What I Learned After 8 Years Trying to Build a Meaningful Life
I don’t remember having a clear plan when it all began.
There wasn’t a specific moment where I said:
“I’m going to build a brand.”
Or even worse:
“I’m going to start the project of my life.”
What I do remember…
is creative fog.
That feeling of having ideas
but not knowing how to fully bring them into reality.
A dense kind of fog
that made clarity feel far away.
A constant feeling that the life in front of me
didn’t fully fit.
As if many adults were living inside a mold
they never truly chose.
And somewhere inside that feeling,
and the pressure of having to create my own portfolio…
a word appeared:
Ascendium
A blend of my last name, Ascencio,
which sounds like ascension,
and ium, a Latin-root ending I associated with happiness.
So I decided
my creative portfolio would become
a path toward happiness.
That’s also how the logo was born:
a curve — the journey of life —
and a circle — people —
moving up and down
through all its forms.
I never imagined
that idea would become a project
I’d want to carry with me for the rest of my life.
A project that keeps growing, changing… and expanding.
That’s why I eventually gave it a birthday:
April.
A month of blooming mango trees,
warm breezes,
vibrant beaches,
and rest.
A month with pause.
Ascendium didn’t begin as a business.
Or even as a structured project.
Little by little,
it became an inner space.
A compass.
A way of walking through life.
A place where I could ask myself:
Who do I really want to become?
How do you build a meaningful life?
Is it possible to grow… without losing your sense of wonder?
For a long time,
Ascendium only existed internally.
Inside my mind,
my ideas,
my attempts,
my pauses…
inside constantly evolving versions of myself.
If someone looked at these past eight years from the outside,
they probably wouldn’t see a straight upward line.
They would see interruptions.
Changes in direction.
Long silences.
But from the inside…
I know all of that was growth too.
Because growth
isn’t always productivity.
Sometimes growth is questioning what once felt certain.
Letting go of versions of yourself
that no longer fit.
Learning how to sit with discomfort.
And starting over…
more than once.
Ascendium grew there.
In the invisible.
For a long time, I felt like I had to choose:
Am I a designer…
or someone deeply interested in the human mind?
Am I structured…
or chaotic?
Am I professional…
or emotional?
Maybe you’ve felt that pressure too.
The pressure to fit into one single version of yourself.
Today I understand something
that took me years to accept:
I am not one thing.
I’m an evolving system.
Ascendium is the place
where those parts meet.
Where design becomes language.
Where psychology becomes practical.
Where life becomes something
that can be observed…
and transformed.
Today, eight years later,
I can finally say this more clearly:
Ascendium is not just a brand.
It’s an intention.
A way of exploring a question
that still feels alive:
How do we help people build a life
that truly feels like their own?
Not from perfection.
Not from superiority.
Not from having everything figured out.
But from the very real experience
of being a work in progress.
From curiosity.
From creation.
Today, I no longer feel like I’m starting from zero.
I feel like I’m starting…
from a more honest place.
With more clarity.
More tools.
More respect for my own rhythm.
And with something I didn’t have before:
permission to create
even without having everything solved.
Ascendium wasn’t built in a straight line.
It grew alongside me.
Alongside my questions,
my crises,
and my discoveries.
And if after eight years it’s still here…
it’s not because it has been easy.
It’s because there’s still something inside me
that believes exploring life is worth it.
So if you’re currently in a season
of confusion, pause, or change…
maybe you’re not lost.
Maybe you’re standing exactly where
something new
is beginning to take shape.
And if you’re planting ideas right now…
take care of them.
Not all of them will stay.
But the ones that do…
might become something
that walks beside you
for the rest of your life.
This life is yours.
You are the protagonist
and the designer of it.
No one else.
So become your own biggest supporter.
And allow yourself to build something…
that grows alongside you too.
As for me,
today I close my eyes in my garden,
holding a cold lemonade,
feeling the breeze,
and smiling.
Because I became
someone I truly wanted to be.
Someone with a full soul
and a sense of purpose.
Thank you, Ascendium.
Happy birthday.