🌱 FIELD GUIDE 43: Growth is a wise teacher

Jeff and I have been coming together with other creators from all over. We’re doing our best to bring them to you as well. Wing is finding success with intentionality while prioritizing herself.

Just one look at Wing’s photography and you feel her warmth and light. Her jewelry radiates happiness and her weekly publication is a mashup of all things wonderful for the week complete with audience engagement, links, music and so much more.

This FIELD GUIDE, Wing is telling us about her intentional growth and how that requires intentional rest. We hope you’ll take this weekend to remember to take the time you need for the rest that is required for growth.

-Skyler

Name

Wing

Occupation

Jewelry crafter, digital content creator, photographer, writer, and editor

Soundtrack

(Spotify)

Growth is a universal part of all our stories. We grow from children to adults, from the unknown to the experienced. In my story, growth is not only a process, but a skill, and a wise teacher. Growth is teaching me that seeing the tangible results of growth is important, yet it is far more crucial to learn how to grow. For me, it's about respecting the process of growth, and giving growth the time and space it needs to bloom. The process has led me across a vast net of experiences - among others, I've picked up the roles of jewelry crafter, publication writer and editor, photographer and digital creator. 

Recently acquired, my new strawberry plant!

To run with the plant metaphor - I really have been learning a lot about growth from tending to the plantlings in my little sunny balcony garden. I consistently water and nurture each one, and leave them in peace to bask in the sun, without expecting them to flower or grow a handspan in a week. Some plantlings shoot to the skies, and others don't survive the winter chill. Either way, I don't blame the plantlings, or myself, for the way the results of their growth manifested. I gave the process my best effort and considered decisions, the rest is out of my hands. 

I've been applying this same concept over to my projects, of which I've had more trouble with putting my mind at rest about, over the years. I have a vocal inner critic, whom I have had a tumultuous relationship with. It tells me to quantify growth based only on results, pressures me to grind with immediacy and without rest, tells me that my life is useless if I'm not producing or performing. I know now that none of those are true, nor are healthy ways to approach growth. 

The jewelry making process usually looks a little like this

Respecting the process of my growth looks like intentional, planned rest; and aligning with my inner guidance and creative flow. I show up to each day with a slightly different energy - some days I'll feel entirely incapable of picking up my jewelry tools and wire, yet find writing about a new song discovery incredibly effortless. Other days, it's the opposite way around. I grow most effectively by allowing myself to follow those subtle nudges, even if that goes against my plans for the day, or what I feel like I "should" be doing. 

My planned rest periods look like intentionally doing nothing by sunbathing at the beach and grounding my energy, or getting a good sweat out from a run outdoors or a workout video. I make a point to not think about work or projects at all during this time, and instead focus on the presence of my experience. Doing this, with as little guilt as possible, does wonders for recharging the creative batteries and being able to dive back in with renewed vigor. 

At rest

Being at peace with the process has been by far the biggest learning curve, yet it has been one of the most rewarding paths of growth to embark on. This is where I'll be focusing my growth on for the year, and I'm excited for where it will lead me. 

Apart from resting days, consuming anything that other artists have created gets the motivational juices flowing. Every time, I’m reminded of the power of the creative process - to pull something from the imagination into tangible, real life. I switch between a regular diet of electronic music, films, television shows… and more recently, marveling at the interior design aesthetics over on Architectural Digest. There’s just something so satisfying about a meticulously crafted and functional home! 

I would say my visual aesthetic has been in a symbiotic relationship with the beach for some time; because I spend so much time there, I inevitably become (consciously and subconsciously) influenced by its energy and channel it into my work.

In return, I hope to portray its beauty and serenity, and encourage more people to enjoy the sun and great outdoors more often! The main things I want to evoke in whatever I create are light and vibrancy - both visually, and metaphorically. The world is still a beautiful place when seen through the lens of hope and gratitude - the more uplifting energy there is around us, the easier it becomes for all of us to keep focused on the things that matter.