I was just wondering if there was ever a point in your education when you felt so discouraged and uninspired that you wanted to give up. I'm currently in my second year and I feel as though I've plateaued and I'm simply overwhelmed with even the smallest projects. If you have been through this kind of situation, how did you get through it, and do you have any personal experiences that would be helpful to my situation?
DISCOURAGED, UNINSPIRED, and READY TO GIVE UP
This post really hits home for me so I apologize in advance if it is a long message.
Ironically it was also my second year where I felt that undeniable feeling of “why am I still here”.
Ugh, it was my second year in architecture school and I had already plateaued. Hard. I remember my first year being filled with excitement, and even though I wasn’t 100% sure if I was doing the right thing all the time, I loved the work i was producing. I had now reached that point where everything I made seemed stupid and lacked any real design quality. This semester was extremely hard for me because all of the work I was doing made me think a lot of negative things, and there was one thing in my head that I kept repeating over and over…
Maybe I am not cut out for this.
In school we all go through periods of doubt and lack of motivation. Your mind is such a powerful thing too, and once you have something in your head, good or bad, you can make yourself think anything you want. For me, the bad was taking over.
I went through the brutal semester and did the best I could but there were many days where even going into studio was a chore. Luckily, almost as a gift from a friend of mine, I had a conversation with him that really changed my whole perspective in life as a designer.
I told my friend about the horrible semester I had and all of the reasons I thought why. He said to me that it sounded like I was doing everything to make the teacher happy; That all of the awesome stuff I was doing previously was for myself and this semester seemed to be more about what I thought everyone else wanted me to do.
“We often find it hard to swim when we feel our hands are tied.”
I came up with this quote and it depicts that semester for me so well. My hands were tied all semester because of my acquiescent perspective.
When we are designing we often do our best when we feel the design is our own. I realized that I had felt so discouraged and uninspired because I wasn’t designing for me anymore. It is in my very nature to please others and I had learned from all of the critiques in the previous semesters that if I would have done what the jury said before the critique that I would have a perfect critique.
In architecture school we are programmed to work on a project, go into a critique, get torn apart, and go back to our desks. This teaches us a very “what not to do” mentality and we begin to design in such a careful way that over time our amazing imagination and curiosity that got us interested in architecture in the first place is lost.
If you want to regain your inspiration, then you have to find yourself again. Find out what makes you excited, what gets you going, and what you see as incredible, then put that passion into your designs. Do you ever watch a movie and see some crazy science fiction landscape with amazing futuristic buildings that get you excited about architecture? Or maybe you get excited about public spaces with huge free standing toys that the community can play with? Whatever it is in the life of design that gets you inspired, use it. Mold that inspiration into your designs to regain your passion for architecture.
Who knows, you may be right. Sometimes it is good to know when to give up, and this might not be the profession for you. I do not know you personally and this might not be a good fit.
You’re obviously here for a reason. Something brought you here. And if you have the will to keep going you will find your way again I promise. Change your perspective and surround yourself with things that excite you. Wallpaper the walls with inspirational quotes and pictures that make you excited to be a designer. You may get a few weird looks but,
Fuck what other people think.
Remember, you are still in school, and you’re not supposed to be the best at this yet. Learn from your professors, learn from your peers, but most importantly learn from yourself.
We are design students. We are smart, funny, witty, cool, nerdy, passionate, and caring… Sometimes we even care too much.
Look, I know this message has reached you pretty late, and for that I apologize, but if there is anything that you take away from this it is this:
There is never a bad time to cut the rope and just keep swimming.
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