I created these designs about a year ago while in therapy - these are sayings my therapist had me write down on sticky notes to better remember. I placed the sticky notes all throughout my room, but as a design student that wasn’t a very sustainable method (aesthetically at least). I decided to make room decorations out of three of them, the three I felt were most impactful. Creating these helped for a couple different reasons. First, it allowed me to focus my energy on how I wanted to remember these affirmations, instead of what was contributing to my anxiety. And second, I still have them pinned up in my room, which is a helpful daily reminder.
For a bit of context, I have struggled with anxiety for a while, but within the past few years it has really become a much larger part of my life (hence therapy). During this time period, my anxiety meter was pretty high because of my school and professional work. At the time, I felt inadequate and that my design work lacked in almost every aspect. The program that the three of us are in is highly competitive with extremely “successful” students and graduates (I have placed successful in quotes here because the marker for success is different for everyone). My marker for “success” has always been wrapped up in grades and doing well in school; on top of that, however, this time period was the internship search for our program, and I was putting a lot of internal pressure on myself to get an internship that I could learn from and feel proud of. Would it have truly mattered if I had not gotten one? No, but the atmosphere in classes and from peers made the expectation to get one almost suffocating.
As a result, I began distancing myself from my classmates so I didn’t have to listen to them talk about where they were applying or what internships they were getting. Instead of participating and feeling energized by the conversations and getting excited for classmates and myself, I took everything personally and classes began to feel like a bragging session and competition. As I would talk to my therapist about this, she would talk about it all and help me work through it (as a therapist does). Whenever she said something that would resonate with me, I would write it down on the sticky notes, and thus these affirmations were created.
These affirmations still help me to remember the bigger picture and remind me not to compare myself to others. This doesn’t mean I never compare myself to others (I’m human), they just help me calm down when needed.
Disclaimer: Not all my original work. This is just for expression and my own personal mental health, not for sale. I got visual inspiration for the first affirmation from a similar design by Jonathan Calugi for Reposte Magazine.
I created these designs about a year ago while in therapy - these are sayings my therapist had me write down on sticky notes to better remember. I placed the sticky notes all throughout my room, but as a design student that wasn’t a very sustainable method (aesthetically at least). I decided to make room decorations out of three of them, the three I felt were most impactful. Creating these helped for a couple different reasons. First, it allowed me to focus my energy on how I wanted to remember these affirmations, instead of what was contributing to my anxiety. And second, I still have them pinned up in my room, which is a helpful daily reminder.
For a bit of context, I have struggled with anxiety for a while, but within the past few years it has really become a much larger part of my life (hence therapy). During this time period, my anxiety meter was pretty high because of my school and professional work. At the time, I felt inadequate and that my design work lacked in almost every aspect. The program that the three of us are in is highly competitive with extremely “successful” students and graduates (I have placed successful in quotes here because the marker for success is different for everyone). My marker for “success” has always been wrapped up in grades and doing well in school; on top of that, however, this time period was the internship search for our program, and I was putting a lot of internal pressure on myself to get an internship that I could learn from and feel proud of. Would it have truly mattered if I had not gotten one? No, but the atmosphere in classes and from peers made the expectation to get one almost suffocating.
As a result, I began distancing myself from my classmates so I didn’t have to listen to them talk about where they were applying or what internships they were getting. Instead of participating and feeling energized by the conversations and getting excited for classmates and myself, I took everything personally and classes began to feel like a bragging session and competition. As I would talk to my therapist about this, she would talk about it all and help me work through it (as a therapist does). Whenever she said something that would resonate with me, I would write it down on the sticky notes, and thus these affirmations were created.
These affirmations still help me to remember the bigger picture and remind me not to compare myself to others. This doesn’t mean I never compare myself to others (I’m human), they just help me calm down when needed.
Disclaimer: Not all my original work. This is just for expression and my own personal mental health, not for sale. I got visual inspiration for the first affirmation from a similar design by Jonathan Calugi for Reposte Magazine.
