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Continuing the journey beyond finding your why. How are you different? What makes your brand, your art, your creations yours? What makes them uniquely a product of your doing?
Maybe your why informs the how. Maybe not so much. Again, there isn’t some magical “right” answer. And that is the rub, sometimes. I know I’d love to have a ready-made road map to a lot of things, branding included. But that just isn’t really possible. There can be a guide and a map but finding the roads and the direction, that is our job. Or at the very least something that comes from us.
Following someone else’s plan will only get you so far. At least, that is what I’ve found. You cannot even go half the distance if you do not have stakes in the plan. Either that or you will burn yourself out trying to achieve something not built for you. If you do not feel it in your gut, your bones, or wherever you feel such things, maybe it is time to reassess.
This is why I’ve found it important to not only search out your why but to also look inward to see how you are different. Or if that doesn’t sit well with you, since, let’s be real, nothing is truly entirely unique, search out what makes it yours. What are the things, details, concepts that make it yours.
I appreciate the second consideration because I don’t know that I feel completely comfortable saying that no one else has or does consider what I’ve come to see as a core part of my brand. Honestly I’m sure others have, and will.
I finally put a finger on what makes my brand mine while I was settling in to sleep the other night. It finally dawned on me that I appreciate a holistic approach to creativity. Creativity doesn’t happen in a vacuum and neither does life. Every part of us and our health, both mental and physical, are tied to our creativity.
You might say that that just gives me license to keep doing ALL the things without dialing into just one thing. And you might be right. But I would ask you, why do we have to do things exactly how we’ve always done them or how we are told to do them? This has been a question I’ve had a long time.
Especially when sticking to just one thing can get monotonous and boring.
For me embracing holistic creativity looks like taking time for everything that makes me human, everything that gives life, and sometimes, with grudging acceptance, the hard things. Which also gives so much more to creativity.
It is why mental health is such an important topic and why productivity isn’t necessarily a top priority.
The allowance for the messy, chaotic parts of life that don’t really fit into a neat, sanitized box gives freedom to be your whole, weird, true self. And that is something that I want to encourage in my writing and my art. My brand is full of organized chaos and holistic creativity that roots deeply in mental health, healing and finding joy in the present moment.
So, what makes you different, or what makes your art, creation, or brand truly yours?
I’d love to hear about your journey, comment below or message me!