Take Care of Yourself….
Your design career is a big topic and the most important ingredient is you. Therefore, let's take a moment to talk about you. What do you need? How do you take care of yourself?
A few years ago I would’ve answered the questions above with a quip like “I’m good”, but the reality was that I was deflecting and avoiding having to truly ask myself difficult questions about what I needed — let alone if I was doing anything to take care of myself.
I used to think that as long as I had a little money in my bank account and my family was taken care of, things were good. These last few years, accented by COVID quarantine, have taught me that this is simply not true. As a matter of fact, the opposite is true.
If I don’t do anything to take of myself then I will risk not being able to take care of anyone else.
You might find yourself getting frustrated more often or just feeling exhausted, stressed out, and overwhelmed. These are indicators that you need to ask yourself what you need and start creating time to focus on taking care of yourself. This is easier to say than actually do. How are you supposed to “create” time when there so many things that need your attention? However, that’s the starting point…start by focusing your attention on yourself just for a moment. This starting point can take on many forms. It might be thinking time during your morning commute, or a 5min morning meditation, or maybe just a good conversation with a trusted friend.
Once you take action on creating focused time, then it becomes a larger opportunity to ask yourself the harder questions about what you need to take care of yourself. This may start as just a little quiet time, but if you continue to engage in focused personal time then you will start to think through and examine the things that make you happy or energize you.
Sometimes simply acknowledging the things that make you happy is enough to maintain, but most people may need dedicated time to engage in an activity to “clear their head.” We can then convert our focused time into the dedicated time for these “head-clearing” activities. The most important part is to continue and maintain the routine. Evolve it to your preference and needs.
Taking care of yourself is important, but it’s more important to get started.
