So I have a question for you guys. When was the last time you made something just for the joy of it?
Just for fun. When was the time, when was the last time that you did something just for fun?
And not to be productive or to be performative?
There was a time in all our lives where creating became naturally to all of us. As children,
we painted, we colored, we glued scraps of paper together, we built forts, we danced around the
living room and made things simply because it felt good. We weren't worried about whether it was
beautiful, worthy or good enough. We weren't thinking about likes, followers, or criticism.
We weren't on this social media world stage. We weren't even thinking about that.
Some of us people my age didn't have to think about that. We were simply creating
and experiencing and then somewhere along the way many of us stopped. Okay? We became busy,
we felt the pressure to be productive. I hate that fucking word. I'm sorry, hate the word
productive. Responsible. It's so boring, so boring. We started believing creativity only
belonged to artistic people that were artistically talented or creative people. We convinced ourselves
that we couldn't paint, like if we couldn't paint really, really good or sing perfectly or make
something impressive or dance perfectly that there was no point in trying. But creativity was never
about perfection. All you have to do is watch children play and you'll know that that's what it's all
about. It's more about expression, connection, and about giving yourself space to slow down long
enough to hear your own thoughts. One of the reasons I'm talking about this right now is because
I've been moving into this more and more. I think that one of the purposes of our lives is to
live our lives, but not just live it in a way that's expected of us, but to live it authentically.
We all have, we're all like this puzzle piece in this big puzzle. We're all connected, right? And if
we're not living authentically, we're not really doing our part, at least that's the way I look at it,
because the only way for us to fit in the big puzzle of things is to be exactly who we're meant to be.
And so I feel like our purpose is to live our lives, but not just to like, like I said, to follow
somebody else's expectations, to really figure out what you're passionate about. And so I've been
very intentional about asking myself every single day, what am I excited about? What am I moving
towards? Like, what if I could do anything right now? What would I be doing? And then doing it.
And it's so hard when you have all these responsibilities and you still need to fit into this
capitalistic hellscape that we're all living in, right? So we have to have, we have to pay for whatever
little box that we live in and we have to have a job and buy food and pay for everything.
And you know, it's, you know, we have to participate in this. We can't like opt out of it completely,
but we can begin to opt out of it in some way shapes of form. One of the things that I've been
trying to really intentionally do is opt out of the systems that are now collapsing because the
less we rely on those systems, when they do collapse, it'll be less painful, right? I don't think it's
completely possible to opt out of them completely, but you can work towards that. So like our health
care system, the patriarchy insurance, like, I don't know, every system that exists, the financial system,
like everything is imploding and collapsing and circling the toilet are political system.
And I'm not saying to just like blow it all up. I'm not saying not to vote. I'm not saying not to work.
I'm saying, how can you be less reliable on something that is collapsing as we speak, right? And so,
I've been stepping into my creativity because that's what I like to do. I've definitely gone
back to this many, many times inside of my business. So inside of the business, I feel like I have to do
to make money. I always ask myself the question, what's the thing I like doing the most? So,
like, I'm a coach, right? So I'm a health coach, life coach, nervous system regulation,
self-care coach, whatever you want to call it, so many different titles, right?
Breathwork instructor, meditation instructor, right? But within all those things, what parts of it do
I enjoy the most? And the answer is always when I'm in that creative mode, when I'm creating something
for those positions. So when I'm creating meditations, when I'm when I was creating programs,
did I like presenting the programs or selling the programs? No, but I loved creating them. So I like
the creating process. So I stepped further into that and got back into doing the things I did when I
was a kid with my mom, like art and crafts and cooking and baking and gardening and like all those things,
all those things. So why do I think creativity matters more than ever right now? I think it's because
most of us spend our days just consuming, consuming and consuming. We scroll social media,
we answer emails, we listen to podcasts, we watch TV, we are constantly reacting to notifications
and our attention is constantly being pulled outward away from us. Creating does the opposite.
So if you want to have your own little revolution and you want to start going against the grain and
removing yourself from the systems that are collapsing, being creative is one of those ways you could
do that. Creating does the opposite of consuming. It gently invites you back inward towards yourself.
When you're focused on choosing colors, arranging pieces of paper, sketching shapes or shaping clay
with your hands, something begins to shift inside of you. Your nervous system softens, your mind
quiet and the endless to-do list just fades into the background. You move into like that flow state.
You become fully present with what is right in front of you. You connect back to yourself.
Many people describe this as a feeling like lighter or calmer, more grounded,
but it's a state of flow. You're in a flow state when you feel like this.
And it's not because you solved all the problems in your life, it's because you gave yourself the
position, you gave yourself permission to just be, just allow yourself to just be in that moment,
not to be doing. You don't have to do. I guess you are doing something you're being creative,
but you're not being forced to do it in a specific way. It's just wherever the tide brings you,
right? I think we all need more of this right now because people are feeling so stressed,
so lost. We have so many demands, so many things pulling our attention. And there's so many people
looking for a way forward that does not involve being embedded in these systems that are drawn
us away from ourselves. We all have the knowledge within ourselves. We like to, the direction that we
need to go, like if you're feeling lost, if you're feeling stuck, a lot of people have been talking
about how they feel, uninspired, not really depressed, but like they don't want to do anything,
they don't want to leave their house, they don't want to talk to people. All people are saying right now
is how much they hate people, but we all crave, like community and togetherness. It's so interesting.
And we all have the knowledge within ourselves in the direction we need to go. We know the next
direction that go in. We all know what we need to do deep inside. We all know the next step.
All we have to do is slow down for a moment and tune in to ourselves long enough to hear it,
to hear your own voice. And art and creativity help you connect to yourself in a way that gives you
that direction. It allows that to happen. Now, one of the things that people always say all the time
and I decided to do this. I decided probably starting last October when I started painting
and how good it felt. I said, I'm just going to be an artist. I just decided, like no one labeled me.
I labeled myself and just made that decision. There's something about that word decide.
And I was, I can't remember if I was reading something or watching something and the roots of the word
decide is almost like something like a dissection kind of like your, it's a final, it's something
that's very final. There's like a death to it. It's like nothing else is possible because you're
deciding. And when you say that to yourself and when you like commit to it out loud, your brain
automatically goes along with that and then rules out. It takes all those other options out and moves
you in that, that direction that you've decided you wanted to go into. So I feel like when you make
a decision like that, it just automatically start moving that direction. Your brain, your particular
activating system starts focusing on different ways to bring that decision into your life. And so
making the decision is really important. And I made that decision. But one of the biggest obstacles
people face is believing they aren't creative. I hear that all the time. I'm not artistic. I can't draw.
I'm not talented. But creativity isn't a talent reserved for a select few people. It's something
we all have within us. I don't think I'm particularly talented artists, but anybody can be an artist.
And then I'm sure there's a lot of people who spent thousands and thousands of dollars on art
degrees that will argue with me. I'm not saying I'm an expert. I'm just saying I'm an artist. So
there's a difference there. Creativity is a human experience. The goal isn't to create something
worthy of hanging in a gallery. The goal is to express something, express yourself, to play,
to explore, to just like experiment and let go of any expectations of how it's going to turn out.
I think that's what I love about watercolor too is that you have very limited control over what
the paint is going to do within the water. You do learn how to manipulate it,
but you don't have complete control. I think it's a very good representation of life. It's like you
really don't have any control over what happens. It's a collective experience, right? And so you
don't have complete control. You may think you do. You may think you can try to control things that
happen to you, but you really don't have control. And I feel like watercolor painting is a good
representation of that. Also, nobody has to see what you make. You don't have to post a line or
explain it or show it to anyone. You could just create. You know, you don't have to keep it,
you know, the process of creativity is the gift itself. So in this podcast today, I just want to
talk of different ways that you can begin to do this. If the idea of creating feels intimidating to
start really, really small, and I started really small, but it wasn't really intentional.
It was just the way it happened. And I'll talk about that in a little bit, how I go about my creative
process. But just choose something that sounds fun, rather than something you think you should do,
or something that everybody else is doing, something that's fun. And can I just tell you that when it
comes to creativity and crafting and doing stuff like that, the options are limitless. You could just
make something up too. I just, I love exploring new things and trying new things. So, so like if you
like painting or drawing, you can do watercolors acrylic, colored pencils, markers, pencils, sketching.
You could do like collages, mix media. You can make vision boards, junk journaling, so much fun,
scrapbooking, layered paper art. You could work with nature, you could press flowers,
create mandelas, leaf printing, rock painting, nature inspired journaling and writing and poetry.
Hands on creating like pottery, clay, weaving and embroidery, knitting, crocheting, jewelry making.
Creating of expression beyond traditional art, like I talked about writing poetry, journaling,
dancing, singing, photography, arranging flowers, cooking creatively. The medium doesn't really matter.
What matters is allowing yourself to create without any judgment whatsoever. Sometimes I think about
if everybody just allowed themselves to create without judgment, all those things I just talked about,
how freaking fun and interesting the world would be. If that's all we did all day, like could you imagine
how beautiful and colorful and fun and playful and I don't know just beautiful the world would be,
it'd be amazing. So, a simple creative way practice that you could start is to set aside maybe
a certain amount of time. It could be five, 10, 20 minutes. Turn off like notifications, turn off the
TV and sit quietly with a few supplies and pay attention to how you feel. You know, choose colors without
overthinking. Move your hands, create something without trying to make it meaningful. See what happens.
You may be surprised by what emerges when you stop trying to control the outcome. Now, what I do,
and when I started, I'll tell you exactly how I started. So, it started with inktober, which is
like an online thing where they, for the whole month of October, and if you look it up on
Instagram, you can find it inktober. It's an account and for the month of October, every day there's
a different prompt and you draw a picture and you just post it and share it. And it's so much fun
because you have all these different artists, some beginners like myself, some amazing, amazing
artists. And it was so much fun. I just continued after that. So, I think I was doing it with my daughter
and it's something like my two daughters did, I think maybe the year before and then when I saw
them doing it, I was like, I want to do that next year. And so, I did that. And after that, I just
continued. But what I did was I made a space in my home and it was basically my kitchen counter
where I kept all my art supplies out all the time. So, I was doing like sketching and watercoloring.
And then whenever I had time, even if it was just a minute or so, I would go over and just do a little
bit. And it's easy to do that with watercolor because you don't really have to clean it up. You could
just let it dry up and then you could just like, respric it with water and start again. So, it's very
easy to do that with watercolor. Very easy to do with just sketching and drawing too. And I'm sure
there's other things you could do that are very easy to do with this. But I found myself spending
more and more time on this creative process because all the supplies were out and ready. And it was
so much fun. And I still create this way today. So, it would be like, I'd get up from work to go make
a cup of coffee and while the coffee was brewing, I would paint a flower. I don't know. It's just, it's just
kept happening naturally and it really flowed. And it was funny because when I moved, I got a place
with an office thinking, oh my god, I'm going to create an art studio. It's going to be so freaking cool.
So, I turned this second bedroom into art studio/office for my recordings and podcasting and stuff like
that, thinking this is going to be perfect. But I absolutely did not like doing art in the room.
It was not the way I did art. The way I did art was, you know, throughout my day. And so I took
all my art supplies and I didn't do this very intentionally. It just slowly happened where I started
moving them out onto the kitchen counter again. And now I bought a kitchen table. When I first moved
here, I didn't have a kitchen table because I didn't need one. I didn't have one of my old plays
because I had this kind of almost like an island kitchen counter thing. And but I bought a kitchen
table and that kitchen table is 100% used for art. I eat in my living room on my couch and I don't
think I ever ate at this table. And I have everything out, almost all supplies. And then I keep the
rest of my supplies in my office and then I drag them out when I want to try something new. But because
they're so readily available, like if something pops into my head, I just do it and it's so much fun.
So I think that we just need to start playing again. What if we treated creativity like play, right?
What if creativity wasn't another thing to like achieve or force yourself to do? What if it was just
about just playing? It wasn't about productivity, mastery or improvement or getting good or being
talented or viewed a certain way? What if we gave ourselves permission just to create the way we did
when we were children? Curious, messy, free, unconcerned with what anyone else thought. And like I really
don't give a flying fuck what anybody thinks of my art. When I get compliments, does it feel good?
Yes, it feels great. Do I need that? No, I don't need that. I really, really enjoy just doing it.
So maybe this is what so many of us are missing. Not another self-improvement strategy, not another
goal. Just more play, more color, more fun, more freedom. Just allowing yourself to be. So I love trying
new art stuff. And when I do, I have no expectations. So recently, I think it's called lino cut or something
like that where you like, you almost like make your own stamp. And the first one I made was,
wasn't very good at all. But the process is really fun because the part that's making the print is
the part that you're not carving. So it's kind of reversed from like drawing or painting. And this
was really challenging for me. And I love a challenge. It makes your brain work in a different way.
So it was really cool. And I'm still working on that. And I haven't shared any of it yet. I think
the first one I did was a mushroom. And I didn't like it because it came out really, really dark. But
what I realized is carving it was not as hard as I thought. I think I just have to think more about
the process. Like I said, it's reversed. So it's very interesting. So what I really do when I'm trying
a new medium now is to pay attention to how it makes me feel. Like if I don't like it, I'm not going
to do more of it. Like sometimes when I draw with markers instead of painting, I get like stressed out
because it's very predictive. Right? So I maybe I draw a picture and then I'm tracing and coloring in.
So coloring is very relaxing for a lot of people. But for some reason when I draw a picture and I'm
coloring it in with markers, it's so predictable. And I almost feel like I'm rushed because I just
want to see the finished product that it like almost stresses me out. And I don't like it. So I don't
do it anymore. Right? It's really interesting because so many people like that, you know, creating
without having to think or they like that predictive movement. It relaxes them. But for some reason
that does not relax me. I like it to be messy and unpredictable. That's why I like watercolor.
So pay attention to how something makes you feel when you're doing it. And if you like it, do more of
it. It's very simple. So something that I've been working on that I want to share with you that
has a little bit to do with this podcast, but not completely. I want to start having creative
retreats for women. This idea has been sitting with me for a long time, doing a retreat just in general.
One of the things that I didn't like about planning a retreat, which I've been trying to do for
probably five years now, was having all these different things available and like scheduling
every moment of every day. So people feel like they're getting their money's worth. But I want to do
something kind of the opposite. Okay? So let us return to what I was talking about at the beginning.
Like as children, we painted colored glued, you know, we did something simply because it felt good.
We weren't worried about whether it was beautiful, whether you're good enough. We weren't
thinking about what other people thought, right? What if we return to that? So like imagine a weekend
that feels less like a workshop and a learning experience and a more like a summer camp for women.
A place where like there's all these art supplies available everywhere, paints, paper fabric,
markers, maybe pressing flowers, cooking, whatever. Having some people come in and maybe teach some
stops, but absolutely no pressure. You could join if you want or you could just skip it completely.
You could spend an afternoon reading a book or take a walk on the beach. You could journal. You could
chat with other women and connect with other women, create something or nothing at all. The goal would
not be productivity or learning. The goal would be fun, creation, permission, connection, rest, play,
reconnecting with yourself. So I'm like envisioning two gatherings each year, a summer retreat by the
ocean and then a cozy fall retreat in the mountains, looking at the pretty leaves. A space where
women can breathe deep, create freely, connect and laugh and remember who they are underneath all
the responsibilities of their daily life. Not to become a better artist or to become an artist at all,
but to become more like connected and more fully themselves. Because sometimes I think the most
healing thing that you can do is give yourself room to play again and be yourself. So I'm in the
process of creating a new website and I'll be launching that new website in the next couple of weeks.
And when that new website goes live, there will be a retreat page where you can get on a wait list
for the first retreat. I'm not sure when this is going to be. I'm thinking next summer. I just
don't have enough time to plan a fall retreat at this point. It's not enough notice for people to
get involved. But until then in the show notes, I will put a link so you can get on my email list. So
if this sounds like something you want to do and you want to join and be a part of,
definitely get on my email list. And then when I
launch the new website, you'll hear about it for sure. And you can hop on the wait list and join
our little little whatever wonderfully fun women's summer camp or fall camp, whatever it might be.
But just moving into a place where you know, what I really want for everybody is to be able to feel
that this way all year round. But let's start with a couple of weeks out of the year. I want to
once in the summer, once in the fall and start moving more into that in your own life.
Taking a piece of that summer camp home with you and infusing it into your lifestyle now,
teaching your kids this way of living too at the same time if you have children or if you're
a grandmother teaching your grandchildren. So I just think it sounds like so much fun and it's
something that I want. And I don't see a lot of this. So this is something that I want to do
for myself. And I'm hoping you'll join one. Okay, until next week. Love you guys. Bye.
