That restless feeling lurking in your mind. (My UX & Creative Journey)
Let’s unravel the damp cloth, shall we?
Let me give you a context on what’s up so far in my mind. Since I restarted nurturing good habits as mentioned in my previous article : Check that out here. Things have been odd. This journey seems entirely different to the one I’ve travelled because I’m noticing and feelings moments of my life in more depth than before. And of course many things have changed since two years. I’m no longer living in a college dorm of 6 including me, there’s no walk to the college, classes, events or any social interactions whatsoever. Instead I’m stuck in my house, going grocery shopping now and then, doing household chores, attending online classes (mostly clueless on what’s happening), doing an amazing internship. Oh my the internship, it came to my life in the most unexpected way. I’m a computer science student who knows a little bit of coding, good at academics, love dancing, does a little bit of managing and decorating events around my campus.
It was a good life but there was this underlying gut feel that coding is not something I want to pursue. During the start of lockdown that is March, I focused on building my coding skills. Did a few courses, build a random project and as I was doing it, I had an epiphany. This is not me. This is not what I want to do 5 years or even 2 years from now. I moved aside everything I was working on and I started drawing. I have always liked drawing since childhood. It was my way of liberation you can say. From there god knows what happened, I started googling about UX designing, enrolled in a course and learning about it. It happened all so fast and I don’t know why it happened it either. My friend had suggested me years ago to check into designing but I never did until now. Boy, I was in for a surprise.
“When you grow curious about things, pursue them. Have a solid faith in your own capabilities. Spend as much time as you can creating delightful things.”
- Elizabeth Gilbert ( Big Magic )
I fell in love with designing, the theory, psychological, technical, user and visual aspects, the frustration and agony of making mistakes, redoing, remaining clueless for days, practicing, failing over and over again, everything about this creative living. Must read : Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. Beautifully articulated piece of work. Designing became my Ikigai and I was passionate enough about it to deal with the chaos that came along. Like Mark Manson said it was my favorite shit sandwich.
I must mention all of this happened in a span of 7 months (April till now). I learned fundamental of drawing, Adobe Illustrator, UX courses ( User Experience Research and Design specialization: Still in progress ), DailyUI challenge. In July & August, I landed an offer for interning as Graphic Designer. By the end of August, my current internship happened to me. MILESTONE MOMENT, PEOPLE. It was this perfect company with a bunch of amazing souls. More than I ever imagined. I still remember how scared I was during the interview process cause I couldn’t let go of this opportunity. And my gut feel was right. This internship not only changed my career, I started reading a lot more non-fiction, taking care of my physical and mental health since I had this internship during my classes it demanded a huge amount of discipline in my life.
November is the last month of my internship. Two months flew by in a blink of an eye and I haven’t processed it yet. But I’m optimistic , there’s so much of lessons, struggles and experiences remain untouched. It’s going to be an exciting journey. Gut feel. But yeah.
EDIT: My internship got extended. -SCREAMS-
