Hey B! Do you still do art and stuff?

I get asked this questions everytime I run into someone from my past. And my response after a short pause is, sure man, I still do art. I used to get mad at this questions because I never saw myself as an artist and most times I still don’t. But it took me a while to realize that back in the day, I did art enough for most of the people I grew up with to identify me as an artist.

Over the years, I became many things, a gymnast, a diver, a simmer, a capoeirista, a father. So it’s safe to say that whatever I’m doing right now is based on the things I’m interested in right now. Even my life as a creative has always been associated with me being a graphic designer and never separate. In fact, most of my career I’ve only identified myself as a designer and I’m only creative because I’m a designer.

No matter how many times I’ve changed, no matter how many times I discovered that I was becoming something more, the story I told myself was to the contrary. All I am is a designer. Let me tell you how debilitating this has been for me up until now. I have turned down so many opportunities because of my stubbornness of letting go of how I saw myself.

If you really want to see growth in your life, if you really want to see what you are made of, let go of the labels you have allowed yourself and others to identify you as, let go and watch as you become the person you already are right now.