Pages

Non-Career Advice: Emily Johnston.

Non-Career Advice is a series that asks people - young, old, and in a range of occupations - for words of wisdom unrelated to work, career-building, dollars, or getting ahead.

Emily Johnston / Artist + Photographer
Also: Owner of Gil / creator of collages / friend to many (myself included)
Age: 32

Embrace what's working — and give yourself a break. "I had a sort of identity crisis last year. It was a time of a lot of uncertainty — I was asking myself a lot of questions about what I was doing, what I wanted to be doing. I was putting a lot of pressure on myself in general. Then, out of nowhere, I remember having this amazing series of conversations over coffee with different women who were all really passionate about finding their own path, and who were determined not to adhere to a pre-scripted vision of what life is supposed to look like. At one point in the middle of this, I noticed that all of these women — every one — had dirty hair. I thought, here's this beautiful, inspiring girl who has her shit together, and her hair is a mess. It was an epiphany. It made me realize that I could let go of some of the pressure I was putting on myself. That my perfectionism wasn't necessarily serving me. That I can embrace what's working for me — and what I'm doing well — and not get caught up in other things that don't matter as much."

Beautiful. Thanks so much, Emily. Read more about the Non-Career Advice series, here.

Photo by Jack Sebastian via Emily's Instagram (one of my favorite feeds). 

17 comments:

  1. As a new(ish) mom this rings especially true. Such a good reminder for wherever you are in your life!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This resonates so much. And wow - her photography is stunning!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Life lesson comes in various forms - in her case, messy hair!
    I love her photography.

    ReplyDelete
  4. beautiful. love this. love this series!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love this, so very inspiring.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Shoko this is my favourite series and it's only just begun, I hope you definitely continue it :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. WOW. I really love this series. Very inspiring, very true. And Emily's pictures are so amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Non-career advice. I had to do a double take upon first reading that. Beautiful, and what a great idea for a series!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Gorgeous words, beautiful lady.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks for all your wonderful comments! Emily's spirit is as beautiful as her work — I'm so happy to have her as the first guest for Non-Career Advice! More to come...

    ReplyDelete
  11. I haven't had a haircut in almost 3 years now, and these days I'm rocking really long, kind of wavy, pretty frizzy, split-ended hair. One of my best friends has an intense dislike for my unkempt mane--as an undergrad I had regular appointments with a stylist--but I wear my hair as a badge of pride. This advice rings SO TRUE! Thank you so much for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Ya, I need to ditch some of that perfectionism too! It's a constant battle for me :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. oh wow, this is so relevant to how I've been feeling lately too. I went through the exact same thing & I to realised its okay to miss a hair wash :P

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hooray! I love the idea behind this series, Shoko. xx

    ReplyDelete
  15. I do this too but with my nails, haha! They aren't dirty, but are just generally unkempt. Every once in a while I'll break down and have a mani/pedi night (which means that I groom, but don't paint). Thanks for helping me feel better about this. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  16. I do this too but with my nails, haha! They aren't dirty, but are just generally unkempt. Every once in a while I'll break down and have a mani/pedi night (which means that I groom, but don't paint). Thanks for helping me feel better about this. :-)

    ReplyDelete

 

© sho and tell All rights reserved . Design by Blog Milk Powered by Blogger