When I saw this design for the first time, I had to laugh.
Bears are just one of those creatures with so much character. Seeing them illustrated in that sort of "I'm just okay" style gave me the idea for the name Bear With Me, which I honestly think fits this piece so perfectly.
Why?
Well to fully explain, I'll need to tell you a story.
When covid first hit, we needed to get out of the house. We decided to rent a van and take a drive from Los Angeles up to Jackson Hole.
On our 2nd day of the trip, we decided to go into Yellowstone and see the sites. At one point in particular, we came across a massive crowd of people who had all stopped at the side of the road, excitedly pointing towards a field. We got out and ran to see what was going on and sure enough, it was a bear.
It was just sitting there.
It wasn't dancing, it wasn't teaching physics, it was just sitting there in the field, hanging out.
Yet people were losing their minds.
This struck me as funny given it's fairly normal to see a bear at any local zoo you visit. But because it was a 'new' experience (out in the wild), the sighting felt really important, as if they had never seen it before.
Our ups and downs are a lot like that too, aren't they? Even though we've been in a place or anxiety before, a 'new' reason to stress out feels like something we need to get really worked up about.
But the reality is exactly the opposite. Overreacting to every issue that comes up just wears you down. Not only is it not healthy for you, it's incredibly hard on relationships too.
My solution? Remember that you are a work in progress. You're never going to feel quite complete, but I promise, you are getting there. Give yourself grace to navigate those worries without expectations by remembering that yes, you have in fact dealt with problems like this in the past. And you crushed it.
