#sayingno

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SAYING NO

IT’S OKAY TO SAY “NO” SOMETIMES. 

It’s alright not to answer the call if you don’t have the energy to do so. 

It’s alright to mute, unfriend, or even block your friends and family when their posts no longer give you peace. Or you just don’t want them to know what’s going on with your life.

It’s alright to stay at home and not join gatherings, parties, reunions that drain your inner energy and peace.

It’s alright to put yourself first. You are not selfish by choosing your own happiness this time.

These are just a few. We’re living in a world wherein saying, “No” gives you the reflection of being a bad person. Yet, what if saying “No” is what gives us the inner Solana we yearn to look for. 

I’ve always had a hard time saying “no” to people when I am asked to do something or help out with something, etc. Even if it’s stuff that I had nothing to do with. People ask — on a regular basis. Like weekly.

I say “yes” when I can and when I want to.

Today, I’ve been asked and I seriously did not want to so, in a polite but clear manner, I said I can’t.

Said person says okay but then tries to go around my reason and promptly asks again.

So I firmly put my foot down and said “no”.

This time, no more additional excuses nor being ms nice lady.

After two minutes of minor second-guessing, it felt liberating.

There’s only so many ideas, and no matter what you think up, some aspect of it will have been done before. If you start from an original place and accidentally have a lot in common with a piece that has already been done people can always tell the differences. HOWEVER people can always tell when you’ve started from copying something else then just “changed it enough” to make it yours. The bones are obvious. 

A good example is these Star Wars posters. The idea of having a painted figure/scene inside type has been done a hundred thousand times. But there’s no way you’d end up at the same font, the same parchment background, and the same coloration to the images if you hadn’t started from the originals. Inspiration is great. But the trick is to be inspired by more than one thing at a time. That will always save you from copying too closely. Here’s a good example of how inspirations should work.

And beware, clients will want you to copy things they have seen all the time. Always try to explain that you can be inspired by something, you can’t outright copy it, or the internet will always know. Pitch it not as you refusing to do the work they want, but as you being an educated artist who is trying to save the client from scandal. Break down with them what they like about the piece they want you to copy, then make a piece that solves the same problems in a different way.

So no, don’t worry if you genuinely stumble on the same ideas as a piece before — there will always be enough differences in style and execution to tell the difference. But beware looking too closely at too few pieces of inspiration for a piece, because that’s when you get in trouble, and it’ll be your reputation on the line.

—Agent KillFee