This is Only The Beginning

Metaphorically speaking; if all questions were the seeds to your growth, how many forests can you plant? For me it took one. One question, at the end of Sunbeat Festival in 2015. One very awkwardly asked question, but this question became the seed that planted my forest. 

From that day, I realised; that first of all, the term impossible is a social construct and that if you are interested and curious or if you just want to see ‘where the magic happens’. You can silence all of your internal conflicts by challenging what impossible means to you, and just ask, how? How can I help? What could I do? Sometimes your internal battles are the only things holding you back.

 

On the first day of my internship I remember walking into the office and thinking “Sweet Jesus, I don’t know what I’m doing but I hope I’m doing it right”. In every conversation there was an unspoken connection, and that lead to a motivation between us all. There is something so fulfilling about being a part of a team that has a genuine passion for what they can do to make a difference. That creativity has no bounds, when the determination to make a change outweighs all personal goals. That day I realised that this wasn’t just a team.

This was a family and this family had a name called Beatfreeks.

 

During my internship I quickly came to the realisation that I had not a single idea of I wanted to do or what I was good at but I was given the freedom to explore my strengths by doing a bit of everything. There was never an element of the mundane, as no day was the same in the office. In the first three months of my internship I learnt how to, plan effectively, begin project management, facilitate young people, deliver workshops, be apart of meetings, see how creative campaigns were developed, and so much more.

From then on, I came to the realisation that collaboration is the most effective tool in order to be successful.

 

No idea is a bad idea and trust me, you can never have too many!

Over the next couple of months I found that everyday became an opportunity to learn and that my weaknesses didn’t define who I was, but enabled me to find new methods of personal improvement. I noticed that being in such a supportive environment, I was enabled to go above and beyond my initial expectations – and after – producing LIVE! at The Social Exchange, alongside working on Doink, that, when you love what you are doing, you honestly don’t realise that the term ‘hard work’ actually means ‘knowing there’s always something you can do to make what you’re doing even better.’

On the last week of my internship I remember thinking, “How has time ran away this quickly? It’s been 7 months and I’m still as excited as I was at the end of my first week.” I found that doing a little bit of everything meant that research and I are best friends and that leaving such a supportive yet challenging collective of individuals was the only aspect of my internship that I would deem as ‘impossible’.

On a final note (and back to metaphorically speaking). Don’t be afraid to ask questions! Plant your seeds or you may never know how far you can grow!

 

Written by Zeddie Lawal

Want to write a guest blog? The theme for June is ‘Youth Culture’. Send your blog to bradley@beatfreeks.com, or contact for more information.

P.S. If you would like to email me about this post or ask any questions at all… Don’t hesitate to email me on Zeddie@beatfreeks.com. I have just started as Admin & Creative Researcher and I can’t wait to see what happens from then!

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