My Own Personal Mood Board: Pinning Down What Matters (and What Doesn't)
Hey besties! It's Wednesday, September 17th, 2025, 9 AM here in sunny LA, and I'm on my second iced oat latte already. Don't judge! My brain has been buzzing since yesterday, and honestly, I kinda needed the extra caffeine. Yesterday, I was all about the beauty of the unfinished sketch, embracing the "almost there" phase of my life. And that felt really good, like a sigh of relief, you know?
But then, as I was walking to class this morning, thinking about all these reflections – the imperfections, the amazing people, the plot twists, designing my own narrative, and now the unfinished sketch – it all started to feel a bit... abstract. Like I was talking around what I'm actually doing to develop.
And then it hit me: it's like I've been creating this massive, invisible mood board for my life. All these thoughts and realizations? They're the images, the fabric swatches, the little notes I'm pinning up. And the whole point of a mood board isn't just to gather pretty things; it's to define a direction. To figure out what fits, what resonates, and what, frankly, needs to be tossed out.
So, this "Development" stage I'm in isn't just about acknowledging the messy process; it's about actively curating it. It's about taking all those insights from the past few days and asking myself: "Okay, Mandy, what are you actually going to do with this? How does this inform your next steps?"
Like, recognizing the value of imperfections? That means I'm trying to be kinder to myself when a design doesn't immediately click, or when I mess up in a yoga pose. Appreciating my people? That means making a conscious effort to schedule coffee dates, not just rely on chance encounters. Embracing plot twists? That means when something unexpected happens, instead of spiraling, I'm trying to pause and ask, "Okay, what's the lesson here? What new door might this open?"
It’s less about just thinking about these concepts and more about applying them. It’s about taking my personal mood board and actually starting to cut out patterns from it. It's still messy, still evolving, but now I feel like I'm not just observing the chaos; I'm actively, consciously, and sometimes a little awkwardly, shaping it.
Wish me luck as I try to make sense of all these beautiful, chaotic pins on my personal mood board! Time to go design my day! ✨