Give yourself permission (Part 3)

“Don’t look for society to give you permission to be yourself.”

– Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience –

Following on from yesterday’s Part 2 . . .

. . .  It’s not been easy. In fact, it’s been really, really hard for me. I’m sure people on the outside think that I just woke up one day with a cool idea, painted some designs, threw them on a website and then invited people to contribute, but it has taken so much more than that. . . . .

It has taken me, letting go of the image that most people have of me, ‘academic Kat’, ‘intellectual Kat’, ‘clever Kat’, so that I could allow the more ‘creative Kat’ to come in. The way that I am on this planet to truly express myself. Through writing, or singing or painting or designing. It’s been hard, however, my desire to do that which I love and let go of the ‘notself’ has been incredibly liberating, and I feel as though this is just the beginning.

And so, to conclude. Whatever you feel in your heart to do, do it. Whatever you wanted to do when you were little, and never got to do, do it now. There is no time like the present, and anything is possible.

If you always wanted to be a vet, and you’re 40, there’s still time to study and become a vet. If you always wanted to dance, then dance. If you always wanted to write a book, write a book. If you always wanted to start your own business, f*ck it, start your own business goddammit! If you’ve been running a project on the side of your day job and you’d like to start making money out of it, because that is what you would love to do, then do it! You don’t need permission from anyone other than yourself. Life is too short. And just because your choices were taken away from you by someone else earlier in your life, doesn’t mean to say that you can’t make different ones now. You’re too wonderful and too precious and too gifted.

If you feel in your heart to do something, from a place of love, for yourself, for your life, your happiness then do it. I promise you that you won’t regret it. Carpe-the-mother-funking -Diem!

If you would like to have a Numerology reading and learn what your Life Path and Expression numbers are (among many other things), feel free to drop me a line at kat@thoughtcloudcollective.com and I will talk you through your entire Numerological Chart and let you know what the coming year has in store for you. A 60 minute reading with me is $150 AUD.

And if you would like to buy a Katkin t-shirt or tote bag, feel free to skip over to our crowd funding page on Indiegogo.

Sending you lots of love, hugs and light,

Kat x x x

Read Part 1 of this blog post

Read Part 2 of this blog post

Give yourself permission (Part 2)

“Poor is the man whose pleasures depend on the permission of another.”
– Madonna Ciccone –

Following on from yesterday’s Part 1 . . .

. . . All of the things that I loved to do as a child, I was bringing back into my life now, and it made me feel happy . . .

One of the things I started to do was paint t-shirt and bag designs, and it was only when I started to share them with people did they start to tell me how much they liked them and that I should do something with them. The problem was I had no confidence in my creativity, and I couldn’t actually believe that anyone would think that something I had painted was any good.

My boyfriend kept asking me when I was going to sell them. Every time I told him, that I wasn’t ready and that I wasn’t really sure whether they were any good. I had been told over and over again, that I wasn’t that creative and that I should study ‘academic’ subjects, so that was all I knew. What gave me the right to start a company designing t-shirts and tote bags?

The thing was, I loved painting and designing them. It got to the point where the designs were flying out of me. I had painted tonnes and tonnes of them and I had come up with hundreds of designs that were just flowing out of me effortlessly and easily. The problem? I didn’t think I was good enough.

My boyfriend (Darren) offered to put money into the business to start it, I refused. My boyfriend continuously asked me, when are you going to do something with Katkin (which was the name I gave to the project)? To which I answered, I don’t know. It got to the point where it had been nearly a year since I had painted my first design and still nothing much had happened.

I just didn’t have the confidence. I just didn’t see myself as someone creative enough to start a clothing company using my own designs.

But Darren never gave up, he kept asking me and asking me. “Come on Kat, when are you going to do this? What needs to happen next?”

Bit, by, bit I inched closer. I took a shortlist of about 8 designs and asked friends to vote via Facebook on their top 4. Then once they were selected, we took some photos of the t-shirts and us in them. Then I plucked up the courage to make a video. And we finally put together a crowd funding campaign to start the business, because the only thing holding us back was capital.

And so, here we are a month or so later and we have raised nearly $2000 so we can get our first run of tees and totes, set up a website and start selling our beautiful designs.

It’s not been easy. In fact, it’s been really, really hard for me. I’m sure people on the outside think that I just woke up one day with a cool idea, painted some designs, threw them on a website and then invited people to contribute, but it has taken so much more than that. . . . .

To find out what else it has taken, tune in tomorrow for the third and last part of this 3 part blog series.

Sending you lots of love, hugs and light,

Kat x x x