We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mashal Rasul. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mashal below.
Mashal , appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?
One of the biggest roadblocks to staying creative is the fear of failure. What if my art isn’t as good as someone else’s? What if someone is already doing that? Thoughts can turn into beliefs and the more we are scared to start, the more we mask our creativity. Art is a skill that develops. Yes, there are people that are naturally gifted and talented but that doesn’t mean that being creative is exclusive to those individuals. It’s important to note that even those individuals spend hours practicing to get to where they are. Everyone has a unique perspective and creativity truly comes to life the moment we take that leap of faith and try.
Now, how to keep that motivation alive? Well, that can be difficult for most, myself included. The biggest tip I’d suggest for maintaining creativity is to keep it fun and enjoyable. It’s easy to get into the mindset of “how can I make money off this”, especially with the accessibility of an audience through social media. I’ve fallen in that trap with photography, web designing, and even painting. I sometimes catch myself thinking “this would be really cool to make into a small business”. Now, for those who know perusing a career as an artist or owning a business is what gets them out of bed every morning, then I’d say follow that! But, for others like myself, that just enjoy being creative but aren’t driven by it, I’d say don’t fall into the trap of basing your creativity on a business model.
In my experience the more I tried to do that the less motivation I had. It took the fun out of being creative and made it mundane. Again, this isn’t the case for everyone, but I oftentimes ran into creative slumps because of it. Staying creative should be fun and exciting. When I use it as an outlet I find that I create my best work. I currently am working towards a healthcare profession and being creative has been an outlet and a form of self-care. I cut out time in the month to do things like concert photography, painting, or making graphics as a form of self-care for my mind. I stay creative as a way to just have fun and relax and that for me has been the biggest motivator to stay with it.
Think about when kids are drawing. They aren’t focused on how good something looks but instead are happy to just be creating. Reminding myself that I want creativity to spark joy in my life instead of being a stressor is what helps keep it alive. Don’t be afraid to make something that doesn’t look like how you envisioned. Style comes with time and practice. All you have to do is not be afraid to start.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I currently am working towards going back to school to get a second masters in the healthcare field. I have a masters in social work and have hospital experience but I lately have been more interested in the medical side of health care rather than just the mental health side. I think my background in mental health would be beneficial in patient care in addition to learning about the medical side of healthcare.
In my free time, I try to stay creative. I do concert photography and freelance web designing. I am in the midst of working on building a website for a company as well as marketing materials. I love helping brands find their style and how they want to be represented. I focus on aspects such as coloring, logos, fronts, and the general message they want to present. When the concert season starts to pick back up in San Diego, you can find me at venues at the photo pit!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Three things that were the most impactful in my journey were learning how to get creative with networking, staying curious, and never settling at a job that just wasn’t the right fit. Networking is one of the best ways to get your foot in the door. When I was starting out I would reach out on LinkedIn to people that had the type of jobs that I wanted and asked them for a cup of coffee or brief phone call to ask about how they got to where they were today. There were a lot of people who didn’t respond but there were also a lot of people that did. People are willing to share their insights to those starting out so don’t be afraid to reach out to people. When I switched my career path from marketing to social work I did not have a strong network. I decided to reach out to psychologists on psychology today and offer the service of updating their websites in exchange for a conversation about their career path. Most people passed but there were some that said yes. That lead to working with an amazing client who is still in my life today and we work on new projects from time to time. Moral of the story is that you never know what can happen when you put yourself out there. The worst someone can say is no, which isn’t something to take personally.
It can also be easy to stay in jobs that aren’t the most ideal when you’re first starting out. Experience is the key to getting the job you eventually want, however that doesn’t mean you should settle for a job that is affecting your mental health, and or something you absolutely can’t stand. This takes time but it is important to assess your job often and know when to leave when things don’t feel right anymore. This differs from getting out of your comfort zone and trying new things. It is important to try to take jobs that challenge you because that is what will health with your growth. However, it is not okay to jobs that are taking advantage of you in any way.
Lastly, I’d say being a lifelong learner is one of the best qualities to have in life. Stay curious and continually learn new things. It leads to finding new hobbies and passions and keeps life interesting. Being a continual learner allows opportunities that you may have not have had. There are so many resources to utilize and it was impactful for my journey to continually try to learn new things to make myself more well rounded.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
I would love to partner with individuals that are looking for help with their branding. This can be anything from logo creation, determining color schemes, fonts, photos, etc. I enjoy helping people bring their ideas to life and would love to collaborate with anyone that is looking for that assistance. If people are in need of photos for their website such as portraits, location photos, product photos, or any media content, I would love to collaborate! I always really enjoy bringing someone’s vision to life and helping them build something they love.
You can get in touch with me through my website, mashalrasul.com or reach out to me on instagram @mashal_lila. I’d love to get in touch if you’re looking for help with designs for your brand.
Contact Info:
- Website: mashalrasul.com
- Instagram: mashal_lila
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/mashalrasul
Image Credits
All photos were taken by Mashal Rasul
