CONTROLLING YOUR EMOTIONS AS A NEWBIE IN A NEW CAREER PATH

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I joined the SCA program in October for the UI/UX beginner track. It hasn't been easy but it has been fun, inquisitive, frightening, and challenging.

My learning process has been filled with a mix of different emotions and feelings. Most of the time, I am filled with so much adrenaline that I would keep up day and night just to gain knowledge from google and other resources, and other times, I am filled with so much dissatisfaction I end up with creative block for a long time till I find my mojo.

How my emotions went from 100 to 0

How did I get through the program irrespective of my tight schedule? I am sure there would be questions about how I also controlled my emotions through the program? Here are the few things I did to stay afloat the whole learning process.

1. DONT PRESSURIZE YOURSELF: Starting the program, I had put myself under so much pressure to try to learn as much as I could within 3 months. I was all over youtube, all over resources, all over dribble, and many more sites. I also had to join some communities on WhatsApp so I could also add that knowledge to the mentorship I received in SCA. I did all this with the mindset that I had just 3 months to become a senior designer. This took a toll on me as I was shuttling so many things at the same time and I got so confused and then slipped into the creative block where I couldn't even come up with a single idea when I needed to.
2. ALWAYS KNOW NO ONE IS COMPETING WITH YOU: Funny enough, I was competing with people who didn't even know I existed. I felt a need to have validation from my mentor like the best in the game and I felt bad when I wouldn't be acknowledged for my hard work and consistency while doing my tasks. It did give me a bad aura and I felt withdrawn at a point. It took me a while to realize I was in no competition with anyone but myself. I just needed to take it slowly.
3. TAKE ONE STEP AT A TIME: If you are inquisitive like I am, I am sure you would have noticed a trend in trying so hard to fit so many Wikipedia pages or google pages into the tiny brain. At a point I felt like LUCY(a movie that talked about using up the whole brain to its full capacity), I felt I had 100% ownership of the entire brain at this particular point in time and I filled it with so many articles and videos. Don't get me wrong, being inquisitive and gaining insights isn't bad, you are allowed to learn and do research but it is best you take things slowly so you don't get overwhelmed, and you tend to get tired at a point.
4. TRY TO CONTROL YOUR EXPECTATIONS: Expectations, when set high, can be a spirit killer, this is because we feel everything should go as we expect and when it doesn't, we give up easily and lose faith in that thing we set our expectation on. When going on a new path or career change, it's best we take things gently and easily. When starting out the program, I expected the program to set the stage for being successful without having to do extra work but I discovered I was wrong. I get the support, the mentorship, the guidance, and the corrections but what I won't get is the real-life project experience. I am meant to take my learning and practical training to the real world and work on building my expertise in my own way. if I don't work hard, I probably won't get what I want and vice versa. Controlling my expectations puts me in control of my emotions and I am able to work with what I have and work towards goals I set.
5. GET READY TO WORK WITH TEAMS: There should be no surprise here, of course, you would have to work in teams at some point in your career. and people management skills might be one thing you need to learn as a soft skill. I got frustrated working with teams at a point, many didn't give me the same vibes as I had when we got to work on projects so it felt I was alone in that path. A good teacher once told me “Working with teams can be hard, but staying true to yourself is important.”. In summary, Never give up.

People take different learning approaches so I don't expect that what works for me should work for you. But i do believe i am not the only one who walks in these shoes. just find what works for you and stick with it.

Take chances when you can after weighing your options, Take a break when you feel overwhelmed, Accept your mistakes because you are human, and Enjoy the journey.

I look forward to having a journey with fewer worries.