I’ve learnt a lot in the last year, both professionally and creatively. Particularly how these relate to me, how they fit into my life and the way I respond to both aspects. For me possibly the most important thing has been improving my confidence in everything I do. It really all started just over a year ago. I was looking around universities and was planning to go to this particular one for an open day, but I didn’t really know anyone else going and didn’t want to awkwardly walk around like a loner! So my reserved self intended not to go. But then after thinking about it, I decided that wasn”t a very good attitude to have at all and was like ‘I really can’t go on like this.’ I’d overheard a girl in my year talking about wanting to go to the open day as well, but I didn’t know her at all really and normally my awkward self would have just left it, but for some reason I had a ‘spark of genius’ and thought about maybe going with her so that we could both be lost and confused around the uni together. So I contacted her on Facebook to see if she would come with me…in fact here’s the actual message that started it off!
And so we ended up going together…and becoming amazing friends afterwards, even to this day. I was so happy because I had gone so far out of my comfort zone and things had turned out so brilliantly.
Still the best of friends on holiday in Amsterdam this year!
From that day onwards I’ve been encouraged to go further out of my comfort zone without being so worried about how things will turn out or how others will react to me or my work. For example, for the book that Leanna and I had designed in a horror-like style (seen in a previous post) I was initially slightly worried about people being offended or classmates/lecturers assuming that we were weirdos/ psychos (haha), as well as religion being a touchy subject sometimes, but I decided to let that slide because it was OUR idea. We should be able to work without worrying about the thoughts of others so much. I’m not much of a horror person anymore, so looking up symbols and researching creepy stuff took me out of my comfort zone, as well as having to display it in front of the entire class afterwards. However it was received quite positively (for a scary, old book!) and further proving the idea of leaving comfort behind.
Even with making friends and meeting new people, I have been feeling a lot more confident. This is a great skill that is required in practically all jobs and every other part of life, so therefore it’s a good thing I’m learning to work with it better every day! Communication and team skills are essential, particularly in the film business. I surprised myself with how quickly I have settled here, it feels like I’ve been here a lot longer than a month (which is a good thing, promise!) and I put that down to purely having the confidence to meet new people and form good relationships relatively quickly. Something ‘a year ago Lauren’ probably wouldn’t have thought she could.
New friends and I are very close!
Before now, showing my work, feeling and ideas has always proven to be a hard and awkward situation with me, particularly when directly talking to other people. But over the past few months and especially these few weeks, it’s suddenly become a lot easier. I’ve been learning to share my ideas and get helpful and informative feedback, which is always good to hear! It’s nice to here responses or comments to my work, the positive inspires me to keep going and the more critical can only improve me. It’s a win win situation!
I created a collage of all the feedback I have gotten in the past year for me to go back and look at :
So basically summing up what I’ve learnt : Be crazy, be wild, feel uncomfortable at times and try new things always!
Lauren Fox 