Alice Catherine

We are pretty much taught to look towards the future from the get-go – the education system is structured so that we adapt to be forward thinking, and it often feels irresponsible if we don’t have a plan of action for the next five years. I’ve never been someone who has planned to0 far ahead, I can just about manage a couple of weeks worth of appointments written into my scruffy journal, but beyond that is always a blur. Perhaps if I’m lucky, I might have a holiday pencilled in, but there’s always blank space that I have to learn to be comfortable with…

Navigating uncertainty is something that I’ve had to adapt to as I’ve gotten older (and hopefully a bit wiser). Whilst I’m all for manifesting things that we want out of life, I could never have pictured the life I have now a few years back. If someone told me I’d be running my own business and collaborating with my favourite brands, I’d have insisted they had the wrong gal… 

If I’m honest with you, being in a relatively comfortable position still doesn’t offer much security for me. Of course being financially stable is extremely lucky and definitely helps, but I’m also aware that I’ve worked my arse off to get here. With that in mind, I know that the worth ethic I’ve developed will keep me safe in some way or another, and I’m confident that having passion in what you do makes the uncertainty of it all seem less significant. However, it doesn’t mean that things won’t change – the internet world is always evolving, and most things in life are temporary…

Freelancing can sometimes feel like living on the edge, but I often remind myself of times I worked in an office and didn’t feel much different. In fact, I feel as though I have more security these days because I have full control over everything that I do. Working for someone else often felt like my fate was always in someone else’s hands – I never felt like I had full transparency, and to be honest, I never really felt appreciated…

Nothing makes working for yourself sweeter than a string of shitty jobs beforehand. Whenever I feel as though I’m starting to panic about the future and what it holds for me career wise, I just remind myself how far I’ve progressed up until this point. I think it’s something we all need to do more of – so many of us have a ‘what’s next?’ way of thinking, rather than just allowing ourselves to enjoy the present.

There are moments when I really have the motivation to work on something new and plan towards something new, and other times when I just want to sit in the middle of what I’ve created for a while and just enjoy it. Complacency isn’t the enemy of creativity – sometimes we need those moments of calm satisfaction in order to recharge and return with a new kind of energy. 

I’m not quite sure where I see myself in five years time, I guess I’d like to own a house somewhere and still be blogging – even if it’s not still my full time job. I want to travel and create as much as possible during the next five years, and that’s really as far as my mind wanders. Ultimately, hopes and dreams are important to get us out of bed each morning, but the future is out of our control. It’s not tangible, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with letting go of that control we are taught to obsess over, and just grabbing what we can in the present… 

This is starting to sound like some sort of spiritual Ted Talk, but I think there’s huge strength in abandoning these ideals that weigh down on us because of society. We aren’t all meant to follow the same path and that’s perfectly okay. I often felt that I was being stubborn or difficult because I didn’t want to have the same working day five days out of the week. I just kept thinking that there ‘had to be more to life than sitting in a dark office everyday and working on projects that I wasn’t enthusiastic about.’ Adapting to a the lifestyle of a freelancer has taught me that there’s always something worth experiencing, just beyond our fears and insecurities…

Everyone is essentially a ‘work in progress’ and that’s what keeps life interesting. We don’t need to dwell on uncertainty and make ourselves unhappy, but we can use it to motivate us and fuel the journey as we go along. 

Photographs taken by Catherine Booty 

Blazer – vintage, Jumpsuit – Mango, Shoes – Superga X Alexa Chung, Sunglasses c/0 – Jimmy Fairly, Bag – Elleme

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