i’m still on a bit of a high tonight.

last week i took part in an advertising boot camp for “the one club.”

i was at south campus for four days. we were put into random teams + then given a brief from stride gum to re-brand their product, etc.

to say my team was “great” is an understatement. the chemistry was just there.

it was an extremely long road from the initial concept to our final presentation (in front of judges from some of the top ad agencies from across the country). it took three days of pure brainstorming, for 8+ hours a day. but we worked hard + harder. it was easy to build-off one another to let our ideas evolve into a winning concept (yeah, we won). 

the night before there was a moment where i felt this ease. i knew we had created something special. it was never about trying to beat another team. rather the focus was on ensuring the product of all this hard work resulted from each of us at our best. 

jim, art center’s advertising department chair, was a great mentor to us during the whole journey. the night before our presentation we stayed late working on our project, he stopped by + ended up having this really raw conversation with us.

during that talk, he told us the story of how he ended becoming a teacher. how he had no idea what to do, but his mentor told him something along the line of just “tell them what you know.” it made him realize he had been ready all along; whenever he was to step up to the challenge he would succeed.

when we were announced winners it was hard to explain how i felt. this unusual satisfaction took over me; a calmness. for once i wasn’t worried, over-thinking, nor insecure. i was just happy.

my teammates have greater interests in the advertising world. i don’t. but i was so happy knowing this accomplishment might have opened doors for them; they’ve worked so hard to get to this point. it’s nice to see their efforts paying off.

right after we won i whispered “i still got it” under my breath. i realize now how silly that was. i think of jim’s story a lot (among things other mentors had said), + what i needed most i won from this experience: confidence.

i’m still young, of course i still have it. its hard to determine when i let myself stop having fun with my creativity + started allowing myself to be intimidated by it. where did all the doubt come from? 

i’m far from being the best but what i am, where i am now is fine. i need to stop being a coward.

there shouldn’t be anymore time wasted. i need to stop making everything so overcomplicated, or questioning my identity + capabilities. i should be exploring them instead.

i know what i have to do.

hopefully this year will continue to have opportunities similar to this; getting to make friends, grow-up + have fun in the process. more importantly i hope i’m brave enough to make it all happen on my own.

i’m going to be an imagineer. 

i’ll make sure to post a picture of my name tag in due time.