Ever-lution

The last few years have seen a lot of soul searching for me - a lot of likes, dislikes, needs and dreams. This year, while I set out to make more time for me and the things I love, or need, I am strengthening my awareness of it all. I'm paying attention to the things that are actually a treat, actually joyful, healthy, helpful, or empowering.

For a while now I have been finding my way through the joy and reward of the constant evolution of communication and marketing. Of course, this would not be a joyful process without the support and encouragement of the incredible humans that choose to show up and give support in my life, both at home and at Vivo. The trust and freedom given to allow for the new, for risk, testing and even failing forward, lends to the joy of it all. Thank you to everyone who helps, gives, supports and trusts this process.

And the process? Listening, developing, testing and launching something that you truly believe will help, will make a difference, and will connect with the right people. The greatest joy for me of discovering and living this process is how it is not specific to marketing and communications. This is a process that can, and should be, applied to life.

Making informed decisions for the right people is rewarding. Seeing the outcome and the impact just makes you want to do it all again. Knowing that you are never finished may at first sound daunting or exhausting, but I would argue it's also a saving grace, a delight, and an ever-existing chance to do better.

It's pretty simple to see how this relates to marketing and communications but think of this as a parent. Think about how at first you co-slept and wore your baby in a sling all day, because at that time, that was the most relevant and meaningful way to make an impact. As they grew they started to sleep in their own bed and started walking on their own, your old ways - though effective at the last stage - shifted. The next evolution came, you had to dig deeper, and it was different than the first time. This happens constantly with parenting, you build on what you've built. Every stage brings new joys and new challenges and every single time you adjust, you shift your words, your thinking, your actions, you readjust to meet the new needs of your sweet baby, toddler, child, teenager - audience.

And let's be honest, that's tiring, its exhausting, and at times defeating to have to change your tactics and your approach. But every time you do it, you do it because you want what is best for your child. You want to raise the best human you can with honesty, kindness and compassion. And every time it works, you experience the joy and reward of finding a new level of understanding, communicating and being.

As humans, my hope is that we can allow ourselves to want what is best for one another. When we choose to listen and understand, to shift and to serve, we not only please others, we experience the reciprocal joy of the outcome that empathy made space for. Sharing and communicating with honesty and empathy allows for us to deepen our connections to one another. Every time we dig deeper we get more. We find our tribes and we continue the evolution, together. Our deepened connection allowing for a better, more effective, stronger impact. And so it continues.

The constant evolution of life, of communication, and understanding - it's fascinating - or maybe that's just me.

- lovefrommaria