the hardest way to learn… is *your own*
Recently, I referred to this past year as the gestation year. Something was being created, but I wasn't sure what exactly.
I spent 2025 surrendering to the idea that what I want to do is what I’m meant to be doing.
That thing inside us that makes us excited about stuff. I'm talking about surrendering to it as our compass toward our next move.
I know… it sounds cliché. Maybe obvious even. But the truth is, since I started my business in 2020, I ran it by trying to follow how I thought other people run theirs.
I’d make designs and think,
“What would X, Y, or Z designers think of this?”
I’d make business or financial decisions and think,
“What would X, Y, or Z entrepreneur I admire think of this?”
And here’s the thing—I didn’t just think it. I acted on it. Multiple times a day.
Leading my business through the imaginary judgment of others left me stuck, frustrated, small, and always behind. I was masking, performing, and pretending, and I hated it.
Now, I still do it, ok?
Those thoughts still come to my mind, unwillingly and often.
The difference is that most of the time (or maybe just sometimes), I'm able to spot them, stop, and choose to reconnect to myself instead.
Most days it works, some days I can't get past it, and I just surrender to the fact that it will be a shitty day and shitty days exist.
I wanted to share this because "doing things our way" is not always as easy as we make it out to be. For me to even feel like I was headed there, I had to work on my confidence and my belief that what I want is not only valid, but it's the right thing for me.
Again, cliché. But hard!
I’m slowly learning to lead my way.
And I want How Kind Studio to be a space for you to lead yours.
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