Morning Friends,

I trust you're well. I think the change of season to Autumn and those few days and weeks of it happening are some of my favourite of the year. I'm going to share some photos of a recent trip of mine to the south of Scotland so I hope you enjoy. Here's one for starters -

I'm keen to share with you this morning some thoughts on life, change and creativity. The past 3 months have been the busiest of my life so far with the wee one arriving. Yet one positive to come from that I wasn't expecting was it makes prioritising what's important in life much easier. Days fly in but everything we already know that's important is highlighted massively. You have to be much more proactive in fitting in the vital stuff around everything else life is throwing at you. This always happens at a transition moment in life and the test is ultimately to stay consistent and stay afloat.

Wonderful people I've connected with through this project always stated how impressed they were with my consistency of posting a letter and podcast every week for 4-ish years. It didn't feel 'difficult' somewhat and that's a blessing. Now it's hard. But it'll pass, like everything in life. A question for you to reflect on would be - 'how have you dealt with transition/change moments in your life?' A change in career, relationships or moving location could be examples of this. These are tests. You have to suck it up right? But you have to have the end goal in mind. What's it all for? Probably happiness.

Never take for granted the time you have to pursue what you want. As humans, we are the worst at making the most of time. Whether it's not properly appreciating what you have or an experience you're having, we'll always look back wishing we'd made the most of it. Or it could be the wasting of time; there's times to waste it well (walking or coffee with friends) but too much of the time we let it slip through our hands and wish we'd done more with it. I feel this is something everyone should pursue creatively: The time you have, you should pursue creativity or art. It is completely your interpretation of what that is. A hobby somewhat or something new. Something your soul is searching for. Something your mind wants to ignite. Something with zero expectations apart from joy of exploration.

One important thing to consider here is your definition of happiness. Not success. Not even happiness. Contentment. Ignore the noise of online and your social circles about the definition of success. It'll suffocate you eventually. There have been times I've considered what I want out of this project and there's always the moments and temptations of commercial success. But it's not everything. Even those that say it's not everything are usually the ones who have more money than they know what to do with.

True pursuit of the arts is knowing you'll only scratch the surface with what you achieve yet it'll bring you joy every time you turn up for it. That zone of flow where you have nothing to lose. Skin in the game with nothing to lose. I'm not being unrealistic by saying you'll enjoy it every time you show up. You maybe just haven't found it yet. There'll be times you won't feel like it but that will always subside once begun. Just make sure you know that what you're creating will bring you the joy you want.

Remove the expectations that doing something creative should have a measurable impact. Be selfish and do it for you. There is definitely a segment of life that is for the arts and nature. You should lean into it more and see what it brings you. Or what other parts of your life it illuminates. Otherwise, you may be missing out.

Have a great rest of your week!

Best,

Lawrence

PS. new bit I'm trying here but going to include a little bit of what I'm up to at the end of each letter purely for you to enjoy. So last week, I had time off work so I spent 3-4 days in the south of Scotland with the gang (wife, dog and son) exploring new places we've never been and taking in the sights (some natural, some historic). I'm trying to get back into some training routines post-back injury too so have managed to do a few sprints and bodyweight work in the last week. Let me know if you liked this little snippet and if you'd like me to include it more often :)