I have seen this statement on bumper stickers for years, yet never really thought about what it might mean. I certainly never really gave much thought to how it ties into design, the web, or any of the other all-consuming things in my life.
Having essentially taken the summer off, (except for teaching a WHOLE LOT of summer camp! Check out my chronicles of some of those adventures at http://astrobiology.weebly.com and http://summerquest2011.weebly.com), I have had several weeks in which to ponder a great many things. One of which is remembering who I wanted to be.
Notice, I did not say WHAT I wanted to be, but WHO. How often do we forget, in the pursuit of the almighty dollar, who we wanted to be? Have we done design for companies we find distasteful or unethical? Have we sold our soul to the highest bidder? Have we pursued whichever road seemed to be the most lucrative – as opposed to the one that fed our soul?
This may all sound quite “touchy-feely” however, the research bears out the necessity of being happy with who we are and how that manifests itself in our world. Since we spend more awake time at our jobs, be they freelance, hourly or salaried, we need to feel good about the decisions we are making there just as we need to feel good about the other parts of our lives. Wherever our path leads us, there should be some joy and significance in it. Who did YOU want to be? And is that who you are?
