As Life is Indeed a Daily Process

I found this piece of Suminagashi paper I made last year. Suminigashi is a print technique where ink is dropped onto treated water, which makes the ink float and create ripples. Those ripples move and flow as the water moves and as more ink is dropped. Once the pattern is created, a piece of rice paper is placed on top of the water to pick up the ink pattern. It is a patience building process, yet very much worth the effort. I thought this paper would be a great background for these words:

You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you, 
when you realize how seldom they do. 
-David Foster Wallace 2008

We gain personal freedom and growth when we choose to do what we want to do, no matter what other people think. I was speaking to someone who had a great idea, but they were not sure how it would be accepted on social media, or even what other people would think. So they let it die on the vine without even trying. It’s still a great idea, just waiting out there…waiting for the courage to move beyond what other people think.

These words from David Foster Wallace reminded me that what I THINK people are thinking about me has more of an impact than what they probably are really thinking of me…because they probably aren’t thinking of me. So I am doing the hindering by worrying about something that really isn’t happening. And if it does happen that people think about me, why am I giving them so much control over my life?

It is as if the teenager in me is still there, still insecure, and hoping that the cool kids will like me. And then it hit me, I have become one of the cool kids! I love my life and have created the world I want, who cares what other people think! When I scan the internet, I have to remind myself of this..often!!! There is so much out the there to compare ourselves to, it can be hard to resist having teenager brain. This means I have to remind myself what I value, in who’s opinion I trust, AND who I want to be everyday such that I can be proud of me! The ‘people’ on the internet will come and go…my goal is to be my best self everyday.

Let me encourage you to stand up to that pimpled faced teenager in your brain! Remind them that the other people who are ‘thinking of you’ are probably not thinking of you. THEY are worried about what you think of them. Be yourself, be proud of who you are becoming – as life is indeed a daily process – no matter who you are or what you do. It ebbs and flows, moves and wobbles just like the ink on water that produces suminagashi paper. And like suminagashi, each piece is different, each piece can never be recreated, and each piece is totally unique! YOU be proud of YOU! Once you realize that, that is when the game changes and your inner teenager loses the pimples and becomes a well adjusted adult.