Are you doing what you love? Are you enjoying life?

It is easy to get caught up in life on a weekly basis and lose a bit of that inspiration and want for life. This week I asked myself the above questions.

Am I doing what I love? Am I enjoying life? 

Well, I get to work for myself which is fun and flexible, I get to work on some fun projects with people helping them to visualize their desired interior space, I get to photograph some beautiful places and I also get to work with my sister on marketing projects. I have lots of variation to keep things interesting. Alas, 70% of the time I am working by myself and it does get a little lonely and what tends to happen is, is loss of motivation as there aren't people around to bounce ideas off of. 

Solution: work with people / a team who are working together toward the same goals. 

I ask myself some more questions;

Am I fulfilling my values in life? Is my work meaningful / making a difference?

Yes to the individuals that I get to work for, I am helping them design and plan their latest project / self-build or extension which in turn satisfies and excites me. Photography wise I am helping architects and designers market their work and with my marketing work I get to be creative and think of new ideas to market within the geospatial industry. 

So yes I am doing some good stuff and can be meaningful. 

Ok this is great but still, there is something missing. Is my work really in line with my core values? I might be fulfilling someones dream of a new extension but do I really want to promote materialism? If the extension is a need for a growing family then perfect but most often than not it is just because people want something for the sake of having it, not because they necessarily need it. Is my photography of lush interior spaces just promoting materialism? Is my marketing just helping people sell a product so that they can just make more money and buy more stuff that they don't need? This is probably a bit extreme but suddenly it isn't looking too good to me. If you couldn't tell already, I don't exactly want to support materialism but of course we all fall victim to it in this society.

Solution: Work on more meaningful projects

How do I do this? I ask myself some more questions.

Insert photograph that I took of Lost Lake in Colorado, to break up the text and give us some visual stimulation in between paragraphs. And also to ponder the questions of course :) 

What are my values? What is important to me, in life?

I want for this world to be less money focused, less greedy and more focused on what is right for this earth, what is right for animals and what is right for people. I want to work on projects that matter and can make a difference. To how we live, how we think about money, how we treat each other, how we treat our planet and all that resides on her. I want to focus my efforts on doing things for the greater good, not doing things for profitability reasons, especially if that profit goes to the wrong people who then spend it on more material efforts and not on bettering the world somehow.

Ok so this is the big picture. How can I focus it down?

I want to be a part of educating people to refocus their values in life. I want to see our whole system change. I want to see creative solutions for teaching kids and people. I want us to revolt from this hierarchy within business, I wish us all to work together to create something amazing. I want us to work as a community sharing our thoughts and ideas that will better the way we do things. That will in turn make us happier. Education systems, society, creative expression. I want to be inspired everyday by my work and I want to inspire others. And everything I do I want it to be a part of the my 'big picture'. Within my work and within my personal life. From eating vegetarian and supporting environmentalism, to working with the latest technologies, software and ideas that will ultimately help us develop and grow as a race. 

Since learning the 3D Modeling software program SketchUp, my mind has been full of the ideas and possibilities it can provide people. I follow many amazing people on Twitter who are designing their own homes on SketchUp, are using plugins like Sefaira to make housing energy efficient. SketchUp helps kids with autism express their ideas in a visual way (click here to find out more). It gives people the possibility to design future developments and express ideas and all within a sharing community whom help one another. SketchUp has endless ability to provide anyone with the chance to explore their ideas and make them a reality. I love that. It is creative, expressive, makes people happy and the community is something to truly admire and strive toward in a grander sense. 

I love to find companies that I believe in and are doing great things. They are part of this greater movement in bettering our world, the way we do things and the way we connect with each other and grow together, and this is what I want to be a part of. Truly. 

Conclusion 

To continue my connection and grow my involvement with SketchUp. To work on more meaningful, sustainable projects all round. Projects that focus on innovative and forward thinking ideas that are a part of working toward advancements for our future development.

"I want to work with people and new technologies that are working towards bettering our future and future generations. I want to work on projects that matter, that improve the planet and people's lives in a meaningful way, not a materialistic way." 

So this has helped me look at what I am doing now and re-focus where I want to put my energy. What kind of projects I want to work on and be a part of. Life is not clear and we are all human but we must always question what we are doing and why we are doing it. So truly ask yourself, and be honest - 

Am I doing what I love? Am I enjoying life? What is important to me? What are my values?

What would you do if you had all the money in the world? How would you live your life differently?

Ask yourself -

"If I had all the money in the world, how would I live my life differently?"

Well, some people might just answer that with, "I want a big house, flash car, flat screen TV, swimming pool (insert endless list of material things) and to sit on my bum and drink and eat, party and get taxied around all day, oh and have people do everything for me." But most people, (I would like to think) would start doing what makes them happy everyday, things that make others happy. They would fulfill their dreams of traveling the world or getting a degree, starting their own company, help others less fortunate, or to finally be able to start and bring up a family.

For me, it might sound strange, but if I had all of the money in the world, I would still want to do exactly what I am doing. I might be able to achieve my goals a little quicker, which would be nice, or be able to fly home when I wanted to see my mum, but alas you also have to try and enjoy the journey while you are living it. And flying back and forth to Scotland would not be an ideal solution for my odd homesickness.

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My journey, the short version- It started with photography which then led to an interest in Interior Architecture and Design. Drawing Floor Plans led to space planning and the combination of all these things, has then driven me towards 3D Modeling and now; 3D Laser Scanning. Pause. This is when I laugh. 

My family industry/business background is laser scanning, surveying, manufacturing. It is ironic that with all of my ideas to pivot away from this industry, follow my own path, that was completely and utterly removed from said industry, to have actually looped full circle and found myself back to where I started. But this makes me very happy. I was lucky enough to go out and explore the world, find my own path, and not be pushed into something I didn't want to do. Growing up, I saw the technology as exciting but the industry, dare I say it? Boring. Dinner table conversations were about surveying, quarrying, mining, distances, measurements; so you can understand, this is not exciting or inspirational conversation to a teenager.

It wasn't until I could start to relate the technology to something that really interested me. Architecture, Interior Design and Photography. It would seem, the world is indeed, a small place and everything and everyone is intertwined. I feel that as technology advances, the world is going to become a much smaller place, where all industries connect and people, relate. This in turn helps with that odd homesickness. :)

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"If I had all the money in the world, how would I live my life differently?"  

I read the question again. If money were no object, I would allow myself to be educated as much as possible, not just in the terms of receiving a degree and to get that well paid job. For the degree is only a piece of paper and that well paid job is not guaranteed, and at the end of the day, you might despise it anyway. But I want to be educated for me, my benefit, for what I want to learn; my passions and my personal goals. A short course, a training session, a workshop, a convention. I think degrees are fantastic and I would probably do another, but they should be catered for the individual, not for the system. (More on this in a later blog.) The trick, is to keep on advancing yourself at every opportunity. I think the best thing we can get out of life, is knowledge. If I hadn't have been involved in those said 'boring' dinner conversations growing up, I probably would not know as much about laser scanning technologies as I do now. And surprise surprise, I have started to use this knowledge. Discovering what I really would change if money were no object has made me realize, I live to be educated, inspired, excited and passionate about what I do. Do not take anything for granted, learn from every situation, from every person, from every job you do, no matter what it is or who they are. For what you learn or who you meet along the way, will probably inevitably, help you in your future. 

 What would you do if you had all the money in the world? How would you live your life differently?