some of the most meaningful relationships I have had are my mentee mentor relationships. I literally love having a mentor.
mentors always feel personal. they touch some part of you that’s seemingly untouchable. I think mentors are always friends. a mentor is someone that in another life was your mother, just without the part where you don’t want to listen.
I had a conversation on the phone today with someone who, unbeknownst to them, or at least unspoken between the two of us, has quickly taken up a role in my life of great wisdom and counsel giving. they became my mentor within minutes. it’s funny, I somehow still never see it coming, despite the fact that I have had many great mentors in this life already.
choosing a creative path can feel like self sacrifice. something my mentors consistently give me are warnings. I always hear them with pleasure. today, I was warned about family and about instability. about work load. it should be scary, but it’s not. maybe it’s just helpful when you hear it from the right person.
I do not know how long it has been like this, but for someone like me, at my level, at this stage in life, it feels impossible to get a job. I am talking about creative work. our best shot is interning, apprenticing. I do believe in paid work for people like us. unfortunately it’s hard to find. the culture is we work for free. especially in fashion, I see it time and time again. young creatives aren’t worth a dollar.
so our best shot is to be a mentee. a lot of us are there for the knowledge anyway. we make ourselves vulnerable for it. sometimes that’s taken advantage of.
but I have mixed feelings about it. I have found much creative value in places where there is no financial gain. it’s usually when it gets close. when someone really leans in, notices you. adopts you. its powerful. knowledge is valuable, its a blessing that it is shareable. but it goes beyond knowledge, and really is about connection. I watched the episode “sokka’s master” of avatar the last Airbender today. it’s about just this. the sword master says to him “I saw a heart as strong as a lion turtle, and twice as big”. the knowledge is the foundation, but the heart remains the core. it also happens to be the episode where uncle iroh gets absolutely jacked in prison. great episode.
my biggest mentors have usually been older than me. there is an undeniable wisdom that comes with age. but my peers, are so often my mentors too. my friend Mia is a huge life mentor, her grace and compassion something I look up to, learn from. her art Is incredible. there must be a correlation there.
really there are mentors everywhere. A mentor can be the mountains. your siblings, a stranger. if you are open to it.
I think a lot about giving back to these people. and in a really real way it is not repayable. I can give my friendship, I can give my respect. I would hope they can feel that it’s about the heart, but I do not know if they do, not yet at least. there’s always paying it forward. I am not sure I have been a mentor yet. I want to be someday.
