The Quiet Power of Creating Over Consuming

Last night I spent nearly seven hours curating a page for my online boutique.

Most people think building something like that is a quick drag-and-drop task — but when you’re doing it from scratch, it’s closer to a 13-step process. And that doesn’t even include the brainstorming, the curation, the creative direction… the part that actually takes vision.

By the end of the night, I was tired — but not weary.
Because somewhere in the middle of all that work, something clicked.
I realized the process was feeding my soul.

Why?
Because I see the bigger picture of what I’m building.

And what surprised me most was this: even in the exhaustion, I felt at peace.
There was no rushing. No resentment. No “I should be doing something else.”
Instead, it felt like a quiet confirmation — that I’m finally moving in alignment with the version of myself I’ve been growing into for years.
The discipline didn’t feel forced; it felt like devotion.
A soft, steady devotion to the vision I know I’m meant to bring to life.

I’ve always admired creators — especially the ones who turned their craft into empires:

• Issa Rae, who started with a YouTube series and built a media universe.
• Huda Beauty, who began with simple makeup tutorials and now leads a global beauty brand.
• KevOnStage, who we’re watching in real time build an entertainment empire after a decade of hilarious commentary videos.

Creators figured something out long before the rest of the world caught up.
They used their time to build.
To put their work out there.
To refine, to learn, to commit — even when nobody was watching.

A vision → turned into creation → turned into consistency → eventually becomes the compound effect [shout out to this amazing book].
Small choices stacked over time. Like investing in opportunities.
Brick by brick.
Day by day.

That’s the real difference between creators and consumers:
Consumers allow their time to be used.
Creators choose how to use theirs.

Creation is a form of production — literally producing something that didn’t exist before.
Think about food: eating is enjoyable, but cooking or growing the food feeds a different need.
It requires intention.
It reflects effort.
It carries soul.

There’s a reason someone says, “I put my heart into this,” but they never say, “I put my heart into eating this.”
Creation transforms.
Consumption fills.

I’ve always been drawn to creating — writing, filming YouTube videos, making recipes, curating aesthetics, even building tech.
Creation helps me process my inner world and the outer world at the same time.
It grounds me and energizes me in a way nothing else does.

And while I keep my bigger vision for CocoGlows close to my chest — I believe in spiritual protection and keeping certain things sacred — I also know that, with time and consistency, the vision will reveal itself. I’m in the season of building the foundation. The brick-by-brick era. The part no one talks about because it isn’t glamorous… but it’s the most important.

Sometimes that means spending seven hours on a Friday night perfecting a boutique page.
Sometimes it means posting when I’m tired but not weary.
Sometimes it means trusting that the compound effect is quietly working in the background.

Because that’s what creators do.