For the last year and a half I have been working at an advertising agency, but not on the creative side. I was a media planner, meaning I would help decide what stations were ideal for the product our clients were selling, and help coordinate the execution of the media schedule.
That's all fine and dandy, but not very creative. As you probably gathered over the last few months, I was really starting to go crazy not being able to tap my creative energy.
So I quit.
Yep, call me crazy, but I knew I was just holding myself back every day I stayed working there. I was doing something I liked, and that I was good at, but I wasn't fulfilled. As the motto goes, "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should".
The last two weeks have been filled with playing catch up in my personal life and being a good friend & wife, but now I'm ready to hunker down and make my dreams a reality. It's time to create beautiful invitations and help people plan their events!
I have a million ideas in my head, but one major problem. I'm not a great designer. Yet. So everything takes me 10 times as long to look how I envision it. But I love the challenge. It has been so long since I've been challenged!
When I get frustrated, I keep coming back to this quote by Ira Glass:
“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”
Now is the time to create. I'm having to restart my engines, nearly from scratch, as it's been awhile since I've had a chance to get my hands dirty. But I love finding inspiration from everything around me. Books, walks with my dogs, other women entrepreneurs, Disney... I'm just letting it all soak in and percolate. But now is the time to let it out. Now that I have the time and the energy, it's time to create.
And never stop, ever again.
Keep creating friends.
Sincerely,
Happy Earth Day! Being from the Pacific Northwest, I think you are just born to love nature and respect the Earth.
To celebrate Easter and my belated birthday, our family went to the tulip fields in Woodland, Washington this past weekend. Tulips have always been one of my favorite flower, I can never get enough of them! This quote reminds me of how I feel every time I step outside and take a moment to enjoy my surroundings. Also, nature is a great instant boost for design inspiration!
If I have learned anything in my 25 years on this earth, it is that life needs balance. When you deny yourself in the areas that make you happy, you are left feeling unfulfilled and just plain unhappy. Lately I've been feeling like the creative side that I crave so much has been empty.