Dear Designers + Creatives, You do important work. You make the world a better place with your creative mind. You take something and make it better. You know what the world needs before the world even knows it. Often you create things that never existed before. You give them life, you give them meaning.
“I don’t know what I think until I write it down.” • Joan Didion I love this quote. It’s true. Until you write it down, you don’t know what you think. I’ve been writing and journaling off-and-on all of my life.
I do this, do you? Right now, I find myself justifying my right to be unhappy. Whaaat? In one of his podcasts, the late, great Dr. Wayne Dyer said something like, (and I’m paraphrasing): “Don’t fight for your suffering.”
Do you know what you want? This is a big question I know, and requires serious consideration. But I ask this question because it is at the heart of making changes in your life. This was the question I had to answer for myself.
Are you feeling defensive? Do you feel defensive and angry all the time? Do you wish people behaved differently? Do you complain and blame others for ruining your day?
Be grateful, feel abundance Be grateful for the abundance in your life and for the the world you’re creating for yourself. Be thankful for art, design, knowledge, wisdom, kindness, people, places, animals, the things that inspire you. The world of what you value.
Dream big! Having big dreams is worth it. But here is something to be aware of: Pursuing big dreams will put you in a state of discomfort. Be prepared for your “primitive brain†to talk you out of it, to sabotage, to try to buffer, and throw everything else at you.
Know thyself Getting to know yourself is the most important goal in your life. You can live your best life when you know yourself better, and to know yourself, you need to observe yourself. What are you thinking? What are you feeling?