Nothing Lasts Except How You Make People Feel
If you stroll down Ann Street in Brisbane, you'll spot some of my words - 30 ft big in Brisbane CBD.
‘Nothing lasts except how you make people feel’ is something I scribbled while processing that deep kind of grief that obliterates you.
It’s become a big part of how I live and create now, a philosophy inspired by some painful lessons.
While there’s a difference between a death and a break up, people leaving and us pushing them away- the grief that accompanies the loss of anyone or anything you have ever been brave enough to open up and love remains the same; catastrophic and immense.
Underneath I added words from you guys. Thank you to everyone who generously DM’d me stories about how their loved ones made them feel.
'Nothing Lasts Except How You Make People Feel.'
When you die, you're gonna be remembered for what you did for someone else, not how cool you looked for your moment in the sun.
Fame, fortune, accolades, family, friends, youth, beauty- everything’ll burn out at some point.
But how something made you feel, how it changed you and what it helped you become is why it matters. Why it's worth doing.
Your real impact on this world is determined by the depth to which you affect someone else’s, not the scale of recognition.
You can change a life with a cup of coffee or a kind word at the right moment,
believing in someone when they can't believe in themselves,
or simply sometimes just by being weird and wonderful you.
How you make someone feel shows up in how they move through the world after, echoing on in everything that remains.
When I think of the people that have loved me,
I don’t think of what car they drove or where they worked.
What they won or how hot they were in a bikini.
I think of my friend crawling into my bed and holding me after a heartbreak.
Late night McDonald’s runs.
My family helping me keep me afloat when everything went under.
Bruises on my knees from making someone love me.
Dancing til 4am with my best friend.
And the last bottle of wine at the back of a cupboard on nights when we didn’t have to be anywhere but here.
I think of the things people did that made me feel better.
And the moments that helped me make it through.
Ty to legend @drapl for helping me on this in Feb + teaching me this year (my lettering has tightened up wildly since 🫡) - you can find this one at 466 Ann St.
This artwork is part of a larger project I’ll be sharing soon…