Go Wild.

An essay by Aline Köhler for OBSESSION.

By Black Sheep Cycling

March 2^nd, 2021

Florence Broadhurst was a woman who didn’t mind a walk on the wild side. A creative character, ahead of her time. She was everything and everyone other than ordinary. Unafraid to be unique and stand out from the crowd. Unashamedly living the life of many different personalities as she went. Aline Köhler, like Florence, has a certain zest for life and all its peculiar colours – a faithful Black Sheep who only found her niche when she stopped striving for perfection and simply let go. Embracing her quirks, her wavering character and her creativity along the way. Here, she shares some insight into finding herself, and the journey of self-discovery it took to get there.

Florence Broadhurst's life story is just wild. Would I dare turn my life upside down and become a whole new me like Florence did so famously? Probably not. But I’m not afraid to live a little.

Considering all the shades one character has to offer, I wonder how in a lifetime we can really be just one person. I am a lover of nature and a straight up homebody. A chilled moralist. A lazy athlete. An over-punctual procrastinator. And an overthinking joker. So, it’s no surprise to me that Florence Broadhurst discovered several varying facets of herself throughout her lifetime. Even more fascinating? She dared to live them out. So, was she a liar? Perhaps. But maybe she was simply just a woman of many personalities. Living these different lives was just her way of expressing them.

Florence Broadhurst not only gave colour to our wallpapers, and now our Black Sheep kit. But above all. To her own life.

Playing with colours and my creativity has always been a venting mechanism for me – especially when under pressure. I was never a specialist in any creative field, and I always felt utterly annoyed by it. Consistently good at most things. But never excelling at anything.

As a child, my dream was to write books. I made up characters, sent them on adventures and painted them with crayons on ruled paper. But my stories were never truly told until the end. In hindsight, this could’ve been profitable if I was a famous author that wrote sequels to satisfy the readers’ never-ending thirst for what came next. But realistically, I was painting talking dogs with crayons on ruled paper. So … moving on!

“The trick is always to stand out from the crowd and never let anyone see how desperate you are.”

The Digital Age offered a whole new window of discovery and an added trait to my ever-expanding personality. I don’t know what could be more fitting for a 12-year-old than secretly spending her nights HTML-ing roleplay horse farms. You know, back in times when the internet was a thing you paid for in minutes. I blame the phone bills I brought my parents for the friendly reminder that I am currently not a multimillion dollar roleplay horse farm mogul.

Over the years, my exploration of creative fields and self-teaching skills continued to develop. But whether it was writing, drawing, graphic design, web design, or photography, I kept most of my creative output to myself. Looking back, I wish I hadn’t.

What followed was a decade of boring lectures, an ongoing attempt to spark an interest in things I had little passion for, unfailingly pushing on, thanks to a constant sense of duty and obligation. The price: feeling lost, stuck and regretful of the choices I had made. Then, almost instantaneously, things quickly started to take a turn for the better. The more I let go of this idealised version of myself, the more things fell into place. I let go of thinking about what others were doing, what I should be doing. And what else I could be learning.

All of a sudden, the opportunities began to flow. Now, I’m slowly becoming exactly what I never dared to believe I could be. I earn a living in photography and graphic design, thanks to my versatile skill set that I never acknowledged as being advantageous. All because I was never perfect at just one thing.

"All of a sudden, the opportunities began to flow. Now, I’m slowly becoming exactly what I never dared to believe I could be."

As it turns out, I don’t have to continue with this charade of trying to be someone I’m not. To achieve something that is meaningless to me, to please people who don’t give a beep about me. If the road you are on turns out to be the wrong path for you – change direction. Break away or start afresh. And be bold enough to take that step towards whatever you really desire, finding your own voice as you go.

This may sound like one of those inspirational calendar sheets and a classic case of ‘Captain Obvious’, but for me, it took some serious self-discovery and life experience to actually resonate.

Stop striving for perfection and just be, well, me. Or you.

So, a nature loving homebody. A chilled moralist. A lazy athlete. An over-punctual procrastinator. And an overthinking joker. Apparently I’m every one of them. And in my mind, that’s just fine. I think the fun part of life’s journey has just begun and I can’t wait to see who I, Aline Köhler will cease to be next. Maybe there is, after all a certain wildness in all of us just waiting to be unleashed. Untap that potential. Be bold. Be you. Be like Florence and bring some more colour into this wild world.