Identity Crisis.

Identity Crisis.

 

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.

Can It Fart?!

Can It Fart?!

 

“Can it fart?!” was the response to a question asked by my 11-year-old daughter in response to a segment about Alexa by Amazon on NPR from a few months ago.“Can it fart?” When those words rolled out of her mouth, at first it seemed out of left field!

As I searched to find an appropriate answer to “if a gadget can fart or not”, I realized that the answer wasn’t the point. And a simple I don’t know could have settled the whole thing. She was getting to the point of it all. What’s it for? And why do I need to know about it? That’s my take away from our short conversation that day.

She was simply getting to the point. Those types of questions may seem outta left field when trying to find creative solutions for bigger problems, but perhaps this type of thinking may be what’s needed when we find ourselves stuck.

Are We All Creative?

Are We All Creative?

 

Are we all creative? Deep down inside everyone, is there a problem-solver waiting for permission to come out and contribute? Why are there still so few of us who step forward and accept the responsibility and the risk of being called “creative”? We all have the capability to be magical. To be visionary. And the only thing that separates us from the non-creatives is the tenacity to keep creating, no matter what.