What Design and Life have in common

I already wrote a lot about design and life. But more and more I see that for myself both are the same or almost the same. I think that the aim of design is to make users, people, humans happy - and life has the same aim - I have my life to be happy. And for both it is true as well - working on a design  and as well  living your life can be challenging, and there is no holy grail, no golden path to luck, joy and success ... There's much more to design and life than what we, you and I see. 

Whether I had to design something as town planner and architect (where I started my career) or now as designer for digital products - what is in front of us is a blank paper - and already at this moment I ask nyself and you should ask yourself - are you taking the familiar 8.5″ x 11″ (America) or an A4 (Europe)  or  do you tear a page from huge roll of paper? Meaning are you confining / limiting yourself without good reasons - only because these boundaries are common and familiar?

At the beginning you might and we all do - staring at the blank page before us.  How to overcome the fear of the blank page in writing - the fear of the first line on the paper?  First of all the except the fear - but then - take you time and your way to do it. 

Part the drapes, the grayed curtains, open up the dirty window - and - Let the sun illuminate the words, lines and colors that you could not find. Reaching for something deep inside of you or far in the distance or future - So close you can almost touch it, taste it, feel it - release your inhibitions, your worries and fears - Don't hold back - neither your passion, your future, your creativity and start to type, write, or a fine pencil line along a ruler  or a confident brushstroke off the cuff.

Feel the wet of the rain - the warm of the sun - the chill of the wind on your skin. That is true for design and your life. All this you have to experience or perhaps to research so that you can see it, feel it. No one else can feel it for you. Only you can let it in. No one else can create it for you, can shape it for you - No one can speak the words on your lips. Drench yourself in lines unsketched, in colors unpainted, words unspoken - Design and live your life with arms wide open.

Today the blank paper might be white and blank - it is up to you draw your design, paint your ideas, and make your life colorful - today is where your sketch-pad begins - your book begins - 

The rest is still undrawn and unwritten - let your creativity flow - and run as you expect it.

The biggest lesson I have learned in life is that self confidence, high self-esteem and belief in my abilities are most important and that is true as well for you - believing in your abilities are 3 of the most important things you must have if you want to be  live a happy life - and I learned it from a number of bad and good experiences in life, from a number of people but most of all from my beloved wife.

And as stoic, I like to share with you with one of my thoughts ...
Life is ten percent what you experience and ninety percent how you respond to it.

Best wishes and now draw / write and run YOUR story!

In this context:
Every human being is a designer - design your life by Design Thinking