If you are like me, you want to do a lot of things, a lot of different things. Thinking; “this is also very interesting” is a very common phrase going around in your head.
You have many hobbies, and you start so many things but you don’t get around to finishing them. You like being busy and creative, to think and dream and you get inspiration from literally everywhere.
But if you’re also like me then there are moments or periods when you are up against boredom. Those periods that you feel stuck, you know that there is something more or that you need to do something that you’re passionate about, but you cannot find it. You’re unable to feel that excitement when doing something you love. You are searching, but instead of enjoying what you do, you get frustrated and even get this panicky feeling that you’re running out of time. This keeps on going for a long time and you feel that you’re wasting this time. The life that you have is not the one that you want. And I don’t mean your whole life, but those things that are important to who you are don’t go as you want them to.
Well, there were a couple of moments in my life when I was up against exactly this. The first one was after my burnout, the second one was after my divorce and the third one was after a long, stressful period of unfulfilled work. I mean the moments are terrible, but the fact that you cannot find what you love and really get peace out of that is frustrating. And a little bit of frustration is fine, but this kind of frustration is really demotivating and destructive in the way you think and how you perceive the world. It makes you pessimistic and your humor changes. Even if you get out of bed and think you can change your day, before you enter your bed again, you know that the day was wasted. Nothing of value happened and you know life just passed you by.
After the third time, it really hit me and I really knew that I needed to figure out a way to not experience this pain again. I wanted to take a chance, I wanted to feel excitement again and explore. I really wanted to connect to the things I’m passionate about and the values that are close and dear to me.
The great thing about those frustrating moments is that I learned so much. In hindsight though, not when I needed the experience the most. But now I restructured what I know and what I know about myself. And in this process, I really got to know the person I am. And it’s not a static person, it’s a person in a temporal frame, meaning that I changed in my lifetime.
Each period in my life meant something to me and meant something to how I behaved. The things I’m passionate about change, but the things I value basically stayed the same. That’s how I knew that this should be my basis from where to explore and find my energy.
If you know me you know that I do a lot of different things. From woodworking to origami. From drawing and painting on paper to doing it digitally. I am a writer, artist, music maker, music producer, guitar maker, woodworker, photographer, teacher, coach, maker, nerd, runner, beach volleyballer, father and so much more. And I love changing things when I feel I need something different. But just changing things doesn’t give me the peace I need. There needs to be structure. There needs to be a framework that guides me to where I want to go and to really give me that peace of mind when I focus on something. That feeling of fulfillment, of purpose.
It took me years to get there, but, at least for myself, I figured out how to structure this. And I love it. Now that I am a new father I love it even more, because I know I can apply this way of thinking, this mindset, to raising my son. It’s a mindset of prototyping parts of life and really getting to know yourself in the process and what you’re passionate about, and why. And this comes naturally to children. But, unfortunately, along the way, we unlearn it.
As I said, I am a two-year-old father, but with all the knowledge that I have of my life, I feel at home in my role. And I feel at home in the things I do and undertake. I really feel at home in the story that is still ongoing that is my life and the adventure that I’m still experiencing.
And the beauty of it all is that I meet so many people that are exactly like me, that experience exactly the same pains and frustrations that I did. People who feel they need to do something with their creative energy, but cannot figure out how to apply it efficiently and in a way that gives them calm and a sense of purpose.
And that feeling of fulfillment, when you help them with the Prototyping mindset and framework, and it really helps them figure things out, is just the best feeling ever.
(Photo: talking about the Prototyping Mindset, taken by Andere Fotografie, 2022)
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