We were lucky to catch up with Ruby Shanahan recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Ruby thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?
Success is so varied in its meaning and incredibly subjective. Success can be the completion or achieving of anything you sought out to do even if it isn’t financially prosperous or exactly as imagined. I find I feel the most successful when I’ve done something fulfilling, regardless of the outcome, trying and doing is a success in itself. Getting rid of the compare and despair mentality is difficult and vital. I often compare my creative pursuits and level of success to others, as easy as it is to recognize the harm in that, it’s a hard loop to escape. I would say to define success for yourself in a very personal way, not to define it as what it may look like on someone else; if you’re doing something that makes you content you’ve achieved success.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am a student studying creative writing and literature, but I love interdisciplinary work and enjoy trying new art forms. I love writing, photography, videography, graphic design and am not professional in any but I love working and collaborating on new projects with other people and creating something that uses an amalgamation of creative areas to create something. I am most excited to create new work in new skill areas and find what appeals to me the most.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
Something I had to unlearn was discouragement from adults in creative industries and the pressure to pursue a single path. I had myriad interests growing up, many creative, and whenever I would share what I was passionate about I was discouraged, told the industry was too saturated and to pursue something else. This put me off so many things. I could have spent years honing skills or discovering if it really was something I would remain passionate about. I found the comments on not pursuing certain careers to be an attempt at avoiding making any industry more competitive, but creativity is individual, there’s always something new you can bring to an art. I was always told as well to find one thing and stick to it. I felt and sometimes do still feel lost in all the things I would love to do, but framing it as opportunity; the idea that you can do anything, not being overwhelming and fearful, but as an abundance of riches. I would encourage the complete opposite, pursue and try everything that you have an interest in, it doesn’t have to be on a professional level or even be seen or shared, but do all of it.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
I grew up in an environment that fostered freedom in creativity, with parents in creative fields. If I can do something I enjoy and find meaning in, I don’t think anything else could be more worth doing. I believe we all owe it to ourselves to try and look back with less regret. I grew up around music, waking up to my dad playing the piano, singing songs in the car on the way to kindergarten, living room dance parties; it was very formative and deeply meaningful to me and that has never changed. I always wanted to participate in it in some way. My mom was an art director and I would visit her on set and see her work, to put everything into place and oversee an entire creative vision, to care about what you do. That is what drives me the most, not always feeling I had much to care about or much that felt meaningful enough to keep me going, however small the scale may be or however much struggle is involved, I want to continue the feelings I got to experience as a kid and stay with what feels important.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @Rubyshanahannn
