Giving up control fixed everything.
Today I’m working out of Chicago on a multi-property photoshoot for Convene—my first paid travel gig in a few years. This weekend also marks the first time the mask mandate has been dropped in Chicago. (This blows my mind, and I’m processing it slowly.) A bit over a month from now will mark my four year anniversary in NYC. Thinking back to the kid who decided to move to the biggest city in the US without a plan, a stable job, or a savings account, ill-prepared for well over half my experience being under COVID restrictions, I want to go back in time and reassure myself that I wouldn’t have changed a thing.
When you look at it from the outside, my journey looks seamless, and the successes appear consistent. In all honesty, I spend a good portion of my time overwhelmed with worry about the future, even though I’m pretty sure I know what’s going on now. As I’ve moved to embracing uncertainty and doing my best in unpredictable circumstance, things have started to fall into place.
Work abroad.
I’m visiting the UK for the first time in April, (a trip that’s 20 years overdue, as I didn’t participate in a high school choir trip in 9th grade.) It just so happens that I’ll be shooting for Convene yet again in London; something I never dreamed of. It’s likely that I’ll observe a series of billboards I helped design in train stations, ferries, subways and busses around the same time—these pieces will be all over the globe for a new Hubspot campaign launching soon. Every time I take on a new gig, I embrace it fully whether the subject matter excites me or not, because every opportunity has led to better ones, and I’ve grown so much from each project I’ve touched, but more importantly, the people who you meet on every gig know people, and that’s actually how I’ve moved into 90% of the jobs I’ve taken in the last three years.
My dream to open a design firm is getting closer by the day, and truthfully I’m so excited that I’m on a path to an unknown destination. The uncertainty—when embraced fully—can be the most exciting part. I just have to keep breathing and accept that amazing things are coming no matter what comes next.