C.A. and I have been working on Mental Impressions for over a decade. It has been a labor of love for me and a passion project for him. Along the way we have taken detours here and there. We have tried to build other businesses and for a few years C.A. was working in management for a large retail chain with the plan of working his way up into corporate management. When the Covid-19 pandemic shut the world down, he was laid off and we weren’t sure what to do. We took that opportunity to finally go back to school and finish our bachelor’s degrees at the University of Michigan- Ann Arbor. We completed the degrees, we even graduated with honors, which is no small feat with four kids. C.A. received a fellowship and a grant through the university to fund Mental Impressions. So now here we are again, focusing on Mental Impressions. And I can’t help but wonder what this all would have looked like if we had kept it the focus over the last decade, rather than going on all these side quests.
When we started, the vision for the company wasn’t as clear as it is now. C.A. knew that he had a desire to change the world for the better by distilling and disseminating the various self help and self improvement information that he had spent so much time learning and researching. But he wasn’t sure what the best way to do that was. We started the blog in 2013 and began posting articles but there wasn’t a clear plan. When you know that you have a purpose but you don’t have the vision solidified yet, it can feel very frustrating and self-doubt can begin to creep in. As we tried to move forward and things weren’t taking off as we had hoped, we began to question what we were doing and so we became distracted.
If we had known then what we know now, I don’t think that we would have focused on anything other than Mental Impressions. We let the lack of a clear roadmap knock us off of the path that we were on. Looking back, I am glad for all of the experiences we have had over the last decade, we are so much better equipped to carry out the mission of Mental Impressions now, but I can’t help but wonder what things would look like if we had just kept going even when things weren’t feeling the best. How many people could we have helped? How many amazing projects could we have helped bring to life?
The fellowship that C.A. received was called the Social Innovation Challenge. I honestly can’t think of a more perfect way to describe what we are doing here. We want to change the world by helping people change themselves. We want to help you achieve your goals. Society as it exists right now is wounded and we are hoping that we can be a part of what helps to heal it. I believe that art and creativity are key to changing the world and spreading positivity. And many creatives struggle with confidence and belief, both in themselves and in their projects. Our mission is still to help others by teaching them how to overcome the things that are holding them back. Sometimes the simplest and most effective thing that we can do is just keep going, even when it feels bad.