Go pet a dog
It will be nice
I don’t know what happened to me. Two years ago I liked dogs. But a very normal amount.
And now I am the person who crosses the street and makes my wife hold my other hand in order to set myself up to have the best chance of petting that dog I’ve spotted a block away.
Is it my dog ovaries? Have they popped? We can’t know.
Either way, petting a dog is one of the sweetest, simplest pleasures there is.
And I have begun to use this as framing for a particular type of moment we all need inside our design process, and our projects:
Sometimes we just need to “go pet a dog.”
In a time when so much feels complex and complicated and overwhelming, we need moments that are uncomplicatedly sweet. That don’t have to be any more than just existing here, now. For the joy of it.
So if you, or your team, or the people inside of whatever you’re designing are feeling crappy, or stuck, or sludgy, or uninspired:
Hit pause, and call for everyone to “go pet a dog”
Maybe you pet an actual dog. Maybe you just go sit in the sun in the grass for five minutes. Maybe you go and eat some ice cream.
(My father-in-law correctly claims that it is impossible to be getting anything but happier while you eat ice cream. Also, eating ice cream is generally a two-handed, if not full-body, affair. Which means you can’t also be looking at your phone or your computer, both of which usually make you sadder.)
The whole point is that it ain’t that deep. But it is unequivocally, simplistically pleasurable. And you pay attention to it, and nothing else, because it is very nice and why would you do anything but?
So go pet a dog.
I promise you’ll feel better, and whatever you make after will be a hell of a lot nicer.
Doggedly yours, Olivia
Upcoming Studio Shenanigans:
🏡 [CLUB] Workshop: “Front Porches and Backyards; Designing Porous Boundaries and Wild Playspaces”
📆 Wednesday July 22nd, 9 - 10:30 am PT
In spending so many of our working hours in the land of the internet, much of what we’re building, and how we’re building it, has become isolated.
We miss out on the cross pollination, the accidental collisions, the chaotic possibilities of serendipity — all of which happen when we’re playing in real physical space.
So this month we’re going to look at backyards and front porches as metaphors for the types of boundaries and sandboxes our creative work is desperately in need of.
You’ll take a real project you’re working on, and expand its creative contact space to invite in new opportunities.
Come play inside this hands-on “Creative Gym” workshop!
Join The Good Chaos Club (just $47/month) for access to the live session, the downloadable tools, and the recording.
Plus, when you join you get access to all the other goodies in the Club — all the past recordings, monthly inspo drops, discounted coaching, and early access and member pricing for upcoming studio offers.