You've been put here for a reason - light it up! And then some more
When you think you’ve reached the peak of personal growth you suddenly realise that you’re still only on the base of the mountain. If you’d have asked me what I thought of my life 7 years ago I would have told you I felt like I’d made it. I had graduated 2 years ago with a Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Communication, I’d landed a job I’d never ever dreamt of having. I literally applied for it on a whim because I was ready to move on to absolutely anywhere better. I felt I was in complete synchronicity with The Universe. I had no ties, I was able to travel abroad exactly where I wanted to go, whenever suited me. I could meet up with friends, dress up for exciting evenings out. Everything was beyond rosy and bright.
That’s not to say that I didn’t have little struggles here and there but they were irrespective of the rest of my life. My Mum and Nan always used to say a person changes every 7 years, and I have found this to be completely true. In my experience, every 7 years life makes me level up. I was 23 back then and I was definitely under the impression that life couldn’t have got any better than it had. I had reached my peak, or at least I had thought..
I had settled
Even when I reached the age of 25 I was resistant to everything else life had in store for me. All the fun that was ahead of me on my new life’s path, but my mind was focused elsewhere. I was working on improving myself and my skills as a designer, I loved all of those self-development articles, pushing myself further down the path I was on but I was completely ignoring the little voice inside telling me I needed to recharge and have fun. I didn’t want to ‘waste’ any time that I could use to be productive.
Don’t ignore what you really want from life
I have always had a massive creative streak in me, I fell in love with drawing at a young age and had a whole sketchbook full of illustrations. Every now and then I’d tried to do a bit of freehand sketching at work to help with the projects I was working on, but in all of the jobs I’d had to that point, nobody really understood ‘creativity’ so it was either openly or inwardly frowned upon.
Writing this now I can see everything so clearly..I’d actually forced myself onto the wrong path with the smile of success.
Yes it’s easy to learn new things if you try hard enough, if you work hard to become the person you think you should become, you will probably become them. But just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. It also doesn’t mean you’ll be happy and not thoroughly worn out when you’ve reached that point either!
I’d tried to force myself to stay on a path I was no longer supposed to be on because in my head I had decided that was where I was to stay. I had so much more to give elsewhere but I put all of my extra energy into the gym instead. It’s crazy when I meet and get to know others because sometimes I can see they have a journey ahead of them like I had too.
Life had to shake me to make me realise dreams were to be followed
Most people I have spoken to, myself included, find putting themselves first or any little dream projects they’d love to start tough, until they make that solid first step to create a routine and make themselves a priority.
So much in my life has changed over the years for the better. Since breaking off the shackles and allowing myself to concentrate on myself, follow my dreams, become more creative and particularly more illustrative, I feel as though I am on a brand new path. An adventure full of twists and turns, that could become the most magical journey of my life, definitely NOT the peak of my life's mountain. But boy does it feel so good to give in to what I really want and follow my dreams.
I’d recommend it!