#therealshopus

[realandambitious]

NEW BLOG ! !

Hello, My name is Ritchie Brown, I want to have this connection as a source for motivation to my clients and friends. I understand at times things can get tough, and we all have it in us to succeed. Sometimes we may lack the self-awareness that’s required to truly use our abilities to our advantages. I intend to tackle everything from mental health tips to fun and interactive posts that will encourage growth and not discourage the ability we all have within ourselves to do what we want. I’ll start first off by offering a little transparency into my life. I’m big on focusing your strengths over your weakness. A lot of the times we tend to focus so much on the things we can’t do rather than the little things we can do. It really holds us back, mainly with time. We all convince ourselves daily that there is not enough time in the day to do the things we want to do. however, we waste a lot of that time on complaining. I did this throughout most of my twenties and fueled a lot of failures in the process as a result. After learning that its much more efficient to just ignore the imperfections and focus solely on the the strengths things started to roll for me. and I say this and reading back see how easy that sounded as i typed. but it was far from that. Ill touch more on that later in a post titles “selfies” where i intend to get a little deeper on those struggles and how i over came them. but the short side of it is this. Had I not had outside influences such as @garyvee and @reneerodriguez to encourage the exploration of myself and to be comfortable with that I wouldn’t be able to offer the things in this blog. so much respect to those two for being transparent in not only their success’ but there weakness’ too. Stay tuned on this blog for sure to see everything positive during these rough times ! I have to run and have some other things to take care but i will write more. for media printing and design services please follow my other blogs ! and look forward to showing you how the real and ambitious live through there challenges !  

.tumblr.com realshopus realshopdesign realshopmedia   Instagram : 

@r1tchiebr0wn - Personal 

@therealshop.us - Business 

p.s. - in the act of transparency and being comfortable with my weakness, I realize i am extremly bad with grammar. I look forward to showing through this blog the progress I will have by writing this myself. Educating myself a little more in the english (i did grow up in the us) language and also planning a more direct way of speaking. thanks again everyone !!! 

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Check out our new merchandise updated all this month ! We are excited to have spent most of 2016 formatting a great hub for any artist or client to thrive in!  

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Art > Anger

A collaborative series with Artist Kat “Tik Tok” Booth in creating healthy outlets for releasing anger and frustrations here are a few from an impromptu session with her hollow fire sticks! 

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It's quite fun to do the impossible

Walt Disney 

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What music to you listen to to get your week started ?  Don’t let the excuse of a Monday keep you from getting what you want ! 

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Quality & Speed | moo and theprintful  Our chosen print resources

www.theprintful.com  & www.moo.com  when offering printable solutions to our clients we chose to go with theprintful.com (for upholstrey & canvas prints.) and moo.com (for our paper prints). 

 As we grow into our own element we want to ensure that quality stays at the top of our priority list. To Accommodate the small space and small business budget we came across these two companies that work with the same morals and the end products that we strive to be in the future. Until we can grow into our own resources we promise to pass along the great deals these companies have without any “upsell” or “middle” man approach. Our main concern to to be able to offer the best that we have available and not just make money.   Any questions please contact us directly and we will get you into the right direction with them to answer questions on quality or sample needs. We have more details listed on our design blog also at www.realshopdesign.tumblr.com ! 

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EVERYTHING design related to therealshop can be found HERE ! be sure to follow us! 

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FOLLOW US !

 We are on social media spreading across great content to all channels, Get linked up with us to see exclusive content and behind the scenes day-to-day on how we tackle our frustrations and rise above un-announced challenges! Here at therealshop we aim to build our relationships around the transparency and sincerity we share as individuals and wish to bring a positive environment to our clients to create great content. no challenge is left without our best foot forward! 😎 Follow us on :  Instagram | Snapchat | Facebook | @THEREALSHOPUS  ! 

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Check out all our pages ! As we grow we will be releasing the three facets to what make us who we are, Blog post content weekly covering awesome subjects on how to improve your current lifestyle into something healthy and sustainable. We are here to help in any way we can when it comes to establishing a clean and affordable solution to any design print or media needs! 

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Selfies pt. 1 | Self destruction

I didn't like seeing myself, It gave me anxiety. And why wouldn't it right? As kid i had a self-image of myself that never translated well to me in a picture from  that ominous third chin that seems to appear if the angle isn't right, or me, being a very small person (skinny) I always tended to look malnourished next to others, validated almost every time by hearing from relatives or friends "you need to eat" or "are you okay?" It never struck me as complimenting. I knew deep down I wasn't those things and made the decision early on to just avoid it altogether by just not taking pictures.  Even looking back on high school photos I still have to sit back in disbelief to know, that at that time, in that moment, I was the most comfortable person with myself, but in a picture? I looked pathetic. those comments constantly had me believing that I shouldn't look this way or that I needed to eat more (even though I ate more than most).  I acted on this mental undertone for all of my childhood and most of my adult life.  Right down to being more comfortable arguing with someone rather than to just take the picture itself and let it be what it is.  

I didn't know it at the time, but I was slowly killing myself mentally. Even as I look back on my kid days I see a whole different picture now. Literally running from others opinions instead of following my own. Anytime I was asked to take a picture all those thoughts of how I would have to answer "funny" puns or explain to others that I've had not only 3 full meals but snacks in between. It was an exhausting thing to think through, and by the time I was able to verbalize it, 9/10 times it just came out as me being a prick. 

I decided early on along with this that I loved being behind a camera, there were many reasons for it... just like the anxiety and fear of me being permanently suspended in a frame with all my faults, and reasons for someone to take a stab at my appearance. I looked at it as... if I'm behind the lens I can control what I chose to suspend, what memory to take away and if it wasn't good enough, I could just delete it.  I spent my early 20's  trying to convince myself I could control that. And  failed every time as a result. I allowed myself to miss out on so many opportunities as a photographer because I didn't have the "right lens" or "perfect lighting" or flawlessly composed subject. It discouraged me to the point where I abandoned my passion all together. That very moment where I put down what I loved because of the belief that It would never be perfect is where I stopped winning. I could walk you through the pain of personal struggles and mental anguish that I put myself through because of this mentality. But instead, I'd like to share with you my victory over it all. 

It took a very severe depression for me to look at things differently. and at this point, I had turned my back on everything that I loved under the perception that none of that would be great or recognized as good. Even relatives and significant others compliments wouldn't phase me. What i was missing through all this is the PERSONAL belief I had in myself that I was doing what i truly enjoyed regardless of the result. all I saw and continued to see what the image I had of myself as a kid versus what others stated about my physical appearance.

I remember it vividly... It had to take a hard look in the mirror. Not just the thumbs up saying  "you got it dude". It was the hardest thing I had to face.  After a few minutes of being Stripped down, the thoughts of others running through my head, the doubt, hate, and failures bouncing around in my mind that I let define me all these years realizing then that I was believing everything around me and predicating my worth based on that  but never understood fully what I believed for myself. I knew I had to start there, what did I want from life? 

I looked myself in the eyes, and that was hard... for the first time I saw the ignorance in them  thinking I could dictate my life in the same way I believed  I could with my camera. Moving around circumstances to create a picture that I saw fit. All these years I had tried to capture my existence by moving things around me instead of adapting with them, to create the perfect picture. In truth the perfect picture is truly flawed and like the social distortion song "ball and chain" it hit me : 

"Well I've searched and I've searched To find the perfect life A brand new car and a brand new suit I even got me a little wife But wherever I have gone I was sure to find myself there You can run all your life But not go anywhere"  -- Social distortion | Ball & Chain

I was searching for all these things that didn't matter. Burning rubber and making noise but not ever gaining traction. Not to me at least... I had secluded myself from everything I loved due to the understanding that the ones around me didn't enjoy it so it had to of been wrong. I did exactly as Mike Ness had said... I had went after all those things thinking it would define me as a person, I had owned some amazing cars, been in amazing relationships,  and had small climbs up the  corporate ladder however it did nothing but bring me down and hurt the ones surrounding me. I wasn't following what was truly me. When you hear about rock bottom you don't really think about it until your in a predicament like I was, and more importantly they say the only place to go in a place like that is up. So that's where I headed. I stared that same face in the mirror and made a decision to start working towards things on my own terms no matter how small or little they may seem to others. The things I once felt belittled by now defined me. And by that definition I knew the road that was in front of me was going to be a hard one, but I had some tools now that gave me the confidence to at least take the first step.  I started a list the first one dealing with my health, being a consistent 135-140lbs most my life (yeah i know, small) I had somehow managed to get down to 119lbs, and that to me was alarming. Thankfully I had a friend close by that went to the local YMCA often that got me on the right track. He expressed to me when working out was nutrition. The combination of the two put me on a path to success within myself that I never believed to be possible. And that is where the new me began for me... \

[part 2 coming soon!  : Finding & Sustaining Happiness]

-Ritchie Brown | Owner @ therealshopUS