Lump in her throat... Part Two

It was a podcast called Design observer, and I had one of those moments...you know what I'm talking about?...


No?


Well, one of those moments where all those millions of thoughts that have been going through your mind all day seems to cease and the world makes sense for a moment, okay that may be overstating it a bit, but for lack of a better term it's one of those "ah ha" moments . . . and it was a big one for me. I had just arrived home from a tiring day of work, home from a day of newness where nothing seems familiar yet or comfortable, just to face more unfamiliarity the rest of the night before I drop into bed. I was three weeks into my new life . . . new job, new place, new everything. I decided the best way to combat, well . . . the newness, was to do more work, work for just me, design that I wanted to design. So I turned on the podcast and started scrolling through the dozens of design blogs I have piled in my blog reader for inspiration, admiring the beautiful work I wished was mine. The podcast began and Debbie Millman started into her eloquent monologue and I heard it...
 "As Robert Frost wrote: A poem begins with a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a heart sickness- it is never a thought to begin with." 


What was that? 


I rewinded it and listened to it again, 
"a homesickness", check, 
"a heart sickness" . . . well, check, I've got those two covered, I thought. 
"A lump in the throat" . . .  many times a day. 


All this newness needs to lead to somewhere I thought. And then the next thought . . . I wanted to begin another something new just for me. As the thought sunk in I figured out what that something new is: it's a project with my favorite person, it's design for myself, it's a challenge and a passion I can throw myself into.


...And as Debbie Millman completes her monolgue I am heeding her final advice:  "Start with a big fat lump in your throat, start with a profound sense of wrong, a deep homesickness or a crazy lovesickness, and run with it, if you imagine less, less will be what you undoubtedly deserve. Do what you love and don't stop until you get what you love, work as hard as you can, imagine immensities, don't compromise and don't waste time. Start now, not 25 years from now, not 2 weeks from now, now." And so, Debbie, we are starting . . . me and my fearlessly creative sister. We don't really know what we are doing-- but LOVE that it is beginning just as we want it to.