The Everyday Designer #5 — Designing through the pain

We avoid it as much as we can. I mean, who likes pain? It hurts, it sucks, sometimes it drags on and on, wondering if we’ll ever catch a break.

But what if there were amazing lessons to be learned through the pain? What if the very thing we’re trying to avoid is the very thing that will give us new skills or new lessons to implement in the future?

In design, this “pain point” is usually referred to as “creative block”. I touched on this a couple editions ago, which you can check out here. But for now, I care more about talking about pain. Cause it is real, and it is a normal part of the human experience. It’s as normal as breathing. If you are reading this right now chances are you’re breathing, and you’re feeling.

Whether it be physical, emotional, mental, or even spiritual, we all take experience it at some point in our lives. From the moment we’re born, we experience it. Lack of nourishment, lack of sleep, lack of love. Bleeding, aching, heartbreak, bullying, abuse, self-hatred, the list goes on for miles. Yet as humans we carry on, we move forward, in spite of the pain, we do. We write books, we write songs, we make love, we make melodies, we raise children, we go to work, we cook, we clean, we make new friends and foster old one’s, we create art.

It’s no wonder most of the songs written are from a place of loss or heartbreak, all alluding to the human condition to love.

Pain and love are two sides of one coin. You can’t have one without the other.

Maybe designing from a place of pain shows the love you have for the craft, or maybe its a way to make sense of the pain, there’s always a lesson to be learned from pain. There’s a line in a Coldplay song that says “…love is only equal to the pain.” and to that I say if you’re dealing with pain today, you could be in the position to do your best work yet.

Carry on my friends. Hope you all have a lovely May ❤️

🌊 Currents

I love sharing what I’ve been up to lately and this is one way for me to let you in on what’s been happening in my life.

📚 Currently reading: The Problem of Pain - C.S. Lewis - I had not known about this book until I heard a quote from it and it struck me right down. A lot of times we try to run away from pain or dismiss its existence. But what if there is a deeper lesson in the pain? Clive does a great job at approaching this topic with such care.

🌿 Currently inspired: 100-year-old man breaks Guinness World Record for working at the same company for 84 years - you want to talk about patience and satisfaction? Come back to me when you’ve worked at ONE job for OVER 8 DECADES!!! Awe-inspiring. And here’s a nugget of gold he dropped… “You need to get busy with the present, not the past or the future. Here and now is what counts.” Sheesh.

✏️ Currently using: Spline - Design tool for 3D web browser experience - if you’ve ever wanted to dabble in 3d software, Spline is a wonderful tool to try and have fun with! No pressure to use and they even have presets that you can start from to see how its made.

🎸 Currently excited: New music announcement - let’s just say, if your a fan of music you’ll want to tune in this Friday, May 6, at 12:00pm EST for a little something… 😏

‍