Like many others I spent the first half of my life idolizing artists and those who accomplished things that I wanted to do. Vision boards plastered with Pharrell, Steve Jobs, Kanye, Rick Rubin, and all those who molded the world I live in now - I’ll be honest, a lot of this was partially funded by a feeling of self-indulgent pride and idea that my work could one day be as culturally relevant.
But as I’ve grown in the past few years in both my creative pursuits and entered my early 20s it’s become less exciting to fill my room with those same idols I looked up to. Maybe it’s the discovery of my own creative voice, or just that I find hanging pictures of strangers up weird, but for the past few months I’ve found myself searching for other areas in the world to draw inspiration from.
I don’t mean to sound like this was some existential crisis or anything really significant in the grand scheme of things, but it was a fun thought experiment that I found myself drifting back towards. If not for people or their work, then where?
The past two months I’ve been traveling nonstop around Europe. This is the longest trip I’ve taken away from home. we’ve hiked mountains in Switzerland, made memories with complete strangers, and found ourselves in the most peculiar situations. Of course, part of my brain wants to think that traveling and spending a SuMMeR iN EuRoPE will answer all my questions. Yet I find it’s stirring the pot just enough to uncover some bits and pieces I forgot I had thrown in.
And so, during a hike in Norway that I came to realize that my main source of inspiration is not found in any person, but in the color yellow. Bingo.
You know that dandelion-sunflower shade of yellow that feels like the sun on a summer day? The color of traffic lights, fall-leaves, lemonade shades of yellow. That’s what I want to be.
It’s a bit weird, a bit human-anthropomorphized-into-color, but we all knows those people. Those select individuals that bring light to every room they step into, that physically feel warm, it’s hard to explain, but their energy is bright and bleeds this same color.
I promise I didn’t take shrooms in Norway - I won’t say I didn’t try to find some though.
And so now, a week later I’ve committed myself to embodying how yellow feels in everything I pursue. Whether that’s in relationships, my art, why not carry sparks of joy wherever I go. Worst case, it’s a lot more romantic sounding than trying to be more like Elon Musk.
If humans are a basin to hold the river of colors and emotions, why not look towards the river sometime.