It is so simple to get lost in someone else’s dreams or in your own ambitions even. Listening to yourself and understanding what it is you desire to have in your life to feel complete is the most important thing. Ever. Today I want to talk about the importance of being yourself.

It doesn’t matter where you are, how old you are, and what are you doing if you doing it for yourself.

And it is absolutely alright to want to be an artist, to find your audience and be at peace with yourself. You may want to have a quiet life, to be a loner on a forgotten island. It is fine. Just find it and then go for it. Trust me it worth it.

I always wanted to draw

I am a visual person. Understanding myself over years I learned that I have a visual memory. The way I think and create visuals for easy interpretation helped me to do crazy things like memorizing entire pages of information, enabled me to work in a more productive manner.

Get to know yourself! Study yourself and analyze how you react, how you feel and what works for you better. You’re taking yourself on a journey as a kid when they ask you in school:

Who do you want to be when you grow up?

And you define yourself. You don’t see the limitations and you don’t see any obstacles at all. You see your ideal self and you fantasize about how great it’s going to be when you will finally be able to live that life.

Do you remember your answer? Do you still want to be it? You know what, then you really should!

I am not deluded and I know what you’re going to say. Your situation might be very difficult and you might consider giving up on your dream. Your bills and your responsibilities are still there and they won’t wait for you while you’re “chasing your dreams”. Well, guess what? They will.

Don’t give yourself up just yet, and picture how great can being yourself be. Do you really want to spend time being miserable because you self-surrendered the only thing that really mattered to you? Didn’t think so.

I might be wrong but I am going to try my best to prove you that you can do amazing things when you are being yourself regardless of what it is you want to do.

I am the same, I had to do things in order to keep going, and I was actually doing okay. After 6 years in Computer Science, many pursued degrees, and the Graduate Talent Program of the world’s second-largest mobile phone company I think I can tell: “That’s enough”.

Being Yourself

I tried to fit in, mastering approaches on doing so and wanting to help those who decided to go there consciously.  But I am not going to build illusions around my Ideal Self anymore. I feel blessed because I have got the opportunity to get out. After preparing myself slowly-slowly, I finally got the chance to take that leap of faith.

I worked one entire day as a designer and got the perfect chance just because they needed someone who speaks Italian and Russian, and who knows Adobe Environment on Mac and lives in Milan. It is a 100% match.

To be even considered for a position like that you have to have a bachelor of Arts and a portfolio. I have none of it. But I got it.

And after the entire day of doing something I truly enjoy, a little girl somewhere deep inside of me raised her hands over her head like an Olympia and said: Yay!

Someone told me that I am young, so it was normal for me to do the shift, to switch from one thing to another easily. Part of me wanted to say “it was not that easy!” but the other part, more rational and powerful answered:

– You know, it was. Now it’s your turn! Let me help you.

Love,

~NJ