My head has been spinning ever since…but in a good way. How does this connect with what I’m doing in my career, my life? How do I get out of my comfort zone and take more risks in life? Am I not pushing myself enough or is my environment not allowing it? Those are questions I’ll be asking myself to varying degrees for quite some time. And I know my convictions will someday lead me to doing work that is more meaningful. Yet, even if I take a step back and examine my current reality I see how it can apply to the strategic work I’m doing and how it does speak to trends we continue to see and tap into for our clients.

These entrepreneurs, designers and artists are changing the status quo. They’re not over-thinking, they’re relying on their own instincts and volition to benefit the greater good. They are just doing. And doing so with a purpose. And consumers are beginning to connect with that purpose. Thoughtful ideation, design and production is moving consumers toward more mindful and meaningful consumption. It’s why today, in a brainstorm for a GE project we talked about DIY and ways we could allow consumers to feel more connection to GE’s technology and how their products are made. Or why just last week, buying a gift on etsy for a co-worker turned into a multiple e-mail exchange with the artist that gave me a new-found connection with her and her work. As new technologies and commerce platforms are introduced, we, as marketers and consumers, can help lead industries toward a new type of economy based on more meaningful consumption. We can make the Internet feel more real, more human, more meaningful again.

Now back to pondering questions about my own life and what I’m ultimately meant to do in this world…