November | 2023 | Books Around The Table

Need encouragement to do your thing?

We found plenty last summer at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam. The ING bank had bannered the sky bridges with that well-known ‘do your thing” phrase pointed in many directions.

This one, especially, spoke to me.

Dreamers, do your thing.

But there was encouragement for everyone:

Sisters, do your thing
Timezone hoppers, do your thing
Wavemakers, do your thing
Innovators, do your thing

Free spirits, do your thing
Pioneers, do your thing
Soulmates, do your thing
Superheros, do your thing

Instagrammers, do your thing
Deep thinkers, do your thing
Techies, do your thing
Movers and shakers, do your thing

Trendsetters, bucketlisters: the call to “do your thing” whatever that might be went on and on, sky bridge by sky bridge. As a group, they speak to how much humanity needs the fresh ideas of each individual.

With the help of photoshop I would add one more banner, for those of us toiling away at our desks and drawing tables:

Storymakers, do your thing. That’s part of the storymaker’s job description: figure out what it is that you have to say and shape it into a story. Happy creating!

A few years ago my husband came home with the book Much Loved by Mark Nixon.

It is a book of photographs of teddy bears and stuffed animals that have been loved to bits.

In the book each animal is photographed elegantly, and accompanied with a short description of the teddy and a comment from the owner.

In 2022 I gave the book to my brother because his name is Teddy and he is much loved. I was afraid that he would find the book sentimental, but he liked it. He responded by sending me a picture of his bear. Ted’s Teddy is 71 years old, still recovering from hand surgery that took place 60+ years ago.