Meet Ryan & Amber

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ryan & Amber. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ryan & Amber, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.

We love this question because of how often it’s asked. However, it’s kind of like asking someone how they overcame hunger. Maybe they ate, but eventually they’ll get hungry again. Turns out “overcoming” hunger is simply the daily practice of eating. And if you stop that practice, the hunger comes back.

In the same way, we’ve found that cultivating a practice of intentional, frequent, active self-compassion is the best defense against our propensities to engage in the building blocks of imposter syndrome (comparing our behind-the-scenes to other people’s highlight reels and comparing our performance to our highest imagined potential, for starters).

But the counterintuitive part people often miss is, self compassion includes having compassion for the part of you that insists on believing you’re an imposter. Trying to change or “fix” that part is trying to change or “fix” yourself, which is exactly the behavior we want to avoid (and is, coincidentally, precisely the behavior imposter syndrome beckons of us).

So allow it to think that, and move forward with your art. Be an imposter. It doesn’t matter. We’re all just doing our best to act like humans anyway. Just do your best to act like an artist human. That’s the closest anyone ever gets.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

At HappyBox Productions, we aspire to help folks authentically share their stories and find their voices, fostering inclusion and belonging amongst groups of people who may otherwise feel disconnected, and having fun along the way.

We’re a couple of neurodivergent creatives who highly value social equity and strongly desire to contribute to tangible advocacy. As such, we focus our efforts on working with minority-owned and women-led businesses to build their brands and foster connection. We use the power of story to elevate and amplify the voices of people and demographics that modern Western society is still working to erase, silence, and override. We help our clients’ bottom line by connecting people to brands, visions, and each other through human-centric storytelling.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

First, never stop working to figure out who you are, and who you’re becoming. It’s not so much about landing somewhere as it is about finding yourself at various self-awareness checkpoints and being able to survey your options/choices from the perspectives they afford. Everything you make that matters will spring from who you understand yourself to be. However, you will change. Your life will change. Be ready to pivot.

Second, it’s cliché by this point but still incredibly important: maintain a beginner’s mind. We literally just today (as of writing this) learned about one thousand things we didn’t know were possible with the software we’ve been using for years. Your options are precisely as expansive as your curiosity.

Third, if you’re asked for three things but only have two to give, two is enough.

Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?

Neither!

What matters is whether or not you’re able to do what you need to do, to accomplish what you want to accomplish. If achieving your goals mostly involves doing stuff you’re good at, then this will look like playing to your strengths. If achieving your goals involves stuff you’re bad at, then getting better at those things will look a lot like trying to be more well-rounded.

Regardless of whether you find yourself utilizing mostly your strengths or shoring up your weaknesses, you should enter the “Which aptitudes do I spend my time focusing on” room through the “What will it take to get this done” door, not the “Do I aim for balanced mediocrity or one-sided overkill” door.

We’re obviously not spicy about this 😅.

Really, we’re neurospicy about everything.

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