Non-Career Advice: Brian Paquette.

Non-Career Advice is a series that asks people - young, old, and in a range of occupations - for words of wisdom unrelated to work, career-building, dollars, or getting ahead.

Brian Paquette / Interior Designer

Also: Painter / record collector / proud Seattleite 

Age: 33        

A break from busy-ness is an act of bravery. "The word 'busy' bothers me more than most. You hear it all the time in the creative world: I'm so busy; I don't have time; I'm completely swamped. It's almost a point of pride. But it's not true. None of us should be so busy that we don't have time to take a step back here or there. And if it is true — if you really are so swamped that you have no time for anything else but work — then you're undervaluing yourself, it's as simple as that.

Our society tells us it's not right to be still — or that it's not right to be alone. Maybe that's where a lot of our desire to be constantly doing comes from. But so many of my best creative moments happen when I'm alone — taking a walk, listening to music, looking through my books, taking pictures. I take those times as seriously as I do my work. They're vital. And this is, too: aloneness is not the same as being lonely. Not even close."

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Thank you so much, Brian. More from the Non-Career Advice series, here. (You can also find my interview with Brian for FvF, here.) Photo by Dorothée Brand / Belathée Photography.