NickVenturella.com 11-1-19 - Halloween is over, take off the mask

Halloween is over, take off the mask

November 01, 2019

You'll notice a new newsletter banner image here at the top. This newsletter has always been called The Investors newsletter, but I thought it was time to brand it more officially...removing the mask I guess (read further to understand what I'm talking about)Fair warning: This is a bit of a lengthier newsletter.Hopefully you don’t have a Halloween hangover (i.e. stomach ache from too much candy).We ended up with 5 inches of snow on the ground for our annual trick-or-treating door-to-door collection of sugar. Though it was cold, and all had hats and snowsuits on under their masks and costumes, it was fun. How was your Halloween?Speaking of wearing masks, how many of you feel like you’re not always able to be your authentic self in every situation you’re in each day?In the autistic world, this is simply called, “masking,” when an autistic individual does their best to act and appear “normal” as to blend in with the masses and hide one’s autism. It doesn’t work for too long. Often, doing so causes such anxiety in keeping up the duality of it all that the individual who is masking gets exhausted and may meltdown, disengage, or fall into a depression.Regardless of one’s neurodivergence, it’s easy to find ourselves “masking” in various situations for different reasons. Perhaps, you work in a very stuffy, conservative profession, but your true authentic personality is more of a free-spirited artist. Maybe you’re an introvert who spends most of their day in social situations with mostly extroverts. These situations can happen at school or work, or even out at the grocery store.The point is, it can be exhausting to constantly have to pretend to be someone or something you’re not. Life isn’t always fair or easy, which means there are times where certain rules of engagement or etiquette seem to apply. However, becoming radically self-aware of who you are and what you need to, not only cope but, thrive in those situations can help you navigate them more easily. It doesn’t mean such duality goes away, but you may be able to minimize the duality to better manage through it and come out on the other end reasonably unscathed as your true authentic self.Here’s one of my own real-life examples. I’m a musician and artist, but I also have a deep interest in business. Early in my career I found myself working in the commercial real estate industry, which is a very financially driven, business oriented, suit-and-tie kind of industry. For anyone who knows me, that’s not exactly my bag, but this was my job, I had to pay the bills, so I masked initially.Eventually, I learned more about my environment and the people in it. I was the marketing guy for this organization, and while it wasn’t a perfect fit for me, that job taught me a lot, mainly about myself, which in hindsight (everything is easier in hindsight), was extremely helpful for me to reduce my masking.I began to think about my creative side as more of an asset than a binary difference putting me in a fixed mindset of us vs. them (I still had a lot of those thoughts, mind you). Even though I was hired for my creativity as a graphic designer and marketer, I felt creatively stifled in such a conservative industry.I tried (not always successfully) to reframe my approach at work to see everything I was tasked with as a creative problem to solve vs. just another non-creative task to complete. The problems became creative in nature when I started to not just complete them but excel at doing them better than anyone. I would think, “how could I do it more efficiently, how could I make it more interesting for me and beneficial to the company?”Eventually, that company benefited immensely from some great PR I built without any actual budget – it was all creative hustle (connecting dots of opportunities I saw), built on the fact that we had a few good agents doing some great, newsworthy things.As I began to gain more self-awareness, I began to share more of my artistic and musical passions with those I worked with. At that point, I thought, “what’s the worst that can happen if I try to bring more of my authentic self to work?” The worst that could happen is people might make fun of me, and some may have, but the majority were indifferent, and a few really thought it was amazing.Regardless though, at that point my own self-awareness and confidence was up, so I felt better about bringing more of my authentic self to work without worrying about what others thought. The main reason is, that because I was feeling more like myself in an environment that typically didn’t allow me to feel like myself, I was able to do my job better, create more success for the company and myself.To the extent I can, I continue to try and create success for myself and others in everything I’m involved in (at my job, GrowLoop, Eleven, AutismHR, and even as a musician) by showing that it’s okay to have multiple, seemingly unrelated, interests, that it’s okay to be different and still inclusive, and most of all that being your best authentic self as much as possible is the best way to optimize a positive life for you and those around you.

***Upcoming Events / UpdatesYahara Bay Distillers6250 Nesbitt RoadFitchburg, WI 53719Friday November 22, 20197:30pm - 9:30pm

Have a great rest of your weekend!Sincerely,Nick VenturellaCreative ProfessionalNickVenturella.comNickVmusic.netGrowLoop.comTurnUpToEleven.com