We are the same age with @tugbaavci, and I can truly relate to their thoughts. I think for me the biggest reason for losing my inner child was that I went after a "real education, real job". But shortly after graduating, pushing that 9-2-5, I realized it wasn't for me. I've been a creative business owner for almost 14 years now. It's not fun & games every day, but for me, there is more fun and more play than I could've ever imagined. 🤩 It's never too late!!
I wouldn't be suprised that you can pick up on my thoughts as you write your posts, haha. I pivoted my world around mid-twenties and followed my dreams to be a creative, first focused on writing, but it didn't take long before my illustrations wanted to take center stage, haha. While this pivot was the start to embrace my curiousity again, it also was a healing journey back to self. And one of the biggest lessons so far is that any creative endeavor can become chore if you are too focused on the outside world and you don't allow yourself to stay curious. It's why I burned out in recent years.
I just turned 39 and ever since this celebration, I've been feeling a whirlwind of emotions. Some days it swirls with excitement and curiousity, other days, I feel the anger and sadness for all the years I let the outside world influence my thoughts and actions in an unaligned way. But I'm glad to say that, more often than not, this anger fuels me to embrace my passions even more. I stumbled upon that same quote by Carl Jung yesterday as I was collecting quotes for a little project I'm working on and it's just perfect! 🥰 Thank you once again for this wonderful peek into your mind ❤
I was about to write this myself in my comment, but had to stop to send you some love ❤ While I did pick up my drawing tools mid-twenties, I let a lot of years still be influenced by so much noise and other people. Enjoy the journey getting back to self 😊✨🎨
This is great. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. When we are all so propagandised it’s empowering to hear voices reminding us we are living in a particular time and place with its own specific values. The way we’re living at this point isn’t based on some kind of ultimate universal law. We’ve just got ourselves into a mode and absorbed mutated values.
Wow Tuğba, your piece beautifully captures the bittersweet tug of childhood joys slipping through the cracks of adulthood. Reading it brought to mind an essay I wrote about a different kind of loss—not of time or creativity but of two brioche buns. Sounds trivial, but the lessons were eerily similar: that we live in a world constantly nudging us to let go of what makes us human in favor of what makes us “useful.”
The way you weave capitalism into this narrative is both sharp and resonant. It reminds me of something I’ve wrestled with—how the relentless drive for efficiency has a sneaky way of turning our simplest pleasures into guilty indulgences. Why do we let go so easily of the things that made the hours pass like minutes? Could the act of reclaiming play and curiosity be a quiet rebellion against a system that profits from our compliance?
Thank you for holding this space for reflection. You’ve made me wonder: how do you keep play alive while juggling the demands of adulthood? Or is it, as you suggest, more about unlearning than juggling?
Looking forward to hearing more about the exhibition and your artist collective—it feels like a testament to what happens when we refuse to let go of what nourishes our souls.
I've got to call my mom and ask her this question tomorrow... my memories are very vague from my childhood but I am curious what she will remember! Really interesting food for thought here - thank you Tuğba!
This piece really resonated with me, especially the part about how societal expectations can stifle our inner child. It's like we fall into this "should" trap - we "should" act a certain way, have a certain job, achieve certain milestones. But what if those "shoulds" are suffocating our true selves? It's a powerful reminder to question those expectations and rediscover what truly brings us joy.
I know lol! I nearly fell off my chair when I first read it. So much truth and depth to it. It gives me goosebumps every time I read it. Thank you for reading. Love you, baby! 🖤
I'm learning art-level photography after a 15+ year corporate career. The three foundational elements I've learned through my own journey are...
Consciousness - becoming more conscious of an existence and what is working and what is needed / missing. If you are not conscious enough, you are not noticing enough.
Curiosity - considering what other perspectives and approaches can be just as true. Asking what else is there beyond the surface. If you are not curious enough, you are not experimenting enough.
Play - prioritizing the trial-and-error freedom of play in running new experiments. If you are not playing, you are not living your life to its fullest potential.
Yay! So nice to see you again in the comments! Wowza—I didn't realize you worked so many years in a corporate career. What work did you do if I may ask?
Love, love, love all three points. Couldn't agree more! I also appreciate that you mentioned consciousness first, because how can we do anything else if we are not conscious? I think that’s the first step to everything we do in life, and even to the things we don’t do. Being conscious helps us with life, full stop.
I may write a post on this, as it keeps resurfacing in my mind and its importance. It’s a very overused word, like mindfulness, but I don’t care; it deserves all the attention!
Thank you for taking the time to read and comment. Have a wonderful start to the week 🖤
Yes, consciousness is absolutely key! In the corporate work, we were not conscious of what we were doing. I mean, we told ourselves that we were working on genuine change...but nothing really ever changed. We simply ended up digitizing what we had always been doing. It's why it felt like things were constantly changing but the reality was that nothing ever changed.
Consciousness does deserve a deeper dive simply because it is so bandied about as being so important...yet, we treat it so unconsciously.
I mostly worked on the implementation end of digitizing and technifying regulatory work in the life sciences industry.
Similar to the Carl Jung quote, when I was in one of my deepest periods of debilitating depression in my late twenties I read somewhere to try doing the things you loved to do around ages 8 or 10 and I thought of crochet and tried it and that led to my book Crochet Saved My Life and the new path of all of my creative work.
Gosh, I love this, Kathryn! I didn’t know this about you and how you got into crochet and your book. Wow, that is truly inspiring. Also, thank you for all the embroidery suggestions—I will check them out. Embroidery is something I used to love doing with my nan, and I'm just getting back into it.
Thank you for taking the time to read and share your story. Have a wonderful start to the week 🖤
I love everything you expressed here and feel so grateful that you wrote all this. This is all so important in my opinion that I want to quote the entire letter. Thank you! Play is so, so, so important in creativity, in life, and it nourishes us and makes feel alive!
Ufff, Manuela! Wow, I'm so happy it all resonated with you. It's so sweet that you want to quote the whole post 🥰 That's the best kind of feedback. So, what things have you already taken up, or what do you plan to take up? I would love to hear more from you.
Thank you for taking the time to read and share your thoughts. I’m grateful for your support. Have a wonderful start to the week 🖤
Love this, good writing!!
We are the same age with @tugbaavci, and I can truly relate to their thoughts. I think for me the biggest reason for losing my inner child was that I went after a "real education, real job". But shortly after graduating, pushing that 9-2-5, I realized it wasn't for me. I've been a creative business owner for almost 14 years now. It's not fun & games every day, but for me, there is more fun and more play than I could've ever imagined. 🤩 It's never too late!!
Thank you for this. Is not easy for some of us to fit in this push push push world 🥲🤍
I wouldn't be suprised that you can pick up on my thoughts as you write your posts, haha. I pivoted my world around mid-twenties and followed my dreams to be a creative, first focused on writing, but it didn't take long before my illustrations wanted to take center stage, haha. While this pivot was the start to embrace my curiousity again, it also was a healing journey back to self. And one of the biggest lessons so far is that any creative endeavor can become chore if you are too focused on the outside world and you don't allow yourself to stay curious. It's why I burned out in recent years.
I just turned 39 and ever since this celebration, I've been feeling a whirlwind of emotions. Some days it swirls with excitement and curiousity, other days, I feel the anger and sadness for all the years I let the outside world influence my thoughts and actions in an unaligned way. But I'm glad to say that, more often than not, this anger fuels me to embrace my passions even more. I stumbled upon that same quote by Carl Jung yesterday as I was collecting quotes for a little project I'm working on and it's just perfect! 🥰 Thank you once again for this wonderful peek into your mind ❤
Why am I tearing up reading this? I have picked up my drawing tools after many decades of not drawing. Thanks for the post. Great read.
I was about to write this myself in my comment, but had to stop to send you some love ❤ While I did pick up my drawing tools mid-twenties, I let a lot of years still be influenced by so much noise and other people. Enjoy the journey getting back to self 😊✨🎨
This is great. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. When we are all so propagandised it’s empowering to hear voices reminding us we are living in a particular time and place with its own specific values. The way we’re living at this point isn’t based on some kind of ultimate universal law. We’ve just got ourselves into a mode and absorbed mutated values.
Wow Tuğba, your piece beautifully captures the bittersweet tug of childhood joys slipping through the cracks of adulthood. Reading it brought to mind an essay I wrote about a different kind of loss—not of time or creativity but of two brioche buns. Sounds trivial, but the lessons were eerily similar: that we live in a world constantly nudging us to let go of what makes us human in favor of what makes us “useful.”
The way you weave capitalism into this narrative is both sharp and resonant. It reminds me of something I’ve wrestled with—how the relentless drive for efficiency has a sneaky way of turning our simplest pleasures into guilty indulgences. Why do we let go so easily of the things that made the hours pass like minutes? Could the act of reclaiming play and curiosity be a quiet rebellion against a system that profits from our compliance?
Thank you for holding this space for reflection. You’ve made me wonder: how do you keep play alive while juggling the demands of adulthood? Or is it, as you suggest, more about unlearning than juggling?
Looking forward to hearing more about the exhibition and your artist collective—it feels like a testament to what happens when we refuse to let go of what nourishes our souls.
Gorgeous quotes and great thinking exercise! :)
I've got to call my mom and ask her this question tomorrow... my memories are very vague from my childhood but I am curious what she will remember! Really interesting food for thought here - thank you Tuğba!
This piece really resonated with me, especially the part about how societal expectations can stifle our inner child. It's like we fall into this "should" trap - we "should" act a certain way, have a certain job, achieve certain milestones. But what if those "shoulds" are suffocating our true selves? It's a powerful reminder to question those expectations and rediscover what truly brings us joy.
Wow, exhibition in Berlin🤩🌆 . I am in Ffm but can’t make it to Berlin now.
Ooooft that David Cain quote is the TRUTH 👏
I know lol! I nearly fell off my chair when I first read it. So much truth and depth to it. It gives me goosebumps every time I read it. Thank you for reading. Love you, baby! 🖤
Love this!
I'm learning art-level photography after a 15+ year corporate career. The three foundational elements I've learned through my own journey are...
Consciousness - becoming more conscious of an existence and what is working and what is needed / missing. If you are not conscious enough, you are not noticing enough.
Curiosity - considering what other perspectives and approaches can be just as true. Asking what else is there beyond the surface. If you are not curious enough, you are not experimenting enough.
Play - prioritizing the trial-and-error freedom of play in running new experiments. If you are not playing, you are not living your life to its fullest potential.
Yay! So nice to see you again in the comments! Wowza—I didn't realize you worked so many years in a corporate career. What work did you do if I may ask?
Love, love, love all three points. Couldn't agree more! I also appreciate that you mentioned consciousness first, because how can we do anything else if we are not conscious? I think that’s the first step to everything we do in life, and even to the things we don’t do. Being conscious helps us with life, full stop.
I may write a post on this, as it keeps resurfacing in my mind and its importance. It’s a very overused word, like mindfulness, but I don’t care; it deserves all the attention!
Thank you for taking the time to read and comment. Have a wonderful start to the week 🖤
Yes, consciousness is absolutely key! In the corporate work, we were not conscious of what we were doing. I mean, we told ourselves that we were working on genuine change...but nothing really ever changed. We simply ended up digitizing what we had always been doing. It's why it felt like things were constantly changing but the reality was that nothing ever changed.
Consciousness does deserve a deeper dive simply because it is so bandied about as being so important...yet, we treat it so unconsciously.
I mostly worked on the implementation end of digitizing and technifying regulatory work in the life sciences industry.
Loved this piece!! <33
Thank you so much, Sarah! I really appreciate you taking the time to read. Gosh, I love your Substack name—haha amazing!
Similar to the Carl Jung quote, when I was in one of my deepest periods of debilitating depression in my late twenties I read somewhere to try doing the things you loved to do around ages 8 or 10 and I thought of crochet and tried it and that led to my book Crochet Saved My Life and the new path of all of my creative work.
Gosh, I love this, Kathryn! I didn’t know this about you and how you got into crochet and your book. Wow, that is truly inspiring. Also, thank you for all the embroidery suggestions—I will check them out. Embroidery is something I used to love doing with my nan, and I'm just getting back into it.
Thank you for taking the time to read and share your story. Have a wonderful start to the week 🖤
I love everything you expressed here and feel so grateful that you wrote all this. This is all so important in my opinion that I want to quote the entire letter. Thank you! Play is so, so, so important in creativity, in life, and it nourishes us and makes feel alive!
Ufff, Manuela! Wow, I'm so happy it all resonated with you. It's so sweet that you want to quote the whole post 🥰 That's the best kind of feedback. So, what things have you already taken up, or what do you plan to take up? I would love to hear more from you.
Thank you for taking the time to read and share your thoughts. I’m grateful for your support. Have a wonderful start to the week 🖤