Level Up! With Shay

This week’s guest on Level Up! With Shay was Nick Dee (they/them), self-made photographer and very talented artist (Listen HERE!). We had met, conversed, and worked together on a low level in the past few years, but I was so glad to really get to know them more! They are so interesting for so many reasons! Whatever they want to learn, they find a way to do it. It was such an inspirational talk and I always get so pumped meeting and getting to know people who are so confident in things that I’m not my most confident in! For example, asking for anything and putting myself out there! I am confident in those things to a certain extent, but talking to people like Nick Dee shows me that I can do even more! Growth, little by little is all I need and strive for! Hope you enjoy the three life lessons I pulled from our conversation and they can give you a little push as well!

1. Create Opportunities

Nick Dee performed a lot in New York City during and after college, but then moved to Los Angeles when they realized the cold was NOT for them (after slipping on ice and falling on their face, to be more specific). They would submit and go out for auditions, put themselves out there and had a little luck with their musical side – saxophone! When it came to getting on the screen or booking, however, it was a different story. No surprise, Nick Dee didn’t want to play a typical Hollywood woman role (aka nudity or something along those lines) so they started to write, create, perform, and edit their own art! They decided that if the stories they wanted to tell weren’t being produced, they would have to produce themselves!

I think it’s such a special era we’re living in where we can create almost anytime and anywhere we are! It gives us so much power! The independent artist has really exploded these days. It can either be a hassle to know how to edit, direct, write, produce, and perform, or you can use those skills to your advantage and make WHATEVER YOU WANT! I always recommend getting a team because teamwork makes the dream work, but the opportunity to create even if you don’t have a team (perfect for quarantine) is at an all time high! Create your own opportunities, change the headlines, and tell YOUR story,

2. Don’t Compare

During quarantine, Nick Dee really stepped up their workout regimen. They would always say “Well, if I had the time to workout, I’d have the body I want,” and they now have time! At the top of every hour, Nick Dee goes outside and runs a lap around their block. They confessed that when they started running a while ago, they would have women who were running faster and probably more in shape, pass them. At first they would curse them and say something about how skinny they were and of course they would be faster and in better shape, but then Nick Dee came to the conclusion that they would be better off not comparing themselves with the innocent passerbys. They didn’t beat up on themselves and instead said they would get there when they would get there. Now, they enjoy running a lot more!

I know this is probably an overstated lesson, kind of cliche, but that’s only because IT’S TRUE! And people need reminders of this every day, if not every hour – myself included! It’s so so SO easy to get caught up in comparison. And it’s not just with another person! It could also be with the person you WANT to be! “I wish I was more confident” is a comparison of your current self with a self you want to be. Isn’t it funny how we are born from some place, live for 100ish years, die and then go back to that place and within most of those years we spend it comparing ourself to others? How silly is that? Seriously, in about 70 years, most likely, comparison will not be an issue because you will not be living on this earth anymore. You have ONE LIFE in THIS BODY! HOW F*CKING CRAZY IS THAT?! Use ALLLLL this time to be YOU!

3. Be Resourceful

I asked Nick Dee how they’ve been able to travel the world to shoot photos, learned all of their many skills, and how they’ve become so resourceful! They attribute a lot of it to growing up poor. Their parents would have to figure out how to use their resources to the MAX! Whether it was using the same furniture, always keeping the same cars, or applying for scholarships for school – they made it work. Now Nick Dee has taught themselves how to shoot professionally from a book and other free resources, knows how to edit photos because of their resourcefulness, and learned how to run a business through specific avenues like free webinars! They have even won a FREE 5 star trip to Peru because they entered themselves into a contest!

I find it so fascinating how resourceful people can be. I also like to think of myself as resourceful, but love hearing new ways on how to do it. I find that resourcefulness comes from necessity. Like in Nick Dee’s case, they came from a poor upbringing so they HAD to figure it out. If you aren’t put in that situation then you may not have to create situations in which you have to be resourceful, but I find that this is a tremendous skill that everyone should have and get better at. If you feel you’re not in the position of necessity, find a way to put yourself there. I think it starts with dreaming bigger. If you’re doing well on your bills and you have an abundance of money coming through, create a goal you want to achieve. It can be something you want to purchase, an investment, or use it to pay your bills for a while and go try something that you’ve always wanted to do, but haven’t NEEDED to because you were comfortable. Then get creative and you will find how resourceful you can get.

I’m telling y’all, this episode is so good and so interesting. Go listen to it HERE! Or watch it HERE!

Which life lesson do you relate to the most? Comment below!

Thank you for reading ❤ I’m always here for you, always striving to be better, so I can serve better.

#LevelUp

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