A Letter from Chris Suarez
Let’s REFRAME This
March 29, 2020
Good Morning Xperience,
This week as I was preparing my home for sale, I unrolled some original Star Wars prints that my dad found at an estate sale last year and convinced himself that I just had to have. They were original hand sketches, which obviously were quite rare, but truth be told I don’t watch movies, don’t “collect” memorabilia, and as I looked around my house realized I never stopped to put up any art. Of course, when my dad gifted them to me, I was appreciative and thankful and excited and then proceeded to put them in the storage room downstairs.
So, earlier this week, as any committed seller would do, I began to knock out all the projects that I should have done while living in my home, as I prepared for someone else to live in it. As I rolled out the prints and began to put them in some frames (that my dad also found at an estate sale and gifted to me) I couldn’t help but recall all the times in the past two weeks that I’ve heard that expression, "Lets REFRAME this.”
Since COVID-19 showed up, I've heard public speakers, politicians, authors, late-night hosts, economists, business owners, and Wall Street analysts all use the word REFRAME. It has forced people to think different, act different, behave different…in effect, “reframing” their worlds amidst a changing environment. And until this week, as I actually went through the process of “reframing” some actual prints, it hadn’t struck me just how powerful that statement was when used accurately.
As we look at where we WERE, where we ARE, and where we are GOING, sure, things look a bit different. The edges and borders of our days and lives may look fuzzy, may look unclear, or may even look a little torn. But we paint from the center, we sketch from the center, we design from the center. The center, or what is most important, remains unchanged. In fact, as we add that border or frame, the center may be clearer than it ever was.
Every one of us needs to reframe where we are right now. Reframe our work lives, our personal lives, our family lives. That doesn’t mean change them…just refocus and recenter on what is the most important thing right now. If there is any good that has come out of the last few weeks it has been the human race recentering on what is most important. Ironically, in a time of social distancing, I believe we as humans have actually recentered socially and become more humanly connected.
Artists will tell you that choosing a frame is quite important, as it complements the piece of art in a quite unexpected way. More importantly, the best frame will not draw attention to itself, but rather draw the eye of the viewer inward to the art itself. It enhances the artwork, not distracts from it. It's easy to allow the outside to distract us right now. To pull us away from the center of our personal art right now. There is so much noise about what is happening, did happen, might happen, could happen…It's time to reframe.
As I slid the Star Wars sketches into the frames, pressed them against the glass, secured the back, and turned them around, the picture was the same as it had always been. The Millennium Falcon was still there, Skywalker, Leia, Solo, C-3PO, and R2-D2 all where they were before they were framed. But now, the prints looked complete, they looked clean, they looked polished, they looked cared for.
We all need to gather our goals, gather our visions, gather the missions that we had painted and crafted and realize that all of those are unchanged. Sure the world around us has changed, perhaps dramatically so. But dust off that vision and mission you sketched out for yourself in the permanent marker and reframe it.
One artist said that the "frame acts as a boundary that separates the art from the outside natural world.” I couldn’t agree more. This weekend spends some time connecting with your plans, your goals, your vision, and your mission. Sure, the outside world has changed…but the art that you have created and continue to create has not. REFRAME that art and hang that on your wall in front of you. Take control of your hours, your days, your weeks, your months, and the rest of your year. Go down to your storage room, unroll your personal print again, and put it in a new frame.
It's time to REFRAME where we WERE, where we ARE, and where we are GOING.
Yours in ‘reframed' growth,
Chris Suarez
