The parts we usually edit out
I noticed something while watching a live
I was watching one of Laura Jane Illustrations’ lives recently, but it wasn’t the main screen that held my attention.
It was the comments.
People were sharing the parts of their day that usually stay off camera.
Someone mentioned a toddler pulling at a tripod. Another referred to a room that hadn’t been tidied before pressing record.
There was a familiar tension in what they wrote, the kind that comes from trying to show up creatively while life continues to move around you. It wasn’t dramatic or heavy. It was real.
What stayed with me was how quickly the energy shifted once those things were named. As soon as someone acknowledged what was actually happening around them, the pressure seemed to ease.
The things we quietly edit out
Creative business owners are very good at smoothing the edges.
We tend to crop the mess before anyone sees it. We often wait until things feel more organised. There’s usually a promise to ourselves that we will share once the words sound clearer.
That instinct usually comes from wanting to be taken seriously, not from insecurity. Polish feels safer than uncertainty.
While reading the comments during that live, it became obvious how much relief people felt when they stopped pretending everything was tidy. Naming the interruption did not weaken their presence. It made them easier to relate to.
What that reveals about clarity
There is an assumption that clarity arrives once everything is sorted.
In practice, clarity often arrives earlier than that. It shows up in small moments that get dismissed too quickly. A thought that lingers after a conversation. A reaction you cannot quite explain yet. A sentence you almost say out loud before deciding it is not ready.
Those moments are not distractions. They are information.
When they are ignored in favour of something more polished, the thread of meaning tends to slip away.
Where content actually begins
Messaging and content are often treated as decisions made at a desk. The focus turns to choosing the right thing to post, finding the right words, or deciding which angle makes the most sense.
That approach can work, but it is rarely where the most natural content begins.
In my experience, content starts earlier than that. It begins with noticing what stays with you after the moment has passed. When those moments are given space instead of being rushed or corrected, they begin to connect. Over time, they form language that feels grounded rather than performed.
Nothing here needs fixing
Watching that live was a quiet reminder that readiness is often overestimated.
The things we try to tidy away are frequently the very things that make our words land. Interruptions, unfinished thoughts, and ordinary details from daily life all carry meaning when they are allowed to exist.
Clarity does not require perfection. It requires attention.
A soft place to continue
This is the work I keep returning to. Creating calm places where ideas can settle long enough to make sense, rather than forcing them into shape too quickly.
If this reflection stayed with you, there is no need to do anything with it straight away. Noticing is sometimes enough.
If you would like somewhere gentle to continue that process, my illustrated tools and courses are designed to give ideas room to land and connect, in their own time.
