We are constantly surrounded by energy.

“Not only are we made of fundamental particles, we also produce them and are constantly bombarded by them throughout the day.”-
https://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/the-particle-physics-of-you

Not only are we surrounded by energy, we are made up of it; We are energy in motion. Every movement, action we make, food we consume, all contains and emits some kind of energy. What does this mean though? Well, for me it means being conscious of this. In a world that is in constant flux, living and being a part of a society fixated on consuming, for me it has become vital to place focus on energy; What energy I consume, what energy I project, and what energy I let into my space. This is why Minimalism is something I gravitate towards.

Minimalism is not throwing everything away, living in a house with one chair ,and wearing the same clothes everyday. I mean it can be that sure, but that’s not the point. It’s about saving time and, wait for it, ENERGY. Everything you own has energy, this may not all be positive energy. I personally love Marie Kondo’s method “Spark joy”.

Asking yourself the question, when walking into your home and picking up objects, “Does this spark joy in my life?”.

Sometimes it is hard to answer this question, when a lot of memorabilia is sentimental. But along with that sentimentality, comes energy. Every object has experienced energy. For example: My boyfriends Gran died in 2018 and his mother took a bunch of stuff from his grans house and moved it into their place. Understandably she missed her mom, but not only did she already have so many items in her house, these items her and her sisters were taking had lived a whole life with their mother. They were taking the energy of someones whole life and moving it into their space. As an empath, I instantly felt the energy change. It was not bad, but it was overwhelming. Being surrounded by things can be soooo overwhelming. I think a big reason people become hoarders is because they are afraid to confront the energy associated with everything they own, and sometimes all this energy is used as a distraction, to cope.

However I believe if everyone owned stuff they look at everyday and give love to, their mental space will clear along with physical space, instead of being surrounded by just stuff.

When confronting my own ‘stuff’, I realised there were items of clothing I had that I never wore, but I had spent money on these items and I might maybe wear them one day in the future, but if I need something similar one day I will just buy it when I need it and will put conscious energy into buying that item of clothing, instead of shopping out of the blue to have a quick happy feeling of buying something new, only to fill a void, because holding on to something that you don’t cherish is keeping space for something you will cherish.

Another example of objects and energy is a mini music box I have that my ex boyfriend gave me. The relationship was toxic but I like the music box because it plays “here comes the sun” by the Beatles. This song I turned into something I would sing when feeling down about the relationship when I was still in it, so when the relationship was over the object was not carrying this negative energy. I place the little music box next to my succulents and play it to them everyday, because I like to think that the happy song helps them grow, just like it helped me.

People and ourselves are the same, if we speak positive mantras to each other we grow, we do not hunch over. The people you surround yourself with, some may bring a very toxic energy into your life.

How we respond to negative energy: choosing your battles (I’m still learning this)

We consume blindly. Minimalism creates a mind shift, an awareness to what we let into our lives, know where our food is coming from, know who adds value to our life. We are confronted by many people who do not have genuine intent, we can spend time and energy arguing with these people but why give time and energy to those who do not support us, when there are people who support you, you can give this energy too. Recently a girl I used to know, I found out she had been horrible to my friends, instantly I was angry, instantly I called her out. But then I realised that she will only change by her own and spending energy telling her off was wasted, sometimes we need to stick up for ourselves but when there are people who will not change their mind, rather take that anger and turn it into love for the people who are genuinely by your side.

The spoon theory also explains the importance of being cognisant of energy. You have 12 spoons in a day, 1 could be used for driving, or if you are an anxious driver 3. 1 spoon for showering, 1 spoon for watching TV, 5 spoons for working. I have realised I cannot do everything at once. No one has the energy for that.

I choose to take life a day at a time, surrounding myself with items that spark joy in my life, trying to be more cognisant of where the ingredients I put in a curry come from, who I see on the weekends, and how I react to negativity.

Minimalism has really helped me understand the importance of energy and saving time by focusing on objects and people that add true value to my life. My point is, You are full of energy and what you surround yourself with adds to that energy (good and bad) and we don’t have control over everything but energy is something we can be more observant of to make our own lives better.

When I was in college I worked 10 times harder than I needed to. I had this complex from high school that no one wanted me to succeed, so I had to do everything to ensure I would pass…

I would have over 200 page concept books, showing every step of my design process, to ensure that I could not be marked down. I worked my body past its breaking point but I did well enough to instantly get a job out of college.

My first job I believe was a lesson to destroy this complex and push me into a frame of mind where I focused on balance. It was not a fun time.

I worked in advertising for 8 months right after college.

Why this was a bad idea:

• I did not give myself rest after many sleepless nights. I have chronic fatigue now and I’m very sure this contributed to my condition.
• I did not research into the culture I was entering. And boy do I wish I did, because the culture did not match me at all.
• I took the first job I could get. Because I was not confident enough in myself as a designer.

Advertising 101(from my experience)

Advertising is quick passed roll out work, as a UX designer this may not suit you because there is little to no research done and a lot of the work is social media based. The culture is not balanced or healthy. You will work from 6 to 10 at night and it will be a Friday and you will be in the office at 9pm because they never say no to client even when understaffed. Sometimes I felt like being at the bar on a Friday was more important than working. Heres an article about why I am against agency culture in

general:https://www.mediaupdate.co.za/marketing/141074/hey-agencies-stop-trying-to-hire-unicorns

I RESIGNED

It was terrifying, but I resigned to focus on my health and give myself the break I never did. I felt stagnant and the thought of not pursuing what I love (UX) was scarier than the decision to leave my first job earlier than I planned.

I’ve spoken to many people who have been at companies for over 3 years and wished they left earlier. And even thought the following 6 months were rough, it was the best decision I made for my passion.

“If you feel like there’s something out there that you’re supposed to be doing, if you have a passion for it, then stop wishing and just do it.” — Wanda Sykes

6 months without a job

I tried to do freelance when I could get work but I was also drained from the pervious job. Luckily I was supported by my boyfriend we moved in after I resigned. The hardest part about not having a job is the dependancy on other people, I wanted to get my boyfriend presents and couldn't. When I got freelance money I would budget hard. I have learned how to budget like a boss. My confidence as a designer was rattled by my previous experience I was terrified the next job I would find would be as bad, was I going to let this fear and anxiety stop me? HELL NO.

“All you have control over is this moment. Chase it.”
― Anna Kay Akana

I was going to chase UX. No matter how terrified I was.

THE START OF MY UX JOURNEY

While I took this 6 month sabbatical I did a Udemy UX course that gained my confidence back. I worked on a side project redesigning google play UX and went to design meetups to spark the passion.

Udemy UX cource
: https://www.udemy.com/ultimate-guide-to-ux/

Meetups that inspired me to go for it:
https://www.meetup.com/Ladies-that-UX-Johannesburg/

https://www.facebook.com/tdesignerd/?eid=ARCGnrH32uWCJlQxmT7Oz2P0sp1Zs5ZsU1wSb3Ssnw8cnX-qjv4KZ7yIY4awr7TGFvLhVlEBnWRmkw7k&timeline_context_item_type=intro_card_work&timeline_context_item_source=696524049&fref=tag

Redesign challenges to help you start somewhere:
https://www.uplabs.com/challenges

During this time I applied everywhere.

Then the opportunity came: http://freethinking.co.za/home-2/

I sat down with an amazing UX designer named Lauren and spoke to her about what I was looking for and she thought that I would fit the freethinking culture (spoiler alert I totally do). I did a design challenge and they said it was the best design challenge they've had. I didn’t believe them at first but then I had a new found confidence I remembered UX is what I do best and empathy is my super power and researching is my nerdy gift.

I started my job on the 14th of January and Have already in 2 weeks learned so much about customer experience, empathy mapping, curating user interviews, and more.

If I had let my fear take over I wouldn't be working at my dream job today.
If i had let one bad experience define me I wouldn't be learning so much today. If I didn't expose myself to other amazing designers and wouldn't have been inspired to-regain my designer confidence.

What I’m trying to say here is don’t let your world be surrounded by what ifs, follow what makes you want to get out of bed as cheesy as it sounds. not every culture will suit you, not every first job will work out, not every path will be clear.

WHERE IM SUPPOSED TO BE

When I look back at my path so far I realise all these little clues that showed me I was supposed to work with UX/CX design. Everything you experience is designed to bring you to a certain place, where you play a certain role, if I look back and analyse my life choices, the way I thought, the things that I was inclined naturally to understanding all leads to my career choice UX.

• In high school I got into trouble for thinking differently, now I am encouraged to think differently.
• My whole life i have been sensitive to everyone around me, what they feel, what they do, their motivations… this sensitivity is empathy and walking in peoples shoes, walking in the users shoes that is UX.
• In college my favoured critical studies articles were about the collective unconscious and cognitive dissonance I just naturally understood it, this is something rooted in behavioural archetypes something very important in UX/CX design.

You don’t have to be the best, perfection is unattainable, control is an illusion, but if you focus day by day, on what you enjoy and on what challenges are worth it your journey will be clearer.

My point is: no work journey is the right way, you could study law and become a copywriter, use everything you have experienced to give insights towards your future.

So Here I am, 23, working as a UX consultant, and this is what I am learning. I want to show what I have learned so far, and how there’s no right way to do this…

But this is what helps me.