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Elise McCabe, graphic and web designer

Elise McCabe, graphic and web designer

Conscious, Creative, Graphic Designer

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Almost Heaven…

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March 31, 2014 by Elise McCabe Leave a Comment

left to right: a glimpse of Vrindavan, India from the banks of the Yamuna River | base of the BBT International in Korsnas Gard, Sweden | airport in Riga, Latvia
left to right: a glimpse of Vrindavan, India from the banks of the Yamuna River | base of the BBT International in Korsnas Gard, Sweden | airport in Riga, Latvia

It seems I’ve unintentionally taken a six month hiatus from writing. During this time, change has been the only constant. Half of the time I’ve spent running around different holy villages in India, visiting a spiritual publishing firm in the Swedish countryside, staying in an ashram in a small Lithuanian city & spending hours upon hours in various airports attempting to find wifi & do a bit of design work to fuel my wanderlust.

New Vrindaban
Glimpse of the community in WV we moved to. (left to right): the path to the barn that I spend most evenings after work – milking the ladies | the pond & hills near our home | one of the farm residents hanging out by the temple building

The other half of that time was spent adjusting to our cross-country relocation from center-city – Austin, TX to an intentional farm-community in the West Virginian panhandle. To top it all off, just this month, I said good-bye to my 20s & have crossed over to the land of the 30-somethings. All in all it’s been quite the experience.

In rural West Virginia, everything is a challenge. Our new address is not recognized by Google maps, USPS or really any business or utility company. Moving from a technology hub to a place where hi-speed internet comes with a data cap & smartphones are about as useful as a paperweight (due to no signal), has tested our determination to shift to a more in tune with nature, self-sufficient lifestyle. Despite the apparent disconnection, I feel more alive & connected than ever.

That said, making the change from an employee to a full time freelancer has been full of challenges. Right now, I’m working on developing boundaries — something I’ve found is absolutely essential to being happy. (more on that in a later post) I’ve realized being a freelancer can easily turn into being on call or on the clock 24/7 — if you let it. Similarly, full time freelancing comes with a whole list of other job descriptions that I would not have necessarily applied for (i.e. accountant, office manager, secretary, etc). At the same time it allows for a lot of flexibility which is wonderful, but has to be carefully manipulated to yield productivity.

So right now, I’m doing a bit of a dance in attempts to juggle being a freelance graphic designer, a cowherd, an organic gardener & a person. While it’s no doubt difficult, it’s quite liberating to feel like I’m making progress towards my goal of being the change, I’d like to see in the world.

 

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Currently I'm working as a full time graphic and web designer for a mission based company. I create user-centered design solutions for plain language public health education print materials, websites, and tools for federal, state, and local public health agencies. For the time being I am only accepting freelance projects which I have a strong, personal passion for. Some of my passions include: animal rights, plant-based diets, sustainability and environmental causes. If you feel your project may be a good fit, feel free to:

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