(What 2024 Taught Me About Emotions)
I haven’t really talked about what 2024 taught me yet. But in truth, it came down to an old lesson I’ve always struggled to learn—how to manage my emotions. Somehow, it always takes me more time than it should.
Back when I was a journalist, I had a go-to icebreaker question I often asked my interviewees:
“How do you deal with your emotions?”
It sounds a little cliché, sure. But from my experience, people in creative fields—especially fashion—tend to spend years learning how to process their feelings. There are just too many emotionally intense moments: harsh feedback from peers, clients who change direction last-minute, campaigns that flop, public criticism when building a personal brand… The list goes on.
People, by nature, want to be heard. And that question usually unlocked stories—their “make-or-break” moments.
But one person, Phương Vũ (antiantiart), gave me an answer that stopped me in my tracks. He said:
“I don’t feel anything.”
No favorite project, no disappointments, no emotional attachments. Things need to get done, and he just… gets them done. Then moves on.
Of course, most creatives I’ve spoken with end up saying the same thing: emotions rise and fall, but work still has to get done.
Phương just takes it to the extreme. For him, emotions are sealed off in a box and left untouched. That made me pause and really reflect—have I been giving emotions too much power in my own life?
I grew up believing creatives live through their emotions. But the ones I admire now—Jonathan Anderson, Phoebe Philo, Miuccia Prada, the late Karl Lagerfeld, Sarah-Linh Tran—they treat emotion as a seasoning. Good if you have it. Not essential. They’re not overnight stars with rollercoaster careers; they’re consistent, quiet, and focused. You can’t be overly emotional and survive that long in fashion. The pressure would eat you alive.
So what did I personally learn in 2024?
That even when your brain is prepared, your heart can still break like it did all the other times. I needed a new way to deal. And I found something that made sense to me:
Think of emotions as currency.
Every time you react—get angry, spiral into negativity—you’re spending your energy. Wasting your emotional money. And once you see it that way, you start asking yourself:
Do I really want to spend this much on something so meaningless?
That’s become my 2024 mantra. Once I make a decision (which isn’t always easy—sadness and anxiety are addictive, too), I try to stop bleeding emotions everywhere. Instead, I pour my energy into living more intentionally.
I hope that helps someone who needs it right now.
Everything passes.
The speaker breaks.
Boiling water cools.
🕊️
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