Yoho Yoho

“… a pirate’s life for me!” 

Fan art? Oh yes, absolutely! Because, the film Pirates of the Caribbean beautifully articulates three of my favourite philosophies: mindfulness, minimalism and self-actualisation. Captured, furthermore, within one beautiful overarching theme: freedom.

Mindfulness

Things like societal norms, popular mindsets, expectations, trends and 'what normalcy would be' can sometimes really imprison you. It's immensely freeing to consider these in terms of ‘might’ instead of ‘must’, and ’could’ instead of ’should’; as guidelines.

Minimalism

The intentional promotion of things you value most – material and nonmaterial – by cutting back on what distracts you from it.  

Less:
shiny new things
go go go
throwaway
complexity
short-term
time commitments
copy-paste
clutter
online

More:
care and repair
rest
quality
simplicity
long-term
free time
delete
space
offline

So more time, space and energy for things, people and activities that really matter.

Self-actualisation

A balanced mix of egocentric – not in a bad way! – self-development and a humbling open-minded awareness of a whole, as of yet, for you, undiscovered, untravelled, untapped world bigger than yourself. 

Behind the scenes

This piece started life as a Skillshare project for Mary Kate McDevitt's handlettering class. Feel free to go over there and take a look at the complete step by step process – ideas, sketches, thoughts, choices and iterations.