PS. I like you is a newsletter for creative humans with self-doubt. Subscribe and read along to get answers to all the questions you didn’t know you had about self-doubt and making a creative life 🌿
I wrote this newsletter December 2021.
And today, I’m re-sharing (with a few small edits). Just because.
The message is relevant as ever. And I know I felt comforted for having read it. Perhaps it will be comforting to you too.
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Recently an old client of mine told me they felt ashamed for not having made more progress in their creative practice.
Turns out they’d been through some pretty challenging circumstances, and unsurprisingly hadn’t had much time or inclination for creativity.
In short, life happened.
And I mean that with utter sincerity.
Even though we *know* it’s not the case, it’s tempting to see work and careers as a linear thing. A graph against which progression can be neatly plotted upwards.
Of course, in reality your work, your business, your art making, is intertwined. With your life.
The rhythms of life have a habit of interfering with work's planned trajectories. Which is to say, if your work didn’t pan out as you’d hoped this year, that’s okay.
Truly.
Because I’m willing to bet that something just as, if not more, important was happening for you.
Maybe you had to deal with a difficult family situation. Maybe you had to deal with health challenges. Maybe your personal relationships took precedent. Or maybe it was everything.
Yesterday I had the pleasure of catching up with this person — who’d previously shied away from reaching out because they were ashamed of the progress they hadn’t made.
For all the talk of not prospering in their art or business, I could see an immense progression in themselves.
I saw someone standing in the middle of an incredibly brave decision. And while I don’t know what will happen from here on, I do know that their choice is going to have ripple effects for the rest of their life.
This isn’t to say it isn’t messy. Their situation is far from ‘fixed' or resolved.
But they are choosing to grow. In the landscape they find themselves in.
That growth is never going to be plotted on a chart.
Even if you feel like you accomplished nothing this year, I promise, you have.
Even if it feels like all you’ve done is existed.
Even if it feels like you’re just beginning.
You are growing.
You’ve been growing at the pace, in the way, you needed.
Next year, who knows what this will look like? But for now, know that your growth means something.
Trust this is enough — and you are enough in this moment.
Because it’s always this moment. And you were always enough.
Love,
Kathryn
PS. I like you.
If you’d like to work together this year, I’d be super honoured to see if we’re a good fit. You can find out more about the coaching I offer, or schedule a call to learn how coaching can support you in making your dreams happen 🌿