You Win Some, You Lose Some. And If You’re Smart, You Let A Lot Go.

I’m currently sitting at the Ronald Reagan Airport in Washington DC. Writing this on my phone. Looking out at the city skyline. Eating a turkey sandwhich. (I’m so American now you can call me Matishiqa.)

It’s a been a whirlwind of a week. We had three solid days of planning meetings in our USA headquarters, downtown Washington. We had discussions, agreements, arguments, jokes, giggles, strategy sessions, mind maps, role plays, brainstorms, timelines, conference calls, coffee, coffee, coffee, organic pizza, coffee and eventually…. Decisions, elation and a grand plan.

However, as seems to be normal in this working world of working for the world, I am taking much more home with me than just a sense of professional direction. Once again, I’m boarding my flight with a set of new outlooks. (And half the ‘free people’ summer collection.)

Not only does my job give me new knowledge, new friends, new ideas, new environmentally friendly pens (that are actually recycled so “newish”…) but most importantly, new life lessons.

One beautiful little pearl of wisdom that shone through our meetings the last few days is, “pick your battles”. Then together we can pick OUR battles. Then united with others, we can all win the war.

As you can imagine, having meeting rooms, teams, offices and international networks, jam packed with creative, passionate and dedicated people, we have our fair share of disagreements and “idea-sharing” sessions. One thing I LOVE though, is that we listen to one and other. We all have opinions. And we are totally willing to change them.

But at the end of the day, we need to get behind one idea. One proposal. One campaign. One plan. We can fly all our many flags and spread inspiration like (biodegradable) glitter…. as long as we remember to stand strong, arm in arm under one big lime green banner.

Funnily enough, this is the part of the job I feel so so so comfortable with. I get a strange sense of ease and fresh energy when my idea is appreciated, dissected and dismissed. I am not competitive with the work. I am always more excited to see the overall outcome than how much of it has my name attached. It’s a feeling I weirdly like. But don’t recognise whatsoever.

I am an Aries. Through and through. I am fire and I have fight. In my personal life, you can see my ram horns through any of my hipster felt hats.

I will dance with a boy I used to (sort of) know, purely because once upon a time (for a short amount of time) I decided I’d quite like to live with him in his Savusavu mansion and be fed hand-picked coconuts and home curried chicken and drive a jeep and have kids that surfed and spent school holidays in Sydney. And he rudely chose not to grant me those tiny requests. The audacity!!!! So should this little army battalion rear its decently featured kailoma head in the same room as me, I definitely notice. Then shortly there after, I take it upon myself to…. Well …. drop it low. It’s a ‘how low will you go’ (morally and literally) limbo dance dare if you will. How I actually ‘win’ this tango, I have no idea, nor do I know if I still even want the prize…

However… Regardless, the dance goes on. (Something I am sure many a girl, and her many bottles of wine, are familiar with)

Battle. Poorly chosen.

Winning feels good. But it can also be super pointless. And after awhile… Boring. And I’m on my way to learning that all these little medals can distract you from the big picture, the trophy.

The Super Conquer.

Of both life and yourself. (And if you are really determined… A small ship perhaps?)

One thing I learnt at work this week is that you wear your resources thin, when you try to fight on too many fronts.

In our personal lives, our resources are ourselves, our direction, our purpose, our time, our future. So the sooner we learn to let a few old battles go…. The better.

It’s a slow process. Applying this train of thought to all factions of your life. It’s not as easy as saying “let’s take this off the agenda for today’s meeting. I’m happy to move on.” (A sentence I have become happily familiar with.)

After my meetings wrapped on Friday night, l was supposed to spend the weekend in Miami. It’s Swim Week and some of my friends from New York are down there. It would have been cocktails and nights out and models and wanna-be-models galore (thank-you Instagram.)

When I got back to my hotel room I thought about packing. Then I thought about getting heels. What make-up did I bring? Did I even have a bikini in my bag? Straighten my hair? Maybe just brush it for a start. I thought about going back to the old battlefield. And with this …. I fell asleep.

Instead I spent this weekend reading E.H Gombrich’s “A little history of the world”, and getting INFURIATED at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History for David Koch being allowed to brainwash American children. (If anyone has time…. http://kickkochofftheboard.com……. !!!!! I mean…. it’s embarrassing really …“human origins and how climate changes made us evolve into a stronger species” my ass.)

It’s not that I don’t adore the fashion world or am not thankful for all the incredible blessings it gave me, it just is not mine anymore. It is not where my resources are best spent.  (NB. time spent on shaving long legs is a massive effort and a job all its self FYI).

It’s not where my mind belongs, my time belongs, I belong.

And that’s “like totally” okay too.

Same thing goes for every boy or man I have ever thought I loved. Or liked. Or wanted to share beach front property with. They are none of my business. None of my anything.

(I know girls. What an annoying little lightbulb moment. All those hours wasted perfectly constructing texts.)

Truth is kids. Aries or not, you aren’t going to win them all. And most importantly, you wouldn’t want to. That’s exhausting. (And …… It’s polygamy.)
Pick your battles. Carefully. Warrior up and Conquer.

Go forth. 😉

Xx Matisse