Yo guys, what is going on? It's Timmy Ham, AKA sloth, IAM sloth, artist designer, entrepreneur, all things creative, back here with another daily short. So, last week was super awesome. I hope everyone had a good week.
It was pretty crazy busy for me, released a new design called Mask Off and that's kind of what I wanted to talk about today. If you guys haven't seen the new design I put out, you can check it on my Instagram at IAM sloth or IAM sloth.com. I just came out some new merch with it on it, and it's called Mask Off. I kind of just wanted to, I put out a blog post that kind of went like mini-viral on just the meaning of the design and why I made it.
It's super special to me for a lot of different reasons, but I'm just going to read off a couple of reasons on why it's so special to me. I wrote this blog post and I'm kind of just going to read it, paraphrase it, and give you guys a listen if you haven't gotten a chance to read it. Some people don't like to read it. I'm not a huge reader, so if it was me, podcasts would be the way to go to hear something.
So hopefully you guys like it. So anyways, this new Mask Off design tucks pretty close to my heartstrings for a ton of reasons. It's taken me a long time to get used to having my mask off just being me for the longest time. It felt pretty abnormal and awkward.
Coming from being one of the best football players in the state of Arizona in high school and then that leading into a Division I full-ride scholarship to the University of Nevada, Jock football player turned artist designer is an awkward thing. Seriously, it's super awkward. When football ended for me, I moved back home and started doing art and people thought I was crazy. They'd be like, what happened to Tim?
Did he get hit in the head too many times? So you paint now? No one knew why I was doing what I was doing. It felt like having my mask off bothered people.
Like I wasn't supposed to be doing me. It felt like everyone wanted me to put the mask back on. Everyone wanted me to just conform. Taking your mask off is uncomfortable.
Committing to the new raw, authentic, unique person you're designed to be is the hardest thing you can commit to. It's never comfortable, but it gets easier the longer you keep your mask off. I remember when I first got engaged to my wife now, Britta, I was living out of my car and house hopping for places to sleep and serving at a local restaurant with like $20 in my bank account. No joke.
Like I had no money. I felt like a failure. Mr. football who should have played in the NFL and now living in his car selling paintings for like 50 bucks and serving at a restaurant engaged with no money.
Once I had all the support and now had nothing, but the fire burning inside me kept burning my mask off. I just couldn't live with myself, not being me. Even if that man broke and no place to call home and no real life plan figured out. We're all going to fail.
You can't escape it. If you're not failing now, then life is just preparing you for your next failure. It's inevitable. But what you can't control is who you are when you fail and how you react when we fail.
So shit, why not just fail and go down as the best you? Mask off. So I price this design at $18. It's a lot cheaper than what I normally sell merch for because it's something I want everyone to have.
Whether you're a woman fighting for a position in a workplace that's loaded with dudes who can't seem to see how valuable you are or a kid who feels like their parents are trying to create you into their twin and don't seem to recognize your true calling in life. Whatever the reason is for having the mask you have on, I hope this shirt, I hope you get this shirt and you rock the crap out of it. And every time you wear it or look at it in your closet, you're reminded that life is better with your mask off, even when it doesn't seem to make sense. And even when everyone else keeps telling you to put it back on.
Yo, it's a mask off. I hope everyone liked that. That was kind of my blog post. I hope you can follow along.
But basically the idea behind mask off is we hide behind this mask of who we think we're supposed to be. And a lot of times we don't feel comfortable being exactly who we were created to be. And I think it's super important that we try our hardest to keep that mask off. And it is the hardest thing you'll do.
And that's why a lot of people don't do what they put on this earth to do. It's not easy. It's going to be hard. It's going to be uncomfortable.
A lot of people won't understand it. Especially the older you get, the more you try to take it off, the harder it's going to be because you're more established in your community. People know you as X, Y, and Z. And when you go up and change that into something different, people don't like it, make some feel uncomfortable.
And it also makes people, it also affects people because a lot of people wish they were doing what they were put on this earth to do. And so when you go and do that, it makes them uncomfortable and it makes them react in certain ways that they want to bring you down and they want to put you in that same bucket as them. So just keep that in mind. And when you go for it and you fail and you're trying to be you, don't get discouraged.
You can do it. It gets easier as time passes and just remember that if you're going to fail, why not fail being you? Anyways guys, hope everyone had an awesome week and is having a good week so far. I guess I meant awesome last week and a good weekend.
I'm going to be back on probably on Thursday. I'm trying to get at least two of these out a week for you guys. So I hope you enjoyed this and if you guys have any recommendations, call in, drop a comment on iTunes, subscribe, please subscribe. And send me a tweet at TimmyHam or hit me up on Instagram.
I am Salah. I love you guys. Thank you for your support. I'll be back soon.
Peace.