I’ve been listening to this awesome podcast recently called Pray Plan Slay. Honestly, it’s really been helping me with where I am in my craft and in my life, and motivating me to just keep going and working!

One main point that the host Shaunté Saphire made was to work with what you got. A lot of the time I find myself thinking, “If I just had this, THEN I’d be able to create this the way I want, or if I just had more money, I could afford to do this and make it look more professional.” And while it isn’t bad to want to make things as best as they can be, or to want things to improve my creative process, it is bad to completely stop the creative process and progress of something just because I don’t have those things!

But What About the “S” Word?

Some people may read this, and think that working with what they have in front of them means they’re SETTLING…that they’ve given up on the grand vision they have for something, and are throwing out a cheap version of it instead, just to say they did it. Honestly, a part of me felt this way; why would I not wait for my vision to come to fruition if I know the rushed version won’t be as good?

I believe in both honestly: there is a time to wait and be patient for things to come to life. But in that waiting, that doesn’t mean you should completely stop your process! Maybe you’re waiting to hear from someone, or to get money for something. Well, the money doesn’t just fall in your lap; what do you do? You save. You’re waiting, but you’re actively waiting, still accomplishing smaller steps so that the bigger picture can come to life.

So, don’t use the “Well, if I do something now, then I’ll just be settling,” excuse to stop you from working with what you have right in front of you! Think of all the things you do have: What materials could you use? What friends could you call on to help you? What connections might you be able to utilize right now as you build and move forward?

And most importantly, what can you make with all the resources at your fingertips? Not everything has to be perfect; sometimes things just need to be done, as Saphire says. You can always go back and edit or revamp as you need to!

She also makes a valid point: how can we be expected to be given a lot more things to handle, when we can’t even manage the things we have right now? Now is the time to take care of whatever resources you have in your hands right now, and prove that you are capable of handling them, so that when the time comes for more opportunities to be placed in your lap, it is clear that you can deal with them properly because you took care of what you had in the beginning!

I write this to encourage myself as much as I’m encouraging you: WORK👏🏽WITH👏🏽WHAT👏🏽YOU👏🏽GOT! See that there are awesome possibilities you’ve got with the things in front of you! Believe that you’ll learn to manage more as you manage those things!

The podcast inspired me to write this, along with me attempting to write some visions I wanted to happen. I kind of started getting overwhelmed, so I wrote down the question: What do I have? I answered it accordingly, then asked myself, Okay, what can you create with that? I encourage you all to do this exercise! The answers don’t have to be deep, but it will help you realize that you can accomplish much with what you think is just “a little.”

What do you have in your hands right now? How can you utilize those things?

Mishy 🦋💕