My journal shares the messy, sometimes personal and non-linear stories of growing a creative career. At their essence they share the mindsets that keep me constantly reinventing and stretching myself professionally and creatively. May you find these musings helpful on your journey of creating meaningful ventures and creative careers.
If this is your first visit, let’s start here.
Sometimes you just have to sit with an idea, hum-and-ha it over for a bit, even if it seems you may never come to a solution.
A lot of what I learned over the years as I navigate a creative career is the skill of adaptability. Staying flexible, open and less rigid for me has literally allowed me to learn a ton, expand my career beyond anything I could have possibly dreamt up when I started.
Ok so I don’t know if I’ve mastered this skill but I certainly have gotten more comfortable doing it over the years.
Have you ever tried to make something work for so long all the while yearning for for something else?
I was on the fence about the title of the post. While it does sound like click-bait, I assure you it isn’t and I promise to share the advice, what I did with it and how things have been going since then.
When creating a new path for yourself leads you to very clear and helpful information that your approach is wrong, then it’s always best to pivot. Here’s my story…
This started after a morning of deep contemplation in the gym sauna (where I spend most mornings after school drop off). I thought seriously about which moments in my day light me up the most. What experiences bring me the most joy and excitement?
Surely we cannot rewrite much of the past. Maybe we can reframe the way we always thought about the past when we review a memory in our head or share the memory verbally with someone in conversation, but what stories do we have now about ourselves can we start rewriting today?
I really believe in the power of personal projects. In my own experience, the personal projects I have launched have taught me so much about my own capabilities. They’ve opened doors and opportunities beyond my own imagination.
Although the year had its fair share of challenges, I equally had so many beautiful experiences of pure stoke. What is stoke exactly?
It was this time last year that I was swimming through the depths of remote work loneliness and was actively in pursuit of a way out. Zoom meetings with the camera on were not helpful. Interactions at coworking spaces were minimal at best. I needed community but that felt a bit impossible as I live in a rural neighborhood and it seemed like more things were available in larger cities.
As I sit down to write, I realize it’s nearly 11 pm. This is usually not the hour I feel the most reflective nor inspired to share a story, however, this night I felt compelled to do so. Those of you who are at the mercy of creative energy know exactly what I am talking about.
