Today, we have an “Ask Claire” Query! @Zudoaririkameishi types, “If It’s not too much to ask, with the removal of FBD, how do you stay motivated with such a big piece of yourself and brand being taken away? Major love and peace to you Miss Sulmers!”
Major Peace and Love to you! I’ll be honest, it’s been a REALLY tough month. An issue I thought could be resolved in a week or so is dragging on, and a major part of our business as we know it has been put on pause, beholden to the whims of someone with seemingly low morals and no human compassion. Why this situation is so difficult is beyond me, but in life, you will encounter hardships. Here’s how I deal:
1. Reference prior instances of adversity and reflect upon how I survived + the major lessons learned.
If you read The Bomb Life, you’d remember a story of a colleague from my first job, who made being there so uncomfortable that I fled to Paris to pour energy into Fashion Bomb Daily (I ended up interning for Paris Vogue and kicking off my career in fashion in earnest). I also tell a story of a blog bully who did everything in her power to ruin me (but didn’t succeed). In each instance, I gritted my teeth through it, thinking ‘Why Me?” But the end result was always the same: The enemy scuttled away to the shadows to lead a relatively miserable life, and I was forced, like a stone under pressure, to turn into a diamond. Though each situation was hard to go through at the time, I now use them as my biggest lessons on how to persevere against adversity. At whatever level you ascend to, there will be some nasty Nancy there trying to throw salt on your game! Stay gracious. Their abhorrent behavior will come back and bite them in the butt one day. Believe in Karma. And know that when Jesus says yes, nobody says no. Which leads me to…
2. Faith
My spiritual foundation serves as a MAJOR source of inspiration and positive affirmation. Rely on faith, not your understanding. GOD has a major plan for you that you may not see at the point. Remain hopeful for a brighter day. Listening to sermons by everyone from T.D. Jakes to Deepak Chopra has been extremely key in me keeping an upbeat mindset.
3. Friends & Family
You need a support system to listen to you complain or to brainstorm your next move. Lean on them in your time of need.
4. Moving on and Pouring Energy into New Projects
Since FBD has gone, I’ve poured more energy into my personal brand and produced 3 of my most ‘liked’ pictures in 2 years in the past week. I’ve also kick started e-commerce, something that has been simmering on the back burner for quite some time. Maybe this lull signals a shift–it also encourages me to come up with new sources of revenue since one of our major streams has been temporarily shut off.
5. It could always be worse
My feed has been populated by posts on people committing suicide, battling cancer, or being battered by police. A social media page shutting down doesn’t hold a tea candle to death, disease, or violence! At the end of the day, I am healthy, I am happy, I am sane. I have great friends and family– I have so many things going for me. We still have our events, we still have our website, we still have so many ways to reach out and communicate with you guys. All is not lost, and life is still great!
This battle with Instagram might last a little longer than anticipated…in the meantime, we will expand upon new projects, and when it all comes back, we will be better than ever!
In this downtime, so many blessings have come my way. If you are a good person and do your best to always do the right thing, you will never lose.
I will not lose.
Love & Light,
*To film a documentary, I wore a pink House of CB suit and a pink top. Someone said I should never wear it again, but I love it!
**Images: Visuals by Pierre
***An excerpt from a previous post, entitled, On Defeating Your Enemies:
An enemy might try to bring you down, but you won’t stay down for long.
An enemy might try to destroy what you created, but they aren’t that powerful. Push forward.
While they’re obsessed with ruining you, they’re not working to improve their own situation, and they’ll ultimately ruin themselves.
And if you pay them no mind, and keep doing what you’re supposed to do, you will WIN.I haven’t won YET, I still have a ways to go and millions to collect (hello!).
But if there’s anyone negative in your life, pray for them, kill them with kindness, and keep on doing YOU. The cream will rise to the top eventually. It always does.
