicked as fast as my heartbeat skipped from all the commotion.

That chaos was my awakening. I didn’t have a 9-to-5 or a safety net, just a camera, a dream, and childlike curiosity. Each night I chased light and emotion, capturing moments that were as fleeting as the strangers I met outside during set breaks, laughing about nothing. The pay was nonexistent, the nights were long, and uncertainty was my constant companion—but I had never felt so alive. I had never felt more like myself. That freedom, wild and unsteady, was the start of my bohemian lifestyle journey.

The Reality of the Bohemian Life: Challenges and Rewards 

The bohemian lifestyle isn’t about rattan furniture, oversized hats, or perfect aesthetics—it’s a mindset. It’s choosing art over algorithm, purpose over performance. It’s choosing to live a life wholly your own instead of following what others expect of you.

My bohemian life is imperfect and raw, shaped by creative highs and financial lows. There are days when I feel a sadness so deep, you could draw water from it. Days when I feel hopeless, lazy, or behind in life—as if worth were measured by highlight reels and trophies. Sometimes I look at others and dream of what they have: financial stability, illustrious careers, name recognition, marriages that look perfect on Instagram, lives filled with Mediterranean sunsets—while I take the bus.

I don’t want to romanticize poverty or pretend that struggling is noble. The truth is, the bohemian life often means trading financial security for creative freedom—a world where “exposure” is still treated like currency. The creative life is hard work, as valid and demanding as any conventional profession, no matter what your grandparents might say. It’s honest work: shaping beauty from nothing, wrestling with fear and vision in equal measure.

It’s not easy to sit before a blank canvas and try to capture the image that only exists in your mind. To battle the voice that says you’re not good enough. Many artists are perfectionists by nature, and putting our work into the world feels like peeling back our skin—exposing emotion for everyone to judge, reject, or, worst of all, ignore.

There are days I doubt myself—when bills pile up and I wonder if I’ll ever “make it.” When inspiration dries up and my paints remain untouched for months. When depression creeps in, and even getting out of bed feels impossible. My life, in those moments, resembles my mailbox—overflowing, neglected, so full the mailman has probably stopped delivering.

But art is my lifeline. It keeps me tethered when I want to let go. The mornings I wake to sunlight pooling across my art table, paint-stained brushes waiting, remind me: this is what freedom feels like. I am lucky to create. Lucky that people have valued my work. It’s messy and unpredictable—but it’s real, and it’s mine.

On the hard days, I return to one simple truth: there is beauty in imperfection. As a lifelong perfectionist—the kind of girl who cried over a 95 on a social studies test in high school or won’t leave the house in wrinkled jeans—I’m learning to slow down and notice the grace hidden in the cracks of everyday life.

Inspired by the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, I’m learning that beauty doesn’t live in flawlessness—it lives in the worn edges, the chipped paint, the half-finished canvas. In the ordinary moments that remind me life is fleeting, but art, in all its imperfection, makes it meaningful. It’s often the artworks with imperfect technique or composition that doesn’t follow conventional rules that resonate the most with audiences. People like realness and perfection can be sterile.

At its core, the bohemian lifestyle is a mindset—a quiet commitment to yourself. Every day, I choose a path that is uniquely mine, one that nourishes my soul through creativity and invites me to slow down and savor life’s simple pleasures. I create art that mirrors my truest emotions, finding beauty in imperfect things—like well-worn jeans or the streaks of dried paint on my cherished art table.

The bohemian life isn’t a utopia. It doesn’t exist in a world untouched by hardship—war still rages, people still suffer, and life remains demanding in ways we can’t always control. But I believe we only get one life, and the bohemian lifestyle has taught me this: if I must live it, I’d rather do so as myself than die pretending to be someone else.

Yes, bills still need to be paid, work never truly ends, and depression visits me every winter. Yet I push forward, striving each day toward my vision of success as an artist. There’s a common misconception that all bohemians reject success or money—but that isn’t true. Some do, sure. But desiring success doesn’t mean you’ve sold out. I’m learning to not put success on a pedestal because it’s a fickle thing. Sometimes, it arrives swiftly, like hitting a home run and rounding every base. Other times, it’s fleeting—a dim light flickering at the end of a long, dark tunnel.

In the end, the bohemian lifestyle isn’t about escaping reality—it’s about engaging with it more deeply. It’s about meeting life as it is, with paint on your hands, hope in your heart, and the unshakable belief that creating is its own kind of survival.

The Bohemian Journey: Living with Intention 

The bohemian life has taught me to measure success differently—not by money or milestones, but by the depth of my days. The art I make, the meals I cook, the connections I nurture—these are the currencies that matter most.

If I’ve learned anything, it’s that the bohemian lifestyle is not an escape—it’s a return. A return to creativity, to authenticity, to soul, to the way life is meant to be lived.

How to Embrace the Bohemian Lifestyle

If you’re drawn to this way of living, here’s what I’ve learned along the way:

1. Live creatively, every day.
You don’t have to be a painter to be creative. Cook something new, rearrange your space, or start a journal. Creativity is a practice, not a performance.

2. Romanticize the ordinary.
The bohemian life is about slowing down and finding beauty in the simplest rituals—your morning coffee, the sound of rain, the texture of linen sheets.

3. Curate, don’t consume.
Surround yourself with things that have meaning—art you love, books that inspire, clothing that tells your story. Choose less, but choose well.

4. Nurture your inner world.
Solitude isn’t loneliness; it’s sacred space. Journal, meditate, or sit in silence. The more you know yourself, the more beautifully your life will reflect it.

5. Build community with soul.
Find people who speak your language—the fellow creatives, the dreamers, the ones who remind you that the world is still full of wonder.

A Life Made by Hand

My bohemian lifestyle isn’t always glamorous—but it’s real. It’s paint under my nails, thrift-store treasures, home-cooked meals, and evenings cooking to YouTube videos and 90s movies. Every day, I get to wake up and choose this life again. I’m surrounded by beauty and live in my dream home. It’s the biggest blessing in my life.

The bohemian life, at its heart, is a love story between you and your truest self—a reminder that life doesn’t have to look perfect to feel beautiful.

The bohemian life is unique to each of us, like fingerprints—no two bohemians are the same. It’s about finding what makes your soul sing, what passions jump you out of bed each morning, and not waiting to start living a life you love.