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December arrived abruptly this year, but with a soft culmination that asked me to sit still long enough to hear myself again. This is the first time in a long time that I haven’t felt the need to finish strong or push toward some imagined version of completion. Instead, I feel myself choosing a gentler exit from the year. A slow drift, if you will, like a steady unwinding.

I used to worry that having so many interests made me scattered or difficult to define. I felt like I had to explain and prove how things are connected. I still do. However, the connections were never meant to be logical; rather, they were supposed to be lived.

In an industry centered on hospitality and care, I often wonder why that same care is not returned to the very people and positions that provide it.

Hard work often comes with the expectation of visible rewards. However, I’ve learned that the results we desire don’t always align with the outcomes we truly need. Perhaps the effort we’ve invested is laying the groundwork for something greater...it is not in vain.

We all engage with inspiration differently. I genuinely believe that if we want to create work that resonates, we must be honest about where our ideas originate, not to gatekeep, but to grow. Because in the end, originality isn’t about never being influenced. It’s in light of it; it’s about knowing how to turn influence into something that feels like your own.

Who are we allowing to influence us? What do we consider valuable? And are we building from a place of honesty or from a desire to be seen?

When we talk about strong creative direction or leadership, we often highlight vision, decisiveness, and strategy. Rarely do we talk about how someone made the people around them feel. But the truth is, the way we make people feel is the undercurrent of every successful collaboration.

I don’t have the most significant platform, and for a long time, I thought that meant my work didn’t matter. I now see the value in working on a smaller platform. It allows me to experiment, time to develop my skills, and the freedom to make mistakes.

Creativity is not constant. I’ve experienced moments of pure inspiration when ideas flood my mind and times when I feel stagnant, uninspired, and detached from my creative self. Over time, I’ve come to realize that creative blocks aren’t failures but invitations to pause, reflect, and reconnect.