At the end of October 2024, I moved into my new house.
I was starting fresh on my own and building a home with Alba, the dog I had adopted a few months earlier. Life was beginning to feel grounded again. There were boxes to unpack and a sense that this new chapter could become something steady and good.
Then, in early 2025, my house was broken into.
I came home to shattered glass on the floor and the strange silence of a place that no longer felt like mine. For a moment, I thought they had taken Alba. She was hiding under the bed, panting and terrified, and finding her there was both a relief and a confirmation that something in us had been shaken.
After that, I had work to do. I needed to make my home feel safe again, for her and for me. I also needed a way out of the anxiety the break-in had caused.
So I started reading books about mindset, behavior, creativity, purpose, and personal growth. I read, took notes, and began noticing the same ideas appearing in each book I read.
Little by little, I started feeling lighter.
The first time I felt it was probably on a normal Wednesday. I was working from home, walking back to my desk from the kitchen, and suddenly I felt these small bubbles of happiness rise in me. Nothing special was happening. There was no big breakthrough or dramatic moment, no obvious reason for it.
But the feeling was clear, and it felt like effervescence.
I had never used that word for a feeling before, but in that moment, it arrived as strongly as the feeling itself. It made me feel energized again, a sign that my brain had started to shift away from worry and toward excitement.
Raising Moxy grew from that place.
Moxy is the blend of creativity, curiosity, grit, and purpose that fuels ideas forward. The spelling feels both familiar and personal, a nod to the original word “moxie,” but with its own character.
The “y” at the end of Moxy carries the heart of the project. Its branching shape suggests a path opening into possibility, and serves as a reminder that creativity is built on choices, intention, and the “why” that gives momentum meaning.
It’s an ongoing practice of showing up, staying curious, and strengthening the creative vitality that turns effort into growth. My goal is to make art that shares what helped me, and use it to help support animal rescue organizations.
The books that have informed the concepts behind this work are:
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, by Elizabeth Gilbert
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, by Angela Duckworth
Inner Excellence: Train Your Mind for Extraordinary Performance and the Best Possible Life, by Jim Murphy
Mind Magic: The Neuroscience of Manifestation and How It Changes Everything, by James R. Doty, MD
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, by Carol S. Dweck
The Practice: Shipping Creative Work, by Seth Godin