Monday, September 17, 2012

let this be the week | 02


 photo by kitoki on Etsy / buy it here! / type by me

Life on the road has been busy to say the least, but I'm having the absolute time of my life. I couldn't have asked for a better road trip crew. I may be the only girl, but I don't mind because Jason, Sean and Nick have kept me in stitches in the entire trip, which makes the long days of travel definitely go by much faster.

Eating my way up the East Coast, meeting new people with their unique stories, experiencing cities I've never been to - I honestly can't believe this is my job.

I've been doing a lot more writing than I anticipated, but not necessarily for posts that live here. I've been doing daily recaps on our company blog, and while I know I'll look back and appreciate that we have each and every detail written down after it's all said and done, right now it's a bit exhausting recounting our experiences every day. Granted, I mostly find myself writing while we're stuffed into an SUV which isn't the most conducive of writing environments. (I also feel like I'm getting less funny as we go on, which I am NOT okay with.)

Last night we finally had a night to rest and so I did what I normally do when I have some personal time - brainstorm new posts, catch up on my favorite blogs, look for inspiration, etc. As I was hopping and bopping between blogs, I found some new design studios and creative blogs that I really liked, which of course had me excited (who doesn't love a shiny new blog to obsess over, right?)

The only problem is that lately when I find a new site that I absolutely love, I'm having a lot of trouble just appreciating it. Instead, all I can think about is how it's not mine. And suddenly everything I love about my own blog isn't good enough. The design's all wrong. My consistency is off. My photography, amateur. It can literally drive me nuts. Especially coming from a background in advertising, I can't help but want this clearly defined 'brand' evident in everything I do.

But here's the thing. I don't have that all figured out yet, nor do I want to. This blog of mine has come a heck of a long way in just a short year and a half, and my design skills/aesthetic certainly have evolved too. I want to see what things will look like in another year and half and keep this constant growth going. I'm not going to have some professional looking creative brand overnight. It just doesn't happen.

As creatives, I think it's natural for us to sometimes doubt ourselves. We constantly want to be better so we keep revising, restyling, reworking. I have to remind myself daily of that age old saying, "Comparison is the thief of joy." Boy, that's the truth, ain't it? When we start focusing so intently on the success of others, we start to lose sight of our own successes.

So this week I've decided I want to work on letting go. Letting go of what I think this blog should be, and instead focus on what it is - something that I am very proud of and something that brings me happiness.

And I encourage you to do the same.

Let this be the week you let go.

Let go of perfection.

Let go of comparison.

Let go of the expectations you may have for yourself that are somehow making you feel inadequate.

Whatever is weighing you down, keeping you from feeling proud of your accomplishments or confident about what you have yet to accomplish, just let go.

Happy thoughts to you all this week! If you want more clumsiness, more craftiness, and most important, more happiness, you can now find me on Facebook!

As always, thank you for reading!



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