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Why Taking a Break From Your Passion is Ok

Monday // December 17 // 2018

With the holiday season approaching, giving us all time for some much needed rest, we wanted to revisit a post that was a community favourite. Written by Jessica Abraham, this article talks about taking a break from your passion project and why that’s ok.

Since writing this article, Jess made space for a new passion to come into her life. What evolved for her was creating Tasi Travels, a sustainable clothing brand designed for adventures. Just shows that if you’re feeling like taking a break from something, even if you love it, it may mean that something else is calling you.

This post was written by 2016 #RadLivin speaker Jess Abraham.

Life is essentially a continuous series of ebbs and flows. This year has been the most challenging of my professional/creative career, but it’s been through these challenges that I have learnt about these waves of energy, and more importantly how to ride with them.

To start from the beginning, the last three or so years I have been filled with a passion and a motivation that has been all-consuming; I have been so driven, so focused and so excited about building a business and all of the challenges, successes, stresses and milestones that come with that. But at the beginning of this year, something shifted and I went from feeling like my passion was burning me up from the inside out to feeling completely burnt out. It wasn’t just the business, there were a number of other personal and work related things going on that contributed, but I was suddenly just exhausted, permanently exhausted.

At first I couldn’t admit it to anyone. I think I was ashamed; I felt like admitting I was burnt out meant admitting that I didn’t love Tidal, that I wasn’t beyond proud of what we’d created and that I wasn’t excited about it anymore. But it didn’t mean that at all, I still loved Tidal more than anything, but I was going to stop loving it if I didn’t change something and if I didn’t change it soon.

Tidal Magazine began purely from a desire to create; to showcase the incredible young people we were being surrounded by and to support ocean conservation efforts while we were doing it. That’s what we’ve done every step of the way but as we’ve grown, so has the pressure, the stress, the workload and the costs. And as that side of things grew, I began finding myself becoming more and more weighed down by the “admin” side of the business, and quickly becoming distanced from the reason we began; because we loved and believed in something.

I think I was also feeling the pressure to make Tidal a business, and while I thought for a long time that’s what I wanted, it’s not. I wholeheartedly believe we are where we are now because being a business was never the intention. But as things were moving so fast I was swept up in it, and the burden of shouldering all of the pressure and responsibility was quickly becoming heavier. It was absolutely an instantaneous shift, one day I woke up and just couldn’t find one ounce of energy in my body to keep going with it.

Flash forward six months and right now I should be spending my Saturday finalising the content for our next issue, writing articles, overseeing shoots, working with advertisers, updating our website, shipping orders, outlining expenses and organising events.. amongst a million other day to day tasks that come with owning a business. Instead, I’ve spent the day walking my dog at sunrise, watched whales dance along the coastline, drank coffee with a friend, read a book in the sun and tonight I’ll cook dinner for some of my favourite people.

Stepping back from Tidal has been one of the scariest yet most liberating decisions I have ever made. To clarify, I have in no way stopped Tidal; I just wrapped up the biggest event we’ve ever held which was months of work. I’m still emailing everyday and slowly putting together content ideas for Tidal 5, but I’ve made a conscious effort to take away all the stress and pressure and just let the journey flow naturally. To take time to be in the ocean everyday, to surf, to feel the sun on my skin, to have whirlwind weekends away with my closest friends, to read books, to explore the coastline that is my backyard, to dream and to plan outside of Tidal.

This is still something that I’m struggling to write about, because I’m conscious that everyone who reads this will be at a very different stages of their journeys; whether that’s personal, business, creative.. and for some it will resonate greatly, but for others they’ll be feeling that unshakeable passion and maybe won’t understand.

I think it’s important we talk about every part of business and life in general; that we’re real in all of our experiences, both the good and the bad.

(Photo @onenightstandsleepwear)

I think the creative community is incredible; it’s inspiring and energising and unlike anything else I’ve ever been a part of, but it can also be isolating and it can unintentionally put a lot of pressure on you. I felt guilty feeling burnt out when I could see so many incredible people around me being so fearless in the pursuit of building their business, their project, their brand, their idea. I felt like just being me, just existing, wasn’t enough – that I had to always be contributing something, always creating something. What’s been really interesting though in taking a step back from Tidal and being quite open about the fact that I need some time to re-group, is how many others in the creative community around me have admitted they feel the same way. That they’re tired or unmotivated or disheartened with the response to their project. And that’s okay, and not only is it okay but it’s completely normal to feel that way.

You may be living your dream without realising it

Friday // August 24 // 2018

Today I wanted to share with you a common theme we hear in the #RadLivin community, and often something we visit in our own lives during the pursuit of doing what we love.

Sometimes we’re living our dream life without taking stock to realise it. We think that if we can’t see a way of what we’re doing to last forever, then we aren’t fully living in our dream.

‘I want to be in Europe, create content, travel, explore, and feel free.’ Words I announced to my friend Danielle. She looked at me and gave me the, ‘I hate to break it to you but…’ look. ‘You are living that life right now.’ Woah, I hadn’t realised it. Sometimes I feel that I need a concrete plan or things to feel known and laid out for the future in order to feel like my dream will go on forever.

Sometimes we’re living our dream life without taking stock to realise it.

Don’t let the fear of it not lasting forever keep you from enjoying the moment.

I remember the same thing happened with #RadLivin – I wanted to make it my job, my career, and my purpose while working on the first and second one. Then looking back, it was my job, career, and purpose. Because I wanted it to last forever, it seemed that it wasn’t safe or at any moment it could end. I didn’t want that to be my perspective moving forward and so I decided it was time for a change in thinking.

Take stock of the false belief: If it isn’t here forever, then it isn’t real.

You’re the one creating your life as you go. There are always ways to do what you want to do; to do what makes you feel how you want to feel.

Thought question: Can you see your dream as a journey rather than a destination?

Something shifted when I started seeing #RadLivin as a journey, rather than a dream. Changing that perspective of it in my mind allowed me to see it less as goals or things I needed to get done such as sell tickets, get sponsors, and have kickass speakers who are passionate about their message. I asked myself, how can I enjoy creating this? How do I hope the attendees feel and what do I want them to walk away with? How can we add as much fun as possible to this journey every step of the way? That’s how I measured how I was doing and how my dream was going.

My life started to change as a result of looking at my dream as a journey rather than a destination I needed to get to. I decided that I would work from the road and travel, rather than cooping myself up at my office at home where I put a lot of pressure on myself for it to succeed. I expanded, felt spacious, and connected with attendees and the community in person. It became about enjoying each day, rather than specific outcomes happening exactly as I thought they needed to. And guess what? It was one of the best years of my life and #RadLivin doubled in size.

Take time to enjoy where you are right now.

Our dreams are always changing. What we want tomorrow will be different to what we want a month from now, even within the same pursuit or dream. As we continue to grow, our dreams will expand and change. Seeing as that’s the case, it’s important to enjoy where you’re at. To revel in the good in your life right now. To enjoy the pieces that are coming together, the projects you’re working on, the places you’re going, the people you’re meeting. Everything is important.

Thought questions:

Take out a piece of paper or close your eyes and ask yourself the question, what is my dream life right now? (not in five years, ten years, or when the time is right). If you could wake up and do exactly what you want to do right now in this part of your life, what would you do?

What am I excited about right now?

What in my life currently feels the most aligned with my dream life?

What feels the most out of alignment with my dream life?

What can I let go of, even if it’s hard?

What fears do I have that I need to accept?

What am I going to do to make moves right now?

What can I remind myself in order to feel safe moving forward?

You got this.

Meet Seljak Brand – The Closed Loop Blanket Co from Tasmania

Saturday // August 18 // 2018

One of the things we love most about connecting with like-minded people pursuing their dreams is that through one person’s (or in this case, two!) idea or business, positive change can happen. We sat down with Sam Seljak, co-founder of Seljak Brand. a sustainable brand making recycled wool blankets out of offcuts from mil in Tasmania

Sam shared with us how Seljak Brand started, the purpose behind it, and advice for going after your dreams.

“We’re at a critical point in time where we need to shift the current profit-focused paradigm and create more innovative and alternative business models that can be supported in the future economy. ”

Meet Seljak Brand…

Where are you in the world?

I’m based in Malmö and Copenhagen and Karina, my sister and Seljak Brand co-founder, is in Sydney. We both hail from sunny Brisbane but now run our business from opposite sides of the world. The upside? We pretty much have 24 hour opening hours 😉

How do you follow your bliss?

Building an amazing community is how I find my bliss, whether it’s with family, friends or other entrepreneurs and changemakers… Then it’s just enjoying and exploring the world with those that make you feel at home!

Tell us your story… what are you passionate about and what led you to wanting to be a business owner?

I’ve always been a doer with a community spirit and strong sense of social justice and environmental awareness. Before Seljak Brand, I started an art gallery and community space in West End, Brisbane with a crew of friends. I was also one of the founders of No Lights No Lycra Brisbane. Alongside this, I worked at small businesses (Gilimbaa Indigenous Creative Agency, Ruby Olive and Wray Organic) so I had a great insight into the hows when it comes to running a business, but I also knew that it takes A LOT of hard work. It was very natural for me to move down the entrepreneurial path.

When did the idea for Seljak first come about?

When Karina and I decided it was time to start a project together, we were inspired by businesses driven with purpose. We came across the circular economy concept and became obsessed with using waste as a resource, and finding ways to close the loop. After a year of research and concept development, we were super excited when we found a mill in Tasmania who used the offcuts from the factory floor to make new yarn. That, coupled with a desire to use an Australian resource like wool, lead to the idea of blankets.

What impact do you hope to make with Seljak?

Seljak Brand envisions a world without waste. We want to use waste to make useful and beautiful things. So far we’ve diverted almost 2000kg of textiles waste from landfill. We also donate one out of every ten blankets sold to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in Melbourne to provide warmth and comfort for those making their home in Australia. Finally, we want to ignite conversations about doing business differently and not exploiting the world’s depleting resources for profit.

What steps did you take in order to go from idea to making it a business?

We did a lot of market research, consumed as much information as we could on the circular economy, permaculture principles and closed loop thinking, and spent three months in India learning about textiles manufacturing (which is sadly a dying craft in Australia). Karina had studied Fashion Design and Advertising at university and myself, Economics and Journalism so we are like yin and yang when it comes to running Seljak Brand. When there’s something that isn’t intuitive to me, it usually is for her, and vice versa.

Tell us about your process of launching you ING Dreamstarter campaign – what was it like, why did you do it, and how did you ensure your campaign was successful?

We had a great experience crowdfunding and encourage anyone with an idea that needs a cash boost to do it! We chose crowdfunding because we had a project idea that hadn’t been done before. So we needed some capital to make it happen; for R&D and testing, so we could prove our concept. We were lucky to reach our goal within 48 hours and that mostly came down to mobilising our community and networks to help us spread the word. Even our parents were telling all of their friends!

Why is having a brand with a social good purpose important to you?

I think there are so many problems in the world that I couldn’t run a business without the purpose of at least tackling one of them! We’re at a critical point in time where we need to shift the current profit-focused paradigm and create more innovative and alternative business models that can be supported in the future economy.

Where is your favourite place to adventure?

My favourite place is Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island) off Brisbane. It’s absolute paradise and every time is an adventure… it’s rich with wildlife and you can surf with dolphins, camp within metres of the beach or just read a book in a hammock for hours on end and completely switch off. Definitely my happy place.

What would you recommend to someone who has an idea, but hasn’t gone for it yet?

Talk about it with your community, gauge people’s interest, read Lean Startup to understand the concept of launching with a Minimum Viable Product, research the market, refine your idea and start small!

To learn more and purchase your blanket head on over to Seljak Brand.

Rad Livin’: Meet Emily Somers Founder of Bravery Co.

Wednesday // August 8 // 2018

You know when you see someone starting a brand and their passion shines through so much that you want to be a part of it? That’s how I felt when I found Bravery Co. on the ING Dreamstarter crowdfunding site.

Emily Somers is a Melbourne native who took off on a remote year to travel the world and start Bravery Co. Bravery Co. is brand with purpose creating headscarves for cancer patients in mind, but can be worn by anyone who loves a chic scarf and supporting a powerful initiative. From being a cancer warrior herself, Emily saw a big gap in the market for young adult cancer patients. She created Bravery Co. as a way to show them that they are not in it alone, and 10% of all profits go to Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation.

Emily is passionate, inspiring, creative, and an all around legend of a human. We can’t wait for you to meet her.

Meet Emily Somers…

Where are you in the world?

I’m in London at the moment. I’ve been living here since September last year.

How did you decide to move from Melbourne to London?

Long story! I was traveling the world on a program called Remote Year (a bunch of digital nomads that travel/work around the world together) following which, I ended up living in Belin for 6 months while doing some design freelancing. I have always loved the vibe of the city so it was a dream come true to spend some time there. Also during that time, I started seeing a fellow from London. After 9 months of doing long distance I moved to London. So in short – I suppose I moved to London for love.

How do you follow your bliss? What excites you?

Being surrounded by my favourite humans. Exploring new worlds. Eating all the food. Being outside. Dancing. Music festivals. Brainstorming and making things.

When did the idea for Bravery Co first come about?

Bravery Co. was born after my second stint with cancer. I was sick of wearing my wig and was frustrated that there were no cool cancer headwear companies out there for young cancer warriors. Everything was super daggy and aimed at a much older lady.

So I started playing around with scarves. Once I nailed tying the turban I suddenly felt more like myself. It was a look that didn’t scream ‘cancer patient.’ They made me feel young while dealing with what I perceived to be an older person’s disease. I stopped getting pity stares and started getting asked how I tied my scarf. Half the time people didn’t even know I was sick until I told them! It’s this sense of confidence and bravery I want to pass onto others going through a similar ordeal.

You had the idea, how did you go about creating the product?

It’s been a long and slow journey to get to where we are! We started off sourcing scarves from other scarf suppliers. The first three designs I bought were from the lovely Ovae (previously Caravana). I wore her scarves through treatment so it made sense to begin there. Then I started picking up designs around the world while I was traveling. Surprisingly – this was really hard. Every scarf was either not soft enough, a bit daggy, not the right shape or way too expensive.

I always knew I wanted to create our own Bravery designs but all this research really solidified it. I also wanted scarves that had been created specifically for a warrior in mind. Young adults are a bit of a forgotten demographic in the cancer world so I wanted them to know someone similar to them was designing for them. I wanted them to know they were not alone. In saying that – anyone can wear a Bravery scarf – they are for scarf lovers and cancer haters.

I have been working on our designer range for about a year now. We’ve built up a collection of kick ass illustrators and so the collection was slowly growing. When I got into Dreamstarter this acted as a bit of a deadline. I trialled a couple of manufacturers and lots of different materials until I found the right one that was soft and held the colours well.

What are you extremely passionate about?

Making the cancer world less scary and lonely for those that find them self in it.

Making it easier for everyone to talk about cancer. It’s a super hard topic but you can’t really avoid it when a friend gets diagnosed.

Being a nice person. My friends. Seeing the world. Big loud prints. Finding a cure to cancer. And most types of chocolate.

Congrats on your ING Dreamstarter crowdfunding campaign being a total success! What did you do in order to get the word out there? Overall, what worked the best?

I feel like I was on Instagram about 40% of my day! Ha. I started doing stories and live feeds which I had never really done and still make me very nervous but people like seeing who is behind the brand. It makes it real – even if you stutter and stumble over all your words! It’s a lovely way to connect with my Bravery backers, survivors and cancer warriors.

I had some help from the wonderful Charlotte from ‘In The Beginning PR’ that helped me refine my press release doc and get the word out there. Working with wonderful illustrators that have lots of followers helped as they shared the designs they did.

And I suppose having my story has been the best way to promote Bravery Co. I do feel proud that something great has come out of a pretty average couple of years with cancer. For that reason, I’m happy to tell my story. Hopefully it helps others that are going through a rough patch too.

Did you have any fear before launching Bravery Co.? If so, how did you overcome it?

I was never scared to launch Bravery Co. In fact, not launching it wasn’t an option – I knew there was a gap in the market and it could really help other cancer warriors. I would have been devastated if someone else beat me to it and I think that was all the motivation I needed. I also started it while I was still freelancing full time so the financial risk wasn’t huge. In my mind, the worst case scenario was that it would be a flop, no one would buy anything and all my friends would be getting scarves for Christmas until 2020. When I’m doing anything that is out of my comfort zone, I always imagine the worst possible scenario that could happen. Most of the time it results in losing money, going back to advertising and moving back in with my parents. These are all things that I can deal with so I normally carry on!

My biggest problem in launching was dedicating the time needed to turn the idea into a business. I’ve got a creative mind and love big idea thinking, but when it comes down to the details and the paperwork required to make it happen – I kind of suck. I was working full time in advertising and I’m very easily distracted by my social life so I needed a deadline. When I was accepted into Remote Year, I knew I would be out of Australia for a year or two and that created a now or never moment. If I didn’t launch before I left, then by the time I got home again I would be too removed from my cancer experience. I knew it wouldn’t happen. So two weeks before I left, I bought some scarves, roped in a photographer friend and another survivor and we shot some images. I had already designed the branding so all I needed to do was create the website and get Mum (my logistics queen) set up with the scarves. I launched Bravery Co. during my second month on Remote Year while working on a beach in Thailand! That is a memory I’ll never forget.

How do you believe someone can use their own story to positively impact others?

When you share your story, other people going through the same thing don’t feel as alone. This is especially true in the cancer world as a young warrior. My experience with cancer was so limited and I was terrified when I first got diagnosed. It wasn’t until I found my first chemo buddy who had the same cancer as me and was a couple of years younger that I felt less isolated. No one gets cancer like someone that has been of going through it. We’re super lucky to be living in a world where all this technology can connect us with others and we can create a community to support and encourage each other. This is what I hope to do through Bravery Co.

If you have a story – They have probably had similar things or have faced the same problem. People can relate to it.

Follow Emily’s journey over on Instagram and check out her epic scarves on her site. x

Guest Post by Ash Katch: Answering The Calls of Your Heart

Friday // May 4 // 2018

This is a guest post written by Ash Katch, Videographer, Vlogger, and Community Manager of #RadLivin.

Words by Ashley Katchadourian…

I always walk in circles during important phone calls. I was pacing around the pool in the back yard of the house I lived in Ventura, California on the phone with my cousin Nick asking his advice. “I have a feeling I need to go to this festival in Australia. But I’m not sure if I would be too crazy to fly all the way out there on a hunch.” I called Nick because he always gives great advice and is driven by prudence much more than I am. I think I was just looking for approval to do what I already knew I was going to do.

I remember when I first found DontTellSummer. It was a few months before the Nick phone call in my room in the town I grew up in. I was scrolling through the explore page of Instagram, feeling tired, mentally. I was craving to finally start living my dream life. I wanted to travel, be passionate again, make my difference in the world but didn’t know how to do any of it. I saw a photo that struck a familiar chord. I clicked on the name of the account, and when I looked through the @donttellsummer feed. I thought, this feels like the vision board for my dream life: doing what you love every day. I didn’t know what “Don’t Tell Summer” meant but I knew I liked it.

After I hung up with Nick, I went back inside and stared at the booking screen for a $1000 round-trip ticket to Sydney, Australia to go to first annual #RadLivin Festival by DontTellSummer. It was my first adventure financed by my credit card. But it was Valentine’s Day and I had no plans so #treatyourself.

Between the time I found DTS and booked my ticket to Sydney, I had moved to a new town to pursue my dream job and started a blog called “From Raw to Recycled,” a blog to exhort companies to start using recycled materials to produce goods instead of raw materials. These were the first two steps I ever took to start pursing my dream life.

I remember emailing the founder of DTS, Olivia, after the festival saying I had the best time. I met the most amazing people, was so inspired by speakers sharing their stories about how they are doing what they love, and boogied to my favorite music with my new mates. I just kept thinking how genius it is to mix inspirational speakers with live music. I would tell people, “It’s literally the best event you’ll ever go to.”

Fast forward to 10 months later when I’m booking my next ticket to Sydney, only this time it was a one-way ticket.

When I got back to the states after #RadLivin, I had set a goal that I was going to move back as soon as possible. I moved back home from Ventura to save money and started working for dad. 2016 ended up being such an exciting time. I was living off the high of #RadLivin, I was frothing the idea of moving back to Sydney, and my blog evolved to what it is today, ashkatch.com. By the end of the year I started a YouTube channel that would be about sustainability and travel, two of my biggest passions. I was taking bigger strides toward living my dream life. I was nurturing my passions and my direction was becoming more clear.

In January 2017, I moved to Sydney with a single backpack, a YouTube channel, a determination to really start living, and absolutely no plan.

A few weeks later I found myself tailoring my resume for an intern position that Olivia was advertising on DTS. Before I could send my email to apply, I get a message from Olivia asking if I would be interested in helping out with #RadLivin that year. I said “yes” in that extremely calm way when you’re trying to overcompensate for your excitement.

After #RadLivin, Olivia and I were at one of the local favorite spots eating tacos and sipping margaritas when she mentions she wants to go to Europe during June/July. I was like, “I’m keen.” And then plans for an epic Europe trip were started–my first trip to Europe!

I went to Italy first and met up with Olivia in Greece. I couldn’t believe it. I was traveling, creating videos, and had to have a moment to let it sink in that I was living my dream life. Like I was actually in it.

After Europe, I went back to California for a wedding and ended up staying home to work for dad again. I just had a gut feeling I should stay for a while. Maybe that gut feeling was from my bank account. Regardless, this time living at home and working for dad felt different. I wasn’t unhappy because I knew the bigger vision for my life, and I knew more clearly what path I wanted to be on. I ended up going full-on with work, full-on with YouTube, all while starting to dream on the 3^rd annual #RadLivin Festival. I did this for 5 months and am not sure if I actually slept at all during that time. But I was so happy.

One day I had an idea to make a parody video of one of my biggest role models, a business man/entrepreneur. Through that video, I was introduced to a new community of people passionate about hustle, entrepreneurship, and positivity. My life as a video creator was maturing and my brand was evolving to the message it currently is, “Live Your Daydream.”

I moved back to Australia in late 2017 and got to travel Australia and meet some of the most incredible people. And that brings us to where I currently am, sitting in a café in Bondi Beach, listening to Odesza on Australia Day 2018.

It’s weird to think about how that one seemingly irresponsible decision to fly to Australia in 2016, using money that I didn’t have, to go to a festival that had never happened before, has lead me to where I am now. I just wrapped up the best year of my life. During that time became best mates with Olivia, who inspires me to do what I love every day and who was the one who inspired me to start taking steps in the first place. I’m in a place now where I’ve fallen in love with the journey and not the destination. I’m enjoying every day now in confidence.

Doing what you love doesn’t have a destination. It’s a path that you start walking. It’s little moments of saying yes to who you are and what lights up your heart. It’s as easy as starting a blog or as risky as putting a trip to Australia on a credit card. Sometimes it’s easy as making plans over margaritas and other times you don’t sleep for 5 months. Sometimes you ask for advice and other times you listen to your gut. It’s different for everyone but the common denominator is it always starts with saying “yes.” Yes to who you are and yes to doing what you love. Your dream life is possible and you are deserving of it; start saying yes.

Connect with Ashley over on Instagram, Youtube, and her blog.