This is an exciting week for me. As peeps on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram may already know, this is my first official week in my new post – editor of Image Interiors & Living Magazine. I can’t quite believe it. I feel very lucky to get work and learn alongside the incredible team that’s here, who have made the last year such a brilliant one. Of course, it feels exciting and terrifying, in equal measures.
To psych myself up, I spent a while pursuing Pinterest’s near-bottomless pit of inspirational quotes, but really, it’s my college lecturer’s words of wisdom that echo in my ears, this week, and every week if I’m honest. Prof Aidan Moran lectured us in cognitive psychology, and it was one of my favourite classes. Years later, when editing KISS magazine, I interviewed him for a feature on preparing for exams and for college, as he had released an audio study guide. His words stuck with me so much, that I wrote them out on a post-it and kept it on my computer. To paraphrase, he said:
Passion is more important that intellect. Don’t ask yourself, “Am I smart enough?”, but ask, “Am I interested enough?”
That post-it served as a constant reminder to follow my gut, and put what I loved doing out there – to, as Steve Jobs said, “have the courage to follow your heart and intuition”. Sometimes, that meant small, kinda scary steps, like re-jigging this blog a year and a half ago to better accommodate posts on all things interiors, a growing passion at the time. Sometimes, it’s giant scary steps, like leaving KISS, and being an editor, to work on Image Interiors & Living three days a week and spend the other two stepping into the world of being a freelance photographer and writer.
I feel very lucky to get to do what I love. But as with all creative pursuits, it can come with a fair whack of insecurity about being enough – creative enough, knowledgeable enough, organised enough. The above quote serves a reminder that loving what you do and being passionate about it is half the battle. Wish me luck!
Top pic: Unraveled Design on Etsy
