If something comes too easily to you, it can start feeling “not serious enough” or as if something must be wrong with it. Not just in career (drawing ;) ) but in life in general.

It took me 32 years to realize this is another myth society makes us believe. And honestly, this realization connected all the dots around what I’m ACTUALLY supposed to do in life, and how I want to grow my career.

Today, I want to share this insight with you.

I recently started working with a creative coach who is also a former agent for top illustrators and creatives, helping them secure some of the most exclusive clients worldwide. I was DYING to learn from her and finally get out of my own bubble of overthinking my art.

Even though I’ve already worked with luxury clients across real estate, interior design, and cruise ships, I wanted to expand my work further toward visual storytelling, not just pure interior design. But I kept going in circles because this field felt new to me. I had no idea where to start, what kind of drawing style fit that direction, or how to approach it at all.

And then she shared 3 insights that completely rewired my over-analytical brain in a SECOND:

• what comes naturally to you, what you don’t force, what feels easy… is YOU. Something you do intuitively, without overthinking.
• there are competitors in EVERY niche, wherever you go, but what will truly make you stand out is your deep why behind the thing you do. Shiny careers and objects are everywhere, and without that why, you will blend in with the crowd because you are not alone in wanting that shiny thing.
• you pick a direction and make the best out of it, NOT the perfect and shiny alternative (see above).

WOW. THIS.

It honestly felt like all the answers were hidden inside those three insights.

Let me give you a practical example.

My natural strength:
turning ideas into tangible drawings and projects. Quick lines. Spaces. Interior design. Spatial storytelling. Sharing ideas visually.

That’s where I THRIVE. That’s where I feel like myself.

But for years, I thought:
“Too easy. Too obvious. There must be something more prestigious.”

And that “prestigious” thing became… fashion illustration.

Yep. That’s why I started learning human figures last year.

Want the truth?

Every lesson felt like forcing myself into something unnatural. During classes, I was more interested in drawing the interiors around the figures than the figures themselves. I got bored after an hour. My mood dropped. I skipped classes.

But I kept pushing because:
“Humans make the sketch more lively.”

Until I realized something:
those figures were distracting me from my actual strength.

From time to time, drawing people is fun as part of a larger story but daily... HELL NO.

So here’s my question for you:

Do YOU have something you’ve been forcing and forcing because, on the surface, it looks prestigious… but deep down, it’s simply not you? And what is your REAL why?

When my mentor kept pushing me to dig deeper, I suddenly remembered something I hadn’t thought about in 20 years!!

My surface why:
during my interior design studies, I couldn’t deal with renders. Even after taking extra classes, I would forget everything and struggle with basic 3D shapes for WEEKS. So... I started sketching, and that saved my interior design career. Otherwise, I would have quit.

But my mentor said…too limited.

Okay…

And then… THIS.

As a child and teenager, I didn’t have my own room.

I would flip through interior design magazines, go straight to the section with other teenagers’ rooms, and imagine what my own room would look like if I had one.

At the time, my parents were building a house, and I would visit the construction site with my dad. He would show me my future attic room (spoiler… we never moved there because life took us to another city instead), and I would dream about that space, how I would decorate it, invite my friends over…

So even though I didn’t physically have my own room yet, in my mind, I already did.

“THIS IS IT,” said my mentor. “THIS is your WHY. Through your vision, imagination, and ideas, you managed to create an emotional story as if it was already your reality.”

And suddenly…
IT ALL MAKES SENSE.

Why I explicitly love spaces, design, and drawing them.
Why it became my mission to inspire others to bring their ideas to life through drawing and create their own universes even if reality says the opposite.

Where the heck does fashion fit into this story?! EXACTLY.

Yes, I love shopping, but it’s a normal part of my life like going grocery shopping, you know?
I really hope this newsletter helped you get a bit more clarity around your own career and life situation.

And since we started talking about drawing, this weekend you can create your own sketch from an idea in my drawing workshop (free instant replay included, which you can pause and sketch at your own pace).

Make sure to draw with me HERE.



And…
don’t make life more complicated just because something looks shinier on the surface.

You never know the behind-the-scenes reality.

With big drawing energy,
Anna at @andshedrawsbig