Octothorpe

There’s a symbol we see all the time that refuses to become irrelevant, and has lived through centuries of reinvention. You may know it as the hashtag… but its first name was Octothorpe.

Octo refers to the eight line ends in the shape. Early scribes used it alongside the Latin abbreviation LB for Libra Pondo, or pound weight. As centuries passed, it picked up a few aliases: the pound sign, the hex sign, the cross, the square… each one a different interpretation of the same mark. One symbol, many identities, constantly adapting, but never losing its place in the world.

Reinvention as a Creative Skill

Creative identities go down paths similar to the Octothorpe. You won’t stay the same person for the entirety of your creative life. You’ll go through seasons where what used to work no longer fits. Ideas that used to energize you start feeling stale. The routines that pushed you forward start to anchor you in a way. Reinvention is adaptation, it’s survival. It’s how you evolve into the next version of yourself as a creative and as a human being.

It’s a funny thing that as creative individuals we are so used to bringing new life to designs, objects, spaces, systems… but many times we fail to turn that same creative lens on ourselves. There’s a wisdom in knowing when it’s time to re-create yourself.

You Feeling the Drag?

There are moments when you feel yourself slogging through the work like you’re moving through something thick and resistant. You’re busy but don’t feel passion. You’re making shit, but there’s a blandness to what you put out. You start dragging ideas, habits, and expectations that no longer mean anything to you. It’s like every step feels heavier and slower.

This happens to every creative at some point. The drag is a signal. It tells you you’re carrying things that once made sense but no longer do. It tells you your inner system is past due for an update. It tells you there are parts of your creative identity you’ve outgrown.

Reinvention requires breaking from convention… not destructively, just deliberately. You dissect what no longer aligns. You look at inner beliefs that shrink who you are. You question the influences that pressure you into staying constrained. Reinvention means recognizing when the form you once took is not the shell that’ll carry you to the next level.

The Octothorpe survived because people kept finding new uses for it. New meanings. New contexts. Creative careers survive the same way. Reinvention is about evolution.

Follow the Signal for Change

If your creative life feels heavy… if you feel yourself trudging… if the horizon looks flat… it might be time for reinvention. Not talking about recklessly abandoning responsibilities. But deliberate, conscious, purposeful steps that’ll point you to a place where passion sparks back up and you taste inspiration again.

You’re not here to stay frozen in a version of yourself that no longer fits. You’re allowed to change direction. You’re allowed to update the systems and assumptions that define your creative identity. You’re allowed to shift to a new industry. You’re allowed to move from a large company environment to a smaller one, or vice versa. Reinvention doesn’t betray who you were… it brings you closer to who you wanna become.

If this resonated and you want to talk it through, reach out to me. I always respond.