We all express ourselves through design. It is a way to project ourselves onto our environment and much like an unconscious mirror, that environment then reflects us back to ourselves. This reflection serves as a narrator, telling a story about who we are at a point in time. As we look back, we can see our various stages of progression and growth, as well as those of struggle or indifference. This rings very true in my own life.
I am a person who has always enjoyed design. I have not always known how to channel it, but I have always loved transformation and the element of creation. I crave depth, texture and dimension. I love the search, the hunt for the missing piece and the feeling of finding an unexpected treasure. I love the collision of elements in a space, tying together contrasting ones in an unexpected and surprising way. I am similarly drawn to people. This desire to design my surroundings is evident in those I choose to surround myself with. Something within them contrasts what I possess, and this juxtaposition provides clarity and a new lens in which to view myself and the world around me. I look back on my life and see how certain people profoundly affected me and how this was translated into my environment. As I become more intentional and aware of myself, I am more fully able to provide depth, texture and dimension for someone else. This give-and-take creates a unique experience that can only come through synergistic reflection and self-awareness.
This time of the year is an excellent opportunity to take pause and evaluate how we are designing our lives. Are we surrounding ourselves with people that encourage us to create rather than conform? Are we expressing our true self through our environment, or have we begun staging our lives to project an image that is false? Have we allowed ourselves to become stagnant or one-dimensional? If so, we need to find people that challenge us, inspire us and pour our energy into them, because it is these people who will bring our souls and inspiration back to life. We need to focus less on things and more on becoming what we crave. As we intentionally create and cultivate these relationships to our surroundings and with each other, creativity and authenticity are able to grow and we are able to design our lives in any way we choose.
