A friend of mine, Mark Shayler had started doing live Instagram casts helping people through Qigong – a rhythmic form of slow-moving meditation and focus. I had my three boys at home and my niece all trying to be home-schooled and not kill each other so I needed some sort of escape. I met Mark at a few Do Lectures events and he mentioned he was doing a similar thing of live talks for free. A whole day of inspirational chats, lectures and interviews which I had to watch. The “keynote” speaker was a designer I greatly admire for his bold, thought provoking work, James Victore.
James spoke about finding your weirdness and using it to drive your passion and your life’s work. To have a voice, take risks, play and e truly creative. He spoke about a new weekly online mentoring course of which he’d take creative people on a journey of self-discovery and turn into Creative Warriors. Here was a hero of mine willing to help me from across the pond to be a better creative. I was all in.
After the first session James had a few of us in tears. He was welling up. There we were, 20+ creative people; Artists, designers, gamers, dancers, poets, coaches. All amazing people on a journey from all over the world with stories to share about self-doubt as a designer and how it messes with your brain.
James spoke every week about his struggles and how In The Particular Lies The Universal a term used by James Joyce that explains that in my individual experience is something that other people relate to. My struggles were everyone else’s. We all just want to be loved and do work that matters to us and the world. James explained to us how he deals with those voices of self-doubt and fear and embraces them to push his ideas.
I was back freelancing – the clients I told I was moving on greeted me back like old friends and James had my back. My wife was commenting on how happy I seemed. I had started pushing ideas on clients and pushing design for myself. Scratching the itches I had and finding ways of putting this ‘voice’ into client work. My kids were even getting involved, painting more and playing in the recycling bin – just playing and creative cool things. My social network accounts were lighting up with designers I was friends with, college tutors and past colleagues expressing how they were inspired by what I was doing and it helped them push their own work – In The Particular Lies The Universal.
