My New Years Resolutions as an Introverted Creative

Introduction

We’re a week into the new year and for the first time in my life, I’m making a real effort to make a change this year and set resolutions and goals for myself. I hesitated about whether or not to share them on the blog, but ultimately decided to get a little vulnerable and go for it.

I went to a workshop this weekend for creative women to set goals for the year and then share them with each other so we could make a plan to stick with them. Ordinarily, this is something I would shy away from, but as it ties in to one of my resolutions, I pushed myself to the workshop and am so thrilled that I did.

What led me to set these resolutions?

Building DGI the past three years has been the most incredible journey and I would never have believed you if you told me I’d be where I am today just three years ago. We’ve built an unstoppable team, worked on some absolutely wonderful projects, met the most incredible clients, some of whom have become dear friends, and I get to do what I love each and every day.

With that, work has absolutely consumed my life. For three years, I’ve worked seven days a week, usually from the minute I open my eyes and start answering emails, to the moments before I fall asleep, when I’m planning marketing materials and working on design deadlines late into the night. Weekends were spent parked on the sofa chipping away at work that I didn’t have time to get to during the week, when I’m typically hopping from Uber to Uber meeting with clients and walking through site visits. Mike and I have completely abandoned any hope for cooking our own meals, opting for a meal service that sends you precooked meals and GrubHub to fill in the gaps. Workouts were few and far between, which wrecked havoc on my stress levels…I’m the kind of person that needs an hour with my music on the lakefront or treadmill and a good sweat every day just to stay sane. My social life took a hiatus for the most part, while I constantly prioritized work over anything else.

This kind of devotion is what our business needed these three years…we would not have grown to where we are today if I hadn’t done that, so I have absolutely zero regrets and am proud that I was able to accomplish this (it helps that my husband, Mike, was right there with me every step of the way). However, as a creative, I’ve accepted the fact that I need to take time to recharge, rest and get back to being artistic just for fun. The thing no one tells you is that if you start doing what you love for work, you’ll need to find new things to do just because you love them. Work becomes stressful and as a creative person, it’s so important to have an artistic outlet that is just for you. With that, my resolution this year is to prioritize filling my tank and having fun. I am confident this will make me a better manager, designer, wife and friend and most importantly, it will give me the opportunity to take back part of my life.

What I learned at my workshop yesterday is that setting a goal is a good first step, but if you don’t put a plan in place, it will never happen. I’ve broken things down into more digestible pieces, and am sharing them below. If you’re a creative and are struggling with burnout or simply trying to avoid it, I hope these will inspire some ideas for you in the new year as well!

Do two things a month that scare you.

I’m a shy introvert at heart. Group settings are tough for me, my voice is really quiet so I often can’t be heard and I end up getting self conscious and keeping quiet. As a result, I tend to avoid bigger groups because they exhaust me. However, I know that’s something I need to get over and push through, especially as an entrepreneur. So this year, I’m signing myself up for things that I would ordinarily have said no to in the past. I found a few different workshops for creatives on Eventbrite and scheduled three over the next few weeks, this weekend was the first one. In the past, I would’ve convinced myself not to do it because it’s not a good use of my time, but I went, met the most incredible, inspiring women, and ended up hanging out talking with them for five hours! It also forced me to step away from my work for a bit and decompress, which is an added bonus and leads me to my next resolution.

Be creative, just for fun.

The number one question I get from people is “how did you get into interior design?”. My answer is always that from a young age, I was always artistic and knew I needed to be in a creative field (that and, the Sims was my all-time favorite game). While most kids spent Saturday mornings on the soccer field, I was at the Art Barn, a local art studio, taking oil painting classes. After school, I took sewing classes, and summers on Cape Cod were spent enrolled in pottery classes. I always loved creating things and being artistic. As an adult, this has sadly taken a back seat. Yes, I get to be creative every day for work, but as an interior designer, it’s actually pretty tough! We create the vision, but then we rely on contractors, fabricators, and vendors to execute on that vision and it can take months to see it come to life. It is SO exciting when it finally does come together, and even better that our clients get to live in the creation and enjoy it. However, I’ve abandoned the feeling of creating something instantly, with my own hands, and just for fun. To remedy that, I’ve enrolled in figure drawing classes at Palette & Chisel. I am so looking forward to spending three hours every Sunday away from my phone, and focused on simply drawing. They have a ton of other classes too, for those of you who are interested in signing up for something yourself!

Find a balance and let yourself recharge.

And as an introvert, my favorite way to recharge is doing something productive on my own…even if it’s just painting my nails, going for a run or reading a book. Being an introvert doesn’t mean I don’t like people. Quite the contrary, I grew up essentially as an only child (my youngest sibling left for college when I was five) so I crave being around people, I just need to take some time for myself to recharge every so often. By combining the two goals above, I’m making my goals more attainable and approachable. Doing something that scares me, going to a group event is important and valuable, but I need to balance it out with something I can do alone, which is where the art classes come in.

I think this last one can apply to everyone. We live in such a fast-paced world, that if you don’t force yourself to carve out time for yourself, and let yourself recharge, it simply won’t happen. Even if it’s as simple as taking ten minutes to meditate, or walking a few blocks to get a coffee for yourself, do something every day that let’s you disconnect and unwind.

I hope this resonated with some of you and helped motivate you to set some intentions for yourself this year! This is the most personal and vulnerable I’ve gotten on this blog, but I think by putting this out there, it’ll also help hold myself accountable.

Happy New Year!

-dgw