Women & Design // WID Insights
I've fallen in love with experimenting and learning on the journey. It's easy to say "fall in love with the process and not the destination", but I'm trying my best to stay conscious and focus on the journey!
"You don't learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over." Richard Branson once said. Since you were 1, you've been learning by doing, trying, failing, and eventually succeeding. What then changed between then and now, that made us as adults fear failing so much? Anything I've learned, out of school, that I've honestly remembered until now has been learned by experimenting and doing. And I've fallen in love with the process of experimentation! The thrill of seeking something new, the challenge that pushes your mind and body to accomplish something you've never done before - it's addicting.
In 2018, I started an Instagram page where I could showcase my art and creative outputs. From renders I did to try to achieve a realistic glass finish copic marker render, to sketching human anatomy (which for some reason still is the hardest most daunting thing ever) - my Instagram account has become my own personal corner on the vast worldwide web. A corner for me to experiment and allow myself to grow, to take a leap and possibly fail - but eventually make something out of it. It's fun to look back on the posts I've done, they remind me of the feelings I've had at that point in time, what I channeled to create a certain creative. Each post has magically captured not just a moment but an entire journey that makes them eternally personal to me. No matter what someone else may think of the creative, even if it's way below my current skill set, it's still special to me. It once was a milestone that made me burst with excitement, and that's what I see when I look back through my feed.
Whether it's sketching human anatomy, 3D renders, skateboarding, or something as simple as typing faster! If you keep doing it - you'll eventually build a habit and that's what will help you improve in the long term. So take the leap, even if it's something wild that no one has ever done before. Experiment! You never know what you'll stumble upon. Be it your calling as a creative, your style, or maybe you might figure out what you absolutely don't want to do. Nonetheless, it won't happen without you taking the first step - to do, and experiment.
So, to my future self - when you feel stuck, or don't feel like it's enough anymore, remember what got you going in the first place. It wasn't the number of likes, or views - rather the joy of accomplishing something on your own. The satisfaction of success after multiple failed attempts. You always needed something to challenge you, from renders to 3D, to visual challenges and code - look how far you've come. And never, never, judge your past work based on your skills today. Think about who you were then, and so what your accomplishments meant back then. You can't judge your 2-year-old self for walking so weirdly, compared to how you walk now, 20 years later! But most importantly, have fun! That's what exploration is all about.