Stepping Off Now: For Creative & Sensitive Thinkers: Recent Episodes
Kendra Patterson
Stepping Off Now is a podcast for creative and sensitive thinkers. If you're feeling creatively stuck, burned out, or like you're not fulfilling your true potential, this podcast is for you. The host, Kendra Patterson, discusses topics like harnessing the intuitive creative process, using anti-productivity to enrich your life, and sorting through all the external pressures and expectations to figure out what YOU really want. Her perspective is informed by her own experience with burnout and recovery, struggles as a creative misfit and an HSP, and background in social science research. Kendra is an INFP but always tests as an INFJ, and an Enneagram 4.
I am using my current project, novel #2, to master plot, my weakest area as a writer. In the past, I've been ambivalent and even felt antipathy toward applying commercial and Western-style plot structures to my novels, because I felt they constrained my art. So what's changed? In this episode I discuss my evolving views on structure in life and art, and why I'm now leaning into the concept that structure can free us...if we do it right.
For some background on my thoughts on plot, and particularly on Western vs. Eastern styles, see this episode on the Kishotenketsu narrative structure.
In this episode I discuss my recent diagnosis of being neurodivergent, including why I pursued a formal diagnosis, what it entails, and its relationship to creativity and my art.
With novel #1 winding its way toward publication (hopefully), I have officially begun work on novel #2...and I've realized I will have to approach writing it in an entirely different way. Not only that, I'm going to have to use a technique I have utterly failed at in the past: preplanning the plot. Simply put, I suck at plot. It was the last thing to fall into place in novel #1. In this episode I contemplate why the things we suck at could actually be special talents in disguise, and how we can shift our mindset around our perceived deficits in order to better face the challenges of our artistic journeys.
Link from this episode:
The Binary Code Shop
I'm not really sure how to summarize this episode, y'all...but you'll want to listen!
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Sometimes it can be difficult to see how our own societies and cultures influence us. I have this trick I use to help reveal some of those hidden influences that I call the OG Society Thought Experiment. I imagine how a small pre-capitalist "original society" would have functioned and compare that to my modern capitalist society. Today I use this thought experiment to explore different ways to frame how and why we share our art with the world.
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In this episode I take stock of where I am in my creative journey as I contemplate what lies beyond the dreams we hold for ourselves. Are dreams holding us back? Do they ultimately make our lives less happy and satisfying?
W.H. Auden's poem, The More Loving One
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Notice: The Kishōtenketsu Workshop I am doing with Andy Mort is coming up next week! You can find more info and sign up a this link.
In this episode I discuss two women I've learned about recently who are lights in the dark for me. They inspire me to keep going through tough times, and to not lose hope. Table tennis phenom Zhiying Zeng, who is making her Olympic debut in Paris this summer at the age of 58, reminds me that it's worth it to try for a dream a second time around. And singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles, whose wonderful song "Brave" is worthy of the number one spot on the charts even if it didn't make it that far, reminds me that if we let go of our attachment to specific outcomes, we allow for even better things to happen.
I recently discovered a notebook filled with poetry I wrote thirty (!) years ago, and in one fell swoop it reconfigured my understanding of myself as an artist. In this episode I contemplate the threads that define who we are as artists that weave their way through our lifelong body of work (creative or otherwise). And I read one of those thirty-year-old poems (eep)!
Find out more about my Kishotenketsu workshop partner, Andy Mort
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In summer I like to mix it up on this podcast, so I decided to share some of my short stories. "The Trash House" is a women-centered retooling of the Japanese Kitsune (fox) folklore. Enjoy!
Last episode I discussed the "conflict free" Japanese Kishotenketsu storytelling framework as a gentler alternative to the Western-style Hero's Journey. In this one I contrast the two as lenses through which we can interpret our creative lives. The Hero's Journey, though it may make for compelling entertainment, can be toxic when used as a way of understanding our own progress and successes. The Kishotenketsu lens provides a more realistic and less competitive perspective that suits those of us who are gentle souls, HSPs, and neurodivergent.
I'm dealing with some personal life stuff right now and so dug into my Patreon archive for an episode for you all today! In this one I discuss the Japanese (and more broadly Asian) narrative structure called Kishotenketsu. This is generally seen as being a low-conflict or even conflict-free form of narrative, and it's a balm to the soul for those of us who have highly sensitive nervous systems. I compare Kishotenketsu to the typical Western Hero's Journey/three-act narrative structure using the examples of the films Kiki's Delivery Service, Parasite, and the show Bones. Enjoy!
Note: I mention references in the original show notes for this episode but unfortunately these were lost when I closed down my Patreon. I always like to cite my sources and give credit where credit is due, so I apologize about that. I was able to source one of them.
Last week I made the trek down to Tampa to attend a writer's conference and live pitch my novel to two agents! This type of experience can be overwhelming for creatives who are highly sensitive or have other types of sensory processing conditions--or for those who struggle with anxiety and/or mental health challenges. In this episode I discuss all the special accommodations I made for myself so that I was able to get through it successfully, plus how I am dealing with the emotional aftermath.
Thank you for coming along with me as I've transitioned into this next step on my creative journey with my novel, the querying phase! There have been a lot of personal update episodes lately, but I'll be back to regular topical episodes starting in two weeks.
The episode I mentioned in this one:
E27: Breaking Into the Chocolate Factory
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Rejection sensitivity is one of the primary challenges neurodiverse and highly sensitive creatives face in reaching for their dreams. It can cause us to isolate, not seek out opportunities to share or showcase our work, or even keep us from doing creative work in the first place. If we do put ourselves out there, we risk severe mental health consequences when we experience real or perceived rejection, even of the mild kind (and rejection is inevitable on any creative journey!) How can we pursue our creative dreams in this context?
In this episode I discuss the ins and outs of rejection sensitivity and its more extreme form, rejection sensitive dysphoria. You'll hear what it is, why neurodiverse folks are prone to it, what it looks like in real life (using some examples from my own), and some tools I've developed over the last five years of my own creative journey that have helped me go from not wanting to share my fiction at all to live pitching my now completed novel at a conference next week (wish me luck!)
Several resources I used for this episode:
Emotional Regulation and Rejection Sensitivity (Dr. William Dodson, October 2016)
Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria and Its Painful Impact (Dr. Neff, blog)
Past episodes I mention:
E41. The One About Writing: My Writing Journey and Path Toward Publication
E65. In Which I Read One of My Short Stories
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This episode begins with an update on my preparations for the writers' conference I'm attending in Tampa on April 12. You can skip ahead to the 10:36 mark for the topical discussion.
We're often counseled to follow our own vision or intuition in our creative work, but what does that actually look like in practice? How do you do it? In this episode I discuss a new lens that I'm finding useful right now: you follow what's alive. You'll hear about when following our internal impulses and rejecting the "shoulds" matters, how to differentiate between what's "alive" and what's "dead" in a creative project, and what to do then.
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At loooooooong last, I am (nearly! almost!) ready to start querying my novel to agents, so I decided it was the right time to do an update episode on where things stand and my plans going forward. I touch on topics such as what it feels like to be done, preparing for querying, and finding opportunities for professionalization as a prospective author.
Writing Day Conference info (Tampa & Orlando)
Jane Friedman classes
Mary Kole resources
Most timelines of the creative process depict it as linear and progressive, an "up and to the right" trajectory (like on a graph). But what I am finding in the final stretch of writing my novel, though, that this phase is entirely different from every part of the process that came before. Nothing about how I'm working as I struggle toward that finish line is like my ordinary creative practice, and I've had to alter both my approach and mindset. It truly is extra-ordinary (in the sense of being outside of the ordinary), and it does not fit with linear-progressive models of the creative process.
In this episode I discuss different cultural conceptualizations of ordinary vs. extraordinary time, and how we can adapt these to help us understand those periods in our own creative process that seem to take us far off course even as we struggle to maintain our bearings.
My sister is a competitive cyclist, and we enjoy discussing the similarities between athletic practice and creative practice. The other day she was telling me about how she and the cyclists she coaches recognize, treat, and recover from physical injuries. It made me wonder: can creatives and artists suffer from injuries, too? If so, how do we recognize when we have one, and how do we treat it? What can a sports analogy teach us about our need as creatives and artists to rest and recover?
Here is the episode of Martha Beck's podcast that I mention.
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I credit my creative practice with helping me recover from my life-altering burnout at the end of my PhD. I've maintained from the beginning (and often talked about in this podcast) that creative work should feel good most of the time. For many years I've been gentle and compassionate with myself in both my creative practice and life, never pushing too hard and taking breaks of days or even weeks when I began to feel overwhelmed by anxiety. This is what helped me build a sustainable, fulfilling creative practice that has ushered me out of burnout an into a life that feels like it has purpose.
But in order to finish my novel, I've had to push myself like never before, and I find myself sitting in discomfort in my practice more often than not. Discomfort ultimately cannot be avoided, and it is required if we want to grow. But it can also be destructive--allowing too much discomfort, and the wrong kind, into my life is what led to my burnout in the first place. How do we differentiate between constructive vs. destructive discomfort?
This is a big topic and I only scratch the surface here (and to be honest my brain is a bit fried right now with trying to finish my novel!). Hopefully I've made a good start with it.
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Have you ever noticed that successful artists' backstories often sound like destined paths or hero's journeys? Learning how to tell your own mythologized origin story is an essential tool for any artist. Listen to this episode to find out why and how to do it.
I am indebted to the podcast episode Infamous: Taylor Swift Before She Was Famous Part I for much of the information about Taylor Swift's early life. Please give it and its companion Part II a listen!
Find out more about the writing program I use, Scrivener.
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I am a lifelong magical thinker, but in recent years have rejected it in favor of a more realistic (read: pessimistic/cynical haha) perspective. This holiday season, though, I have decided that I will once again let myself believe in magic. But am I ready to indulge in magical thinking in a responsible way? To find out, I compare my magical thinking or lack thereof during my two experiences of finishing a novel: one twenty years ago and one this year. In the first case, I used magical thinking in a destructive way, but this time I'm trying to use it in a constructive way. What's the difference? Listen to find out!
There's no question that setting and achieving goals is beneficial...right? But what about when it's not? Creativity requires us to become adept at allowing ourselves to be swept off course. In this episode I discuss why we struggle so much to deviate from plan, why this can harm our creative process, and why we may want to consider taking radical steps to connect with our intuitive creative mind.
In these final difficult months of getting my novel ready for agent submissions, thinking about my art's greater purpose is serving as an important motivator. In this episode I discuss why I think it's best to save contemplating your art's greater purpose for the later stages of creation, how to know if you even need a greater purpose for your art, and how to figure out what yours is.
This discussion is part of a larger one I've been having on this podcast recently around contemplating audience and balancing prioritizing our needs as artists to be authentic in our art with the needs of audiences to enjoy or benefit from our work.
When life gets messy, it's tempting to put our creative work aside until we have the space and energy for inspiration again. But this is no good if you are trying to finish a project or if you are dedicated to maintaining a serious creative practice as an artist or a mental health practice. In this episode I talk about what I learned from a recent experience of upheaval in my own life, and give you some tips to help you when you encounter your own.
Sorry for the lateness of this episode, I'm dealing with some very noisy construction at my house that is interfering with my recording schedule. In this episode I provide a brief update on my novel polishing and throw out some thoughts I have on what artistic voice is and how to develop it.
What happens when someone who hates deadlines decides to try one out? Listen to hear all about my recent experience of setting a deadline for myself to finish my novel. Spoiler: I hit it! In this episode I talk about why I'm usually against deadlines, when they are useful, how to know if you are ready to take the next step in your project and set a big one for yourself, and how to set endogenous deadlines that serve YOU, rather than exogenous ones that serve the gods of toxic productivity.
Why is it that after all the work you've put into your creative project you hit your biggest resistance when you can finally see the finish line? This is what happened to me this summer when I was trying to finish my novel (which will be done next week!!!). Turns out this is totally normal, and in this episode I talk about why this happens and how to move through it.
This episode marks a return to my regular programming after taking the summer to work through the above-mentioned resistance. If you want the full story as it happened (cause I'm all about sharing the process), listen to the update episode I released over the summer months!
Here is the talk with Matthew Bellringer that I mentioned.
This is my final update on this strange summer that was full of change, growth, and pure panic, if I'm honest! I'll be returning to my regular type of programming in a couple weeks, and in this episode I give you a taste of the episodes topics I'm planning. They are all based on my experiences this summer tackling draft 10 of my novel, The Gentle History: new challenges, lessons learned, and wisdom gained.
I finally have some excellent news to share! I've had a creative breakthrough on my novel and am on track to finish it by mid-September. In this episode I share what led to the breakthrough, what it feels like, and my tentative plans for when I'm done.
This is a grab bag of an episode in which I tell a long and rambling story about what getting my house tented for drywood termites has to do with the Empire State Building, share my thoughts on what I've learned about creative process as I've worked through my writer's block, give two examples of how I've humbled myself to art recently, and declare a new creative identity for myself.
Here is the episode of the podcast Bewildered I mention.
In which I talk about how I'm working through my current writer's block and the importance of surrendering to the ebb and flow of creativity.
Here is the newsletter by Nick Cave that I discuss in this episode.
In which I discuss some recent developments in my life and the steps I am taking to deal with the circumstances.
Many creatives and artists have a bit of the lone wolf in them. But generally speaking, being a lone wolf is looked down on in society. In this episode I mount a defense of this personality type and discuss some of the things that make lone wolves awesome human beings worthy of understanding, love, and admiration.
What do you do when you lose steam with your creative projects or practice? Nothing will block you faster than feeling bored with your work. When your inspiration and motivation go missing, though, there are some simple remedies that can get you back on track. In this episode I discuss the three levels of creative boredom, how to recognize them, and what to do when they happen.
I've never been able to figure out if I'm a highly ambitious person or not ambitious enough. What I've settled on is that while my culture tells me I should be ambitious, at heart I'm just not. When I start getting ambitious about my work, my stress levels rise and my burnout is triggered again. In this episode I discuss ambition in reference to creative work and how we can have goals for ourselves while avoiding the negative impact of ambition.
Honest Rox's newsletter about the impact of US culture
BBC article about Niksen
Psychology Today article on ambition
Will AI-created art change the way we view art and our relationship with it as consumers and creators? I contemplate this question in light of Frank Ocean's ostensibly disastrous but possibly brilliant performance at Coachella this year and the viral hit song featuring Drake and the Weeknd that turned out to be fake.
My Instagram
Article on Frank Ocean in the Ringer (by Jeff Weiss).
Article on Frank Ocean in GQ (by Eileen Cartter).
Switched On Pop episode on the Drake/Weeknd AI song
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Following your intuition when you are being nudged off course is a vital creative skill, but many of us are held hostage by plans and struggle to accept interruptions as positive. We feel derailed and like we're losing control. But creativity requires interruption, because it opens space for something new and unexpected to arise. In this episode I discuss how to facilitate constructive use of interruptions in your life and creative practice by listening to your intuition. Intuition doesn't show up in the way we expect it to, so I also talk about what intuition really feels like when it strikes.
My Instagram
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Lately I've been struggling with a growing awareness of pessimism and negativity around me in the world. It seems we are in an age of insecurity, fear, and suspicion. Then the other day I read about the Spiral Jetty, a work of land art on the edge of the Great Salt Lake in Utah, and it got me thinking about what art can teach us about dealing with the inevitability of change, struggle, and entropy. Ultimately the way we perceive the world is up to us, and greeting all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams with pessimism and negativity is not our only option.
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When we get stuck in life we can easily find reasons why we can't make the changes we need to make. But those aren't the real reasons we remain stuck. It's our feelings of powerlessness over our circumstances that really hold us back. In this episode I talk about different ways we give away our power to effect change in our lives and practices we can use to get it back.
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Do you ever feel like you have lost your creative inspiration, or worse, that you don't have enough to begin with? In this episode I talk about how to cultivate inspiration by doing the opposite of what our instincts tell us. We're socialized to believe that if we want something, we need to aggressively go after it, even "attack" it. But when it comes to creative inspiration, this will only make it harder to come by. So what can you do instead? Listen to find out!
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It's a common assumption that highly creative people are more prone to mental illness. Van Gogh is perhaps one of the most famous examples of the mad creative genius archetype. But is there a scientifically verifiable link between creativity and mental illness? This is part of a recent research-based bonus episode I did for my Patreon subscribers at the $5 tier.
Here is the Scientific American article I cite
Here is my episode on the Default Mode Network and creativity
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I recently saw a play called Women Playing Hamlet (by William Missouri Downs) that explores the idea of playing roles others cast us in versus choosing the roles we play and inhabiting them fully through full knowledge of the self. In this episode I ask the question, why do we hesitate to cast ourselves in the roles of our choosing? Why do so many of us continue to play it safe by not stepping into our identities as writer/musician/artist/etc.? How long are we going to continue on playing the roles other people have chosen for us, or ones we think we should be playing, before we find the courage to cast ourselves in a role for our own fulfillment?
My episode on Hollywood comeback stories
My blog post Breaking Into the Chocolate Factory
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Creatives are often told they need to take risks in order to reach their full potential, but what does that mean, exactly, and how does one do it? If you google creative risk you'll find tons of resources on the why of risk but not the what kind and how. In this episode I seek to fill some of those gaps of knowledge. I explore three types of creative risk and discuss how you can approach them through process rather than big, scary leaps.
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There is no question that we are now in the era of AI, and everyone is talking about what AI-generated art means for the art industry and individual artists. In this episode I talk about how creatives and artists can handle our anxieties around what the future holds as AI-generated art gluts up the system and decreases space for our own art. I include some thoughts on what we as real humans can offer that AI can't, and how that will change what we view as art and the location of where we find value in the process of making art.
Jane Friedman's website
My blog post about sharing your process
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Why does the magic disappear from our lives as we grow up and mature, and how can we get it back? In this episode I contemplate what we mean when we talk about magic, why as adults it is required that we find a way to allow it back into our lives, and how we can do that. I also discuss the links between magic and creativity, and why it's especially important for us creatives and artists to believe in magic.
Transcript
Here are some episodes I've done on creativity and happiness + the one on irrationality:
E8. We Have a Society Addiction to Goal-Setting and It's Draining Our Joy
E59. How I Manage My Depression Through Creative Practice
E91. How and Why Does Creativity Make Us Happy?
E44. The Uses of Irrationality. Or, What Listening to Your Feelings Really Looks Like
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For my birthday weekend I decided to re-release one of my favorite previous episodes as a way of giving myself both a break and boost! This episode was previously released in March 2022 (E66). I'll be back next week!
My Instagram (Grandma's xmas 1990 note)
When You Don't Have the Privilege of Mental Health (blog post)
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How do we know when we've finished a creative project? Sometimes we know because we have deadlines or explicit, concrete goals to work toward, but what about long-term and fairly open-ended projects like novels, where it is up to us and us alone to judge whether it's done? Especially if we have any perfectionist tendencies, we may feel confused about what indicators tell us a project is ready to put out into the world. In this episode I discuss a way of understanding done that is based on your own internal experience of the life cycle of a project. This new perspective on done can help you leave behind the anxiety you feel around interpreting external criteria of done, and releasing a project into the world.
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Creative breakthroughs can't be ordered up like a menu item, but there are things you can do to facilitate them. I discuss one such method in this episode.
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Recently a number of comeback stories have emerged from Hollywood, and in this episode I talk about four that have resonated with me: Michelle Yeoh, Jennifer Coolidge, Ke Huy Quan, and Brendan Fraser. Each one of these actors has struggled over decades with various setbacks, and has emerged victoriously in this year's awards season. Their stories are inspirational, and I take heart from their journeys. Living the creative life is about playing the long game, and these four show us what that looks like.
Sources I used for this episode:
Stylist on Michelle Yeoh
Vulture on Jennifer Coolidge
Vanity Fair on Ke Huy Quan
Entertainment Tonight on Brendan Fraser
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In this episode I discuss how to deal with a motivation killer that can take you by surprise, because it's not one we are told we need to expect or be wary of. There's little to no information about it online, and I really had to dig deep to figure out how to handle it in my own life. What is this sneak-attack motivation killer? You'll have to listen to find out!
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Do you ever feel like no matter how hard you try to find clarity around your art and what you're trying to convey with it, you're always stuck in the weeds? I certainly do. Even after years of writing and revising my novel, I often feel no clearer about what I'm trying to write than I was at the beginning (well, maybe I feel a little clearer!). In this episode I have a conversation with an inspiring video by industrial designer John Mauriello about the "black puzzle" of creative work. I discuss how to deal with the inherent ambiguity and uncertainty of the creative process, and why those things are a feature, not a bug, of the creative process.
John Mauriello's video on why society hates creative people
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Have you ever noticed that you get anxious when things are going well? It feels like we're always waiting for that inevitable downswing. Creativity, motivation, and inspiration come in cycles, and high and low times follow on each other. In this episode I address why creatives and artists struggle so much with the roller coaster nature of creative work, and share some tips that can help us appreciate both the highs and lows. The major takeaway? We need to learn how to detach value from excellence. Sound interesting? Listen to learn more!
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In December I release some of my previously recorded Patreon bonus episodes as a treat for myself and my listeners. In this one I take a look at the updates to Elaine Aron's theory about HSPs (highly sensitive people) included in the 2020 re-release of her 1990s classic The Highly Sensitive Person, including new research on HSPs. I then discuss the similarities and differences between Aron's theory and Dabrowski's on the five types of OEs (overexcitabilities), and why I prefer Dabrowski's take on high sensitivity. Enjoy, and Happy New Year!
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Stressed out or feeling lonely this holiday season? Angsty about yet another year gone and little progress to show for it? I have some thoughts to share on these common end-of-the-year feelings, and share some the wisdom from Nick Cave and Taylor Swift.
Nick Cave's newsletter
Switched On Pop's episode on Taylor Swift's new album
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This week I'm releasing one of my Patreon bonus episodes as part of my December special content! I discuss the "kishotenketsu" style of storytelling and how it differs from the Western three-act structure. I also include a brief update on how things are going with my novel revisions. Enjoy!
Transcript
Sources used in this episode:
The Healing Power of Japanese Literature
The significance of plot without conflict
Kishotenketsu for Beginners
Diversity Plus: Diverse Story Forms and Themes, Not Just Diverse Faces
Shakespeare in the Bush
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Lindsay is a thirty-eight year old creative, artist, medium and mother of two young boys, living in Burlington, VT. After ten years working for her family's real estate development company, she left her executive level job in 2020 to both recover from the burnout of having two young kids while working full-time, as well as to pursue her curiosities in creativity and spirituality. While recovering from burnout, she turned to her lifelong passion of acrylic painting, as well as meditation and writing, as a way of understanding her experience. She discovered that she could tune into someone's energy and see colors that represent their essence. In 2021 she founded Spirit Love, her business that is dedicated to helping others along their path. Spirit Love offers personal energy paintings, as well as one on one and group healing sessions where she taps into guidance from spirit guides and loved ones on the other side. She does her energy work, mediumship, painting and writing out of her newly opened studio space in Burlington, VT.
Note: Please contact me directly if you need a transcript of this episode.
Info on Jill's upcoming cycling trip in Colombia
Jill's Instagram
Lindsay Getz's website (Spirit Love)
Lindsay's Instagram (see my energy painting here)
The Kelly Brush Foundation
Episode on Knight of Faith vs. Knight of Resignation
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We usually think of courage as associated with taking big actions and big risks for that big payoff. That's certainly a type of courage, but thinking that way can hold us back from ever taking action for change in our own lives. Taking big risks is scary! There's another way to view courage, as composed of small, everyday actions that can lead to transformation over time. In this episode I outline 4 facets of creative courage that don't require you to take big steps. Small steps can lead to wondrous things, too.
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Last year I inaugurated a tradition of taking Thanksgiving week off from podcasting, but I forgot to announce that last week, so I recorded a mini-episode with some info on my holiday plans through the end of the year for this podcast plus some thoughts on my recent decision to leave social media.
We all know that engaging with art, either as a creator or a consumer, can be healing, but what does that mean and how does it work? In this episode I discuss some research on how the passive or active consumption of art and/or the creative process can impact not only mental but physical health. Then I talk about making art that creates healing for its consumer, what making such art looks like from the artist's point of view, and how consumers engage with such art.
Literature review on art and healing
Article on Banana Yoshimoto
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As I continue on my creative journey of revising my novel, I'm intentionally editing with the perspective of making it more entertaining to read (at least I hope I'm accomplishing that!). This has caused me to reevaluate my relationship with my creative process and with the concept of art. Is there really a difference between "art" as a pure form of self-expression, and "entertainment" products that are created to be consumed and enjoyed by others? As you can expect if you are a long-time listener, I don't come down on one side or another. Rather, I examine the question from the perspective of what I am coming to understand about my own role as writer/author, and what my responsibility is to my audience.
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If you are an HSP, INFJ, INFP, or other type of gentle/sensitive soul, you have probably had people respond to your expression of emotions by telling you to just get over it. Our sensitivity to the world around us and the intensity with which we experience life can seem excessive to less sensitive types. We are told we need to learn coping skills, how to be more resilient and less sensitive. But I don't believe anymore that this is the only or best way to survive and thrive as a gentle soul in this world. In this episode I talk about why getting over stuff and even moving past stuff aren't my chosen ways of coping with life these days, and what I'm doing instead.
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When I came across director/producer/actor/writer Elia Kazan's Actor's Vow a few months ago, I couldn't believe what I was reading. Here was a blueprint not just for how to act on stage or in front of the camera (Kazan was a proponent of method acting), but how to approach doing art of any kind. Not only that, it could be considered a statement on how to live, how to Be. In this episode I talk about living authentically, sharing our truth, and excavating the self for art in a compassionate way.
The Actor's Vow
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There's no question midlife brings with it both surprises and challenges...but does the change we go through in this period of life have to be a "crisis"? In this episode I discuss why I'm convinced the middle stage of life can be one of our best times, if we are careful and deliberate about how we approach it. If you are approaching the middle of life, in it now, or struggling with its legacy, hopefully this episode will provide some tools to help you reconceptualize what it means and how you can make the most of its opportunities.
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One of the most challenging things for creatives and artists to learn is how to maintain a strong creative practice, which is based on routine, with our need for the inspiration that changing things gives us. In this episode I talk about how to shift your focus from activity-based change to energy-based change, so that you can create change that not only supports your creative practice but makes life more fun (and thus inspirational).
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Every creative will encounter boredom with their work and life at some point, and it can wreak havoc on our self-confidence, creative joy, and ability to see projects through to the end. The key to handling periods of creative boredom is not to try to avoid them, but to develop skills that help you move through them so you can continue to do your work and find new sources of inspiration. In this episode I talk about three root causes of creative boredom and give you a fix for each as well as a perspective change that will help you deal with such periods better.
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We have a hurricane coming to Florida, so I'm taking this week off from producing a podcast episode to give myself time to prep for it. I'll see you back here next Friday!
Last week I looked at how suffering relates to creativity. This week I discuss how creativity can improve our lives! I talk about three different epistemological approaches to understanding how creativity can help us heal, increase our quality of life, and make us feel good: scientific, philosophical, and spiritual.
Sources used in this episode:
Article in Psychology today on the health benefits of creativity.
Essay on the transmutation of energy by Ram Dass.
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I've had clients say to me that they feel they can't be "real" artists because they don't suffer enough. They feel like they're creative beings, but they're gasp pretty happy with their lives and therefore don't have much fodder for their creative work. In this episode I discuss my latest thoughts on the relationship between pain and creativity, and reassure you that if you are a human being (check?), you definitely have enough dark stuff to inform and enrich your creative work, and you don't have to suffer (much) to access it.
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I thought it was time to revisit mind-wandering and daydreaming and their role in creativity. In this episode I delve into the default mode network, comprised of the parts of our brain that switch on when we enter daydreaming mode, how it works, and its relationship with creativity. I also tackle how biases work their way into scientific studies (e.g. our societal bias against mind-wandering and the default mode network's role in thinking) and why I think it's important we challenge the assumptions underlying such studies.
Article in the MIT Press Reader
Article in Knowable Magazine
Transcript (coming soon)
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Has this happened to you? You're on a roll with your creative project, getting stuff done, you feel enthusiastic and excited about your progress, and then bam! Something happens (usually some kind of setback), and suddenly you feel like you've fallen off the edge of the map. You're no longer clear on your goals, you doubt your talent and skills, and you wonder if it's a sign you should just give up. It's not! You've just entered the void. This is the part of the creative process where you enter the "here be dragons" land, a place where you will be challenged to the height of your capabilities because there are no map and no signposts, and you'll encounter monsters that will make you cower in fear. There is only one rule when you enter the void: you must keep going. In this episode I tell you how.
Here is the episode with Chrissa Trudelle that I mention.
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This is my yearly episode on trying to earn a living as a working creative, where I talk about all the behind-the-scenes stuff. These days a lot of people are giving creative entrepreneurship a try, and I think it's important for those of us who've been at it for a while to talk about the real experience of trying to earn a living off our creative work. Long story short, it's not easy, but over the past year I've come to a deeper understanding of what I want and what I'm willing to commit and sacrifice on my creative journey.
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I have two main pieces of advice when it comes to asking for and dealing with feedback. First, you don't have to be "good" at receiving feedback to ask for it. Some of us will never have a thick skin and that's okay. Second, if you are not sure exactly what you are hoping to get out of the feedback and ready to ask for and receive that specific advice, err on the side of not asking for feedback. Getting bad feedback or getting feedback at the wrong time can damage our creative practice and cause blocks. In this episode I talk about different kinds of solicited feedback and their pros and cons (there are more cons than pros to much of it, in my opinion). I also discuss how to know when you're ready for feedback, what kind to ask for, depending on your personal goals for your work, and how to handle challenging critical feedback that hurts but you know will help you take your work to the next level.
My blog post on feeling insecure about putting your work out into the world (dealing with unsolicited and/or imagined feedback).
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I recently underwent a major change in my plans for my novel due to some feedback I received, and in this episode I discuss why it's important to be open to making such changes. They can lead to major creative growth, but it's also very difficult to accept a change in what we thought were our path and destination. I talk about how to know when you need to make changes, and how to know if you're on the right track. I also touch on seeking feedback and dealing with it (I'll be doing an entire episode on this soon!), and give you an update on the specifics of how things now stand with my novel.
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The reason we creatives and artists fail to reach goals and achieve dreams is because we misunderstand what kind of hard work is required. We put too much of our energy into the wrong kind of hard work, leaving us with nothing left to tackle the long-term struggles of the creative life. In this episode I discuss the two kinds of hard work and how to stop wasting so much energy on the wrong kind. I give you some tips on how to deal with the challenges that lay us low on our creative journeys and the surprisingly simple way to move forward through even the toughest of times.
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My sister is back! Jill Patterson, a competitive cyclist, is having a great year after experiencing a not-so-great one last year, and I invited her back on the podcast to talk about her recent big win and dealing with the ups and downs of racing. Our discussion encompasses the similarities and differences between the athletic and the creative life, and how we both handle the challenges associated with forging our own paths outside of conventional societal structures.
Note: no transcript is available for this episode. If you need one, please contact me.
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If you've ever felt insecure or angry about the fact that putting your creative work out into the world often means commercializing it, and thus changing or diluting it, this episode is for you. I discuss that tension many artists feel between art as a joyful, and private, creative process and the cruel dictates of market constraints, but I take a different perspective: that those constraints can actually be used constructively, and lead to more joyful creative experiences. Making our art into a commercial product may not be the capitulation it can so often seem to be.
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You've probably heard somewhere along the way that what really holds us back is fear of success, not failure. I've never understood this, so in this episode I explore what it might mean and if it holds water. Stick around at the end of the episode for an update on how final edits are going on my novel, The Gentle History.
Here is the blog post I mention, by Donald Latumahina.
Here is the episode I mention on how to judge your own creative work.
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In the creative life you must learn to be your own biggest fan: that's what's required to come through the myriad challenges you will face along the way. In this episode I discuss why it matters so much that you become your own biggest fan as a creative or artist, and what that looks like.
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You've probably heard it before, this admonition to trust the process. It's one of those things that's easy to say, but difficult to grasp. What is "the process," and how do we operationalize the concept of trusting it? In this episode I talk about process in a way you may not have heard before, and offer a suggestion for how to trust the process that will make you feel like you have a more active role in your path forward as a creative. I also discuss a recent experience I had of creative failure, and why I think it's okay to feel like you've failed even when you know objectively that it's all part of the process.
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In this episode I'm experimenting with something new: I've devised an exercise to help you figure out how to enjoy the process of reaching goals, not just the idea of reaching them. This exercise has a twofold purpose: to help you find more fulfillment and happiness in your day-to-day lives, and to help you develop internal motivation that is strong enough to keep you working toward goals past that initial burst of enthusiasm. This exercise is one I've done myself in various ways over the years in condensed form. I hope you find it useful in some way!
"How to Want Less," by Arthur C. Brooks (The Atlantic, February 2022).
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Summer is a special time, and it calls for some special activities. In this episode I discuss why and how this summer is one of transition for me in terms of my identity and my creative activities! I also issue a challenge to any who are interested in taking it up, one I myself am participating in. Finally, I discuss a brand new project I'm taking on, one that is purely for pleasure. Let's sink into summer and make this one about taking it easy and having fun!
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Our societal systems, including the public school system, are built to counteract subversive forces such as (too much) intellectual curiosity and creativity. We are socialized in ways of thinking and acting that run directly counter to the way creativity works. How can we begin to heal from the damage our formalized systems of learning do to our creative potential? By understanding that damage, and learning to sit with the paradoxes inherent in living within systems while seeking to transcend them through our art.
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Subscribe to my tarot podcast! Every Sunday I provide an encouraging message for the week ahead based on a 3-card draw from one of my many tarot decks. My approach to tarot reading is psychological/intuitive, and I have over two decades of experience with the cards behind me. A picture of the cards is provided with each episode.
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How much time should you take to rest and digest, recover from stress, and adjust to loss? As much time as you need.
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Subscribe to my tarot podcast! Every Sunday I provide an encouraging message for the week ahead based on a 3-card draw from one of my many tarot decks. My approach to tarot reading is psychological/intuitive, and I have over two decades of experience with the cards behind me. A picture of the cards is provided with each episode.
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As I process the passing of my cat, Lucy, I contemplate why we so often fail to make the changes we need to in life: because change inevitably comes with loss. But change can also be used as a method of healing. Join me in this exploration of change, grief, and moving forward.
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Subscribe to my tarot podcast! Every Sunday I provide an encouraging message for the week ahead based on a 3-card draw from one of my many tarot decks. My approach to tarot reading is psychological/intuitive, and I have over two decades of experience with the cards behind me. A picture of the cards is provided with each episode.
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I used to think the creative life was only for "real" creatives or artists, the lucky few who are able to spend most of their day doing creative work and are probably also making a living from their art. But that's wrong. The creative life is available for anyone who wants it regardless of how much time you spend doing your creative work, and it is certainly not dependent on outside recognition of said work. There are a few simple things you can do to live the creative life, and I tell you about them in this episode.
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Subscribe to my tarot podcast! Every Sunday I provide an encouraging message for the week ahead based on a 3-card draw from one of my many tarot decks. My approach to tarot reading is psychological/intuitive, and I have over two decades of experience with the cards behind me. A picture of the cards is provided with each episode.
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Have you ever felt like you're living at a distance from your own life, not really immersed in it in a way that feels fulfilling or joyful? The problem could be rooted in our misleading cultural ideas around seeking balance. What we see as finding balance in life is often merely a way of shuffling things around on our already overloaded plates. In this episode I talk about why I gave up on trying to have a balanced life and what I do instead. I also give you some tips on how I manage life without to-do lists, and how to deal with the consequences of letting some of those things fall off your overloaded plate.
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Subscribe to my tarot podcast! Every Sunday I provide an encouraging message for the week ahead based on a 3-card draw from one of my many tarot decks. My approach to tarot reading is psychological/intuitive, and I have over two decades of experience with the cards behind me. A picture of the cards is provided with each episode.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
In this episode I tell you what writing my novel, The Gentle History, has looked like. I am an intuitive discovery writer, which means that I rarely sit down with any kind of detailed idea of what I'm going to be writing that day. Whatever comes out when I'm in a flow state is unplanned and spontaneous, and may only loosely connect with my overarching idea of the novel, at least in early drafts. I get to know my characters and story as I go along, refining my ideas in each subsequent draft. This is not an efficient way of writing, but it's inspired, and it's the only way that works for me. If you are struggling with your own writing, this episode will give you some ideas about how to move forward in a creatively inspired way that isn't overly controlling of your process and final product.
You can find the blog post associated with this episode here.
Transcript
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Subscribe to my tarot podcast! Every Sunday I provide an encouraging message for the week ahead based on a 3-card draw from one of my many tarot decks. My approach to tarot reading is psychological/intuitive, and I have over two decades of experience with the cards behind me. A picture of the cards is provided with each episode.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
Pete is the Author of The Art of Shouting Quietly (2015) and A Quiet Person's Guide to Life+Work (due May 2022). His latest book is aimed at those who are quiet themselves or who know quiet people, love them, and/or work with or manage them. He identifies as Quiet person, here to support others that identify as quiet. He is an advocate for Quiet inclusion and runs workshops to bring quiet people and those who lead/manage them into alignment. He is a tutor for Barefoot Coaching Ltd – one of the UK’s premier coaching companies – and has a Postgraduate Certificate in Business & Personal coaching from Chester University.
You can find out more about Pete's talks and workshops here:
https://www.petemosley.com/quietwisdom
Website: www.petemosley.com
Twitter: @petemosley
Transcript
Would You Like to Support My Work?Sign up for my weekly digest!
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Sign up to be a Patron of Stepping Off Now!
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! Every Sunday I provide an encouraging message for the week ahead based on a 3-card draw from one of my many tarot decks. My approach to tarot reading is psychological/intuitive, and I have over two decades of experience with the cards behind me. A picture of the cards is provided with each episode.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
I get meta in this episode by sharing about my creative practice of writing an ebook about creative practice. I credit my creative practice with everything good in my life, from my recovery from burnout, to finally finding my arena and my people, to finishing a novel, to my mental health management. I want to help other people develop their own life-affirming, fulfilling creative practice that helps them do good work, finish projects, and gives them a sense of purpose in life.
I'm doing this episode for two reasons. The first is that I believe in the value of sharing the creative process. Sharing the act of creativity is what creativity is in the most fundamental sense: alive, in motion, emergent. Creativity is process, not product. The second reason is that this ebook is for you. I'd like feedback on my ideas around what to include. So if you feel like this ebook is something you'd be interested in, please don't hesitate to contact me with your thoughts on what you'd like to see me include! You can contact me here.
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Subscribe to my tarot podcast! Every Sunday I provide an encouraging message for the week ahead based on a 3-card draw from one of my many tarot decks. My approach to tarot reading is psychological/intuitive, and I have over two decades of experience with the cards behind me. A picture of the cards is provided with each episode.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
In this wide-ranging conversation, artist and fellow PhD Sophia van Hees and I parse the difference between terms such as introversion, shy, socially anxious, reserved, sensitive, and quiet, and discuss our experiences growing up as shy, reserved children in the US and Australia, respectively.
Brave Snail Designs
Sophia's Instagram
Find more info on Sophia's tarot deck here.
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Sign up to be a Patron of Stepping Off Now!
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! Every Sunday I provide an encouraging message for the week ahead based on a 3-card draw from one of my many tarot decks. My approach to tarot reading is psychological/intuitive, and I have over two decades of experience with the cards behind me. A picture of the cards is provided with each episode.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
Does writer's block exist? Yes it does. In this episode I challenge those who say it's not a real thing by exploring my own recent experience with it. In my opinion, writer's block isn't just being unable to write, it's broader than that, and I talk about why, the reasons behind writer's block, what it looks like, and how I deal with it. This isn't your typical perspective (when is anything I do typical lol), and hopefully it will enlighten you a bit about the condition of writer's block and give you some more tools to deal with it if/when it happens to you. And if you are one of the people saying it doesn't exist in an objective sense, please reconsider! Listen to this episode for why.
You can find the essay I wrote that inspired this episode here.
Transcript
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Subscribe to my tarot podcast! Every Sunday I provide an encouraging message for the week ahead based on a 3-card draw from one of my many tarot decks. My approach to tarot reading is psychological/intuitive, and I have over two decades of experience with the cards behind me. A picture of the cards is provided with each episode.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
What do you do when the path ahead seems hopeless, and you feel resignation coming over you? I contemplate this through a personal reckoning with Kierkegaard's contrasting Knight of Faith and Knight of Resignation archetypes.
When You Don't Have the Privilege of Mental Health
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Sign up to be a Patron of Stepping Off Now!
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! Every Sunday I provide an encouraging message for the week ahead based on a 3-card draw from one of my many tarot decks. My approach to tarot reading is psychological/intuitive, and I have over two decades of experience with the cards behind me. A picture of the cards is provided with each episode.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
I had a discouraging week, and so to cheer myself up I decided to give myself a break from doing a regular podcast episode and read you one of my short stories instead! This is the first time I have shared my fiction on this podcast. The story is called "The Memory of Trees," and it's about a woman going to visit the mother of her childhood best friend, a friend who once shared a terrible secret with her.
Transcript
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Subscribe to my tarot podcast! Every Sunday I provide an encouraging message for the week ahead based on a 3-card draw from one of my many tarot decks. My approach to tarot reading is psychological/intuitive, and I have over two decades of experience with the cards behind me. A picture of the cards is provided with each episode.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
It is notoriously difficult for creatives and artists to judge their own work. We cycle through extremes: one day we think we're awesome, the next we think we must have been delusional to believe we had any talent. We're even worse when it comes to other people's judgements of our work: a single critical comment can derail us for weeks, months, years. Given our sensitivities, how can we ever know the true value of our work? How do we know if it's any good, worth spending time on, putting out into the world?
In this episode I give you some new parameters to use in judging your own work that will help you have a more stable assessment of its value. Why is this important? Because using the wrong parameters for judging our work is a major reason we get blocked. When we have self-confidence in ourselves as creatives/artists and in our work and its value, we'll find ourselves reliably inspired and motivated to continue on in the face of the many challenges we encounter on our path to achieving our creative dreams.
This episode's accompanying blog post can be found here.
Here is my blog post on maintaining motivation over time.
Transcript
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Sign up to be a Patron of Stepping Off Now!
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! Every Sunday I provide an encouraging message for the week ahead based on a 3-card draw from one of my many tarot decks. My approach to tarot reading is psychological/intuitive, and I have over two decades of experience with the cards behind me. A picture of the cards is provided with each episode.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
I've never been the type of person who has one feeling about anything. As an Enneagram 4, I put equal value on the lighter and the darker emotions, and I've never understood our cultural obsession with positivity. Lately, though, many people have been speaking up about toxic positivity, a type of social pressure put on us to perform positive thoughts and feelings. I couldn't be more wholeheartedly in favor of opening up space for darker emotions.
My hope is that we can move to a place where not only the challenging side of the emotional spectrum is accepted and even embraced, but it's normalized to talk about just how complex emotions can be. I often have contradictory, even paradoxical emotions, and I don't want to feel fear or shame about that. In fact, I see this as necessary to the creative and artist, because it is our job to be translators and meaning makers of the human condition. We need to be familiar with the entire spectrum.
This episode is my "coming out" as a complex person who experiences a wide spectrum of feelings and emotions that I treat with respect and curiosity. We all can seek to live with the essential dignity of owning and accepting our complexities, particularly our dark emotions that are not as socially acceptable.
Transcript
Would You Like to Support My Work?Sign up for my weekly digest! You'll get a free gift when you do.
Buy me a coffee! You can give me a one-time donation using this link.
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Subscribe to my tarot podcast! Every Sunday I provide an encouraging message for the week ahead based on a 3-card draw from one of my many tarot decks. My approach to tarot reading is psychological/intuitive, and I have over two decades of experience with the cards behind me. A picture of the cards is provided with each episode.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
In this episode Matthew Bellringer and I flip the script on neurodiversity, exploring it from a generative and validating perspective. Matthew is one of the most eloquent speakers I've come across on the subjects of neurodiversity and what it looks like and feels like for a neurodiverse person. As someone with ADHD and who also identifies as an HSP, Matthew speaks to both. His perspective is science-informed yet anchored in the subjective individual experience, which matches very well with my own way of seeing the world. We discuss different kinds of creativity, its links to neurodiversity, seeking accommodation at work and in life, and more. This felt like a conversation made in heaven for me, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Matthew is a wanderer and educator. He works with those pioneering approaches to deep-rooted, complex problems. He specialises in supporting neurodivergent people, and the establishment of technology-enabled regenerative practice. You can find out more about him and his work, as well as episodes of his live-recorded podcast Delightful Dissent at https://www.matthewbellringer.com
My interview on Delightful Dissent
Delightful Dissent YouTube channel
Matthew Bellringer's website
Transcript
Would You Like to Support My Work?Sign up for my weekly digest! You'll get a free gift when you do.
Buy me a coffee! You can give me a one-time donation using this link.
Sign up to be a Patron of Stepping Off Now!
Hire me! I offer heart-centered, science-informed creativity mentorship to highly sensitive creative people who want to move from chronic creative unfulfillment to actually achieving creative goals and feeling like they are living their creative purpose.
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! Every Sunday I provide an encouraging message for the week ahead based on a 3-card draw from one of my many tarot decks. My approach to tarot reading is psychological/intuitive, and I have over two decades of experience with the cards behind me. A picture of the cards is provided with each episode.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
Is being performative always bad? Not when it functions to give you a better understanding of your true nature. In this episode I discuss performativity and authenticity, and the cycle of separation from and return to the self that constitutes fulfilling our potential as human beings. Learn the difference between the discomfort of straying from your true nature and the uncomfortableness of going against convention or expectation, as well as how to use performativity as a counterintuitive methodology for developing more self-confidence and greater peace with yourself and the world. This will especially resonate with INFPs and INFJs, who are inclined toward authentic engagement.
If you're interested in more about dealing with performative spaces, check out this blog post.
Transcript
Would You Like to Support My Work?Sign up for my weekly digest! You'll get a free gift when you do.
Buy me a coffee! You can give me a one-time donation using this link.
Sign up to be a Patron of Stepping Off Now!
Hire me! I offer heart-centered, science-informed creativity mentorship to highly sensitive creative people who want to move from chronic creative unfulfillment to actually achieving creative goals and feeling like they are living their creative purpose.
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! Every Sunday I provide an encouraging message for the week ahead based on a 3-card draw from one of my many tarot decks. My approach to tarot reading is psychological/intuitive, and I have over two decades of experience with the cards behind me. A picture of the cards is provided with each episode.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
What happens when you've been living to-do list free and decide to make one? Listen to find out! You'll hear about the astonishing experience I recently had when I decided to make a seemingly benign to-do list to help me find activities to fill some of the open spaces in my life. I thought it would help me fill that time with activities that have value to me, but it had totally unforeseen and unfortunate consequences. I discuss the two different ways to view and experience time, which one modern Western society socializes us into, and why I have a strong preference for the other way.
Here is the blog post I mention about making decisions about time based on energy.
Transcript
Would You Like to Support My Work?Sign up for my weekly digest! You'll get a free gift when you do.
Buy me a coffee! You can give me a one-time donation using this link.
Sign up to be a Patron of Stepping Off Now!
Hire me! I offer heart-centered, science-informed creativity mentorship to highly sensitive creative people who want to move from chronic creative unfulfillment to actually achieving creative goals and feeling like they are living their creative purpose.
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! Every Sunday I provide an encouraging message for the week ahead based on a 3-card draw from one of my many tarot decks. My approach to tarot reading is psychological/intuitive, and I have over two decades of experience with the cards behind me. A picture of the cards is provided with each episode.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
I sought out regular treatments for decades to help me manage my depression, and nothing worked until I finally decided to step into my identity as a creative & artist and commit to making creative practice the center of my life. In this episode I talk about how and why creative practice is my anti-depressant of choice, why it's the only thing that's worked for me, and what my creative practice looks like (it's not just sitting down to write!).
My standard disclaimer about mental health subjects applies here. This is my personal story. I'm not a medical doctor and my PhD is not in psychology.
You can find info about the book The Van Gogh Blues here.
Transcript
Would You Like to Support My Work?Sign up for my weekly digest! You'll get a free gift when you do.
Buy me a coffee! You can give me a one-time donation using this link.
Sign up to be a Patron of Stepping Off Now!
Hire me! I offer heart-centered, science-informed creativity mentorship to highly sensitive creative people who want to move from chronic creative unfulfillment to actually achieving creative goals and feeling like they are living their creative purpose.
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! Every Sunday I provide an encouraging message for the week ahead based on a 3-card draw from one of my many tarot decks. My approach to tarot reading is psychological/intuitive, and I have over two decades of experience with the cards behind me. A picture of the cards is provided with each episode.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
Does this sound familiar? You start off a creative project full of enthusiasm, and in the beginning you're able to regularly put in the work needed to reach your goal, but over time your motivation fades, you have to increasingly discipline yourself into doing the work, you start slacking off, and then finally are unable to make yourself do any work at all. You've failed, and you castigate yourself for being lazy and undisciplined.
Good news! You're not lazy or undisciplined, you just haven't figured out how to develop motivation for long-term projects. Self-discipline works well in the short term, but for long-term goals it works better to use LESS self-discipline, not more. This is because human beings have a limited capacity for self-discipline in the absence of motivation, and we are not taught how to generate and maintain motivation for long-term goals that require a process-oriented practice. That's where I come in. In this episode you'll learn about the two different kinds of motivation and how to use them both to develop a consistent and productive creative practice to reach those long-term goals.
You can find the blog post this episode is based on here.
Transcript
Would You Like to Support My Work?Sign up for my weekly digest! You'll get a free gift when you do.
Buy me a coffee! You can give me a one-time donation using this link.
Sign up to be a Patron of Stepping Off Now!
Hire me! I offer heart-centered, science-informed creativity mentorship to highly sensitive creative people who want to move from chronic creative unfulfillment to actually achieving creative goals and feeling like they are living their creative purpose.
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! Every Sunday I provide an encouraging message for the week ahead based on a 3-card draw from one of my many tarot decks. My approach to tarot reading is psychological/intuitive, and I have over two decades of experience with the cards behind me. A picture of the cards is provided with each episode.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
Frances Khalastchi runs Better Bolder Braver (along with her partner Simon Batchelar), an online community for coaches that helps them learn how to market themselves in a way that feels natural, ethical, and authentic to them. In this episode we discuss her fascinating and winding path to starting her own business and the many meanings and uses of art. Frances has a background in art history and has an informed and interesting perspective on these issues. As I discuss in my summation at the end of the interview, my own perspective on my creative work has been broadened and enriched by our conversation.
Find Frances on her website, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Transcript
Would You Like to Support My Work?Sign up for my newsletter! You'll get a free gift when you do.
Buy me a coffee! You can give me a one-time tip using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done.
Sign up to be a Patron of Stepping Off Now!
Hire me! I offer heart-centered, science-informed creativity coaching to HSPs and other creative types who want to move from chronic creative unfulfillment to feeling they are living their creative purpose.
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! Every Sunday I provide an encouraging message for the week ahead based on a 3-card draw from one of my many tarot decks. My approach to tarot reading is psychological/intuitive, and I have over two decades of experience with the cards behind me. A picture of the cards is provided with each episode.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
Happy New Year! In this first episode of 2022 I'm doing things a bit different. As I evolve as a creative, so does my work here on the podcast and elsewhere. That's how I keep things fresh for myself, which keeps me motivated and inspired. In this episode I discuss why it's not too late for you to achieve your creative dreams no matter what age you are, and suggest that when we feel discouraged we ask ourselves, what would Betty White say?
Read the blog post this episode is based on here.
Transcript
Would You Like to Support My Work?Sign up for my newsletter! You'll get a free gift when you do.
Buy me a coffee! You can give me a one-time tip using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done.
Sign up to be a Patron of Stepping Off Now!
Hire me! I offer heart-centered, science-informed creativity coaching to HSPs and other creative types who want to move from chronic creative unfulfillment to feeling they are living their creative purpose.
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. My reading approach is intuitive/psychological. Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
My wish for all of us going into the new year is to NOT clutter our brains up with goals, resolutions, self-improvement plans, and the like. I want to encourage us to see the new year as an opportunity for personal empowerment through connecting with our true desires AND developing our confidence that we can actually achieve them. This is not an episode that includes tips, directives, or prescriptions. Instead I offer a visualization that can help us come back into ourselves and locate our internal source of personal power.
The episode on goal setting is here.
The episode on figuring out what you really want is here.
Transcript
Would You Like to Support My Work?Sign up for my newsletter! You'll get a free gift when you do.
Buy me a coffee! You can give me a one-time tip using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done.
Sign up to be a Patron of Stepping Off Now!
Hire me! I offer heart-centered, science-informed creativity coaching to HSPs and other creative types who want to move from chronic creative unfulfillment to feeling they are living their creative purpose.
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. My reading approach is intuitive/psychological. Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
You've heard of the circadian rhythm, I'm sure, but did you know there are others that govern our daily functioning? One is the ultradian rhythm, which occurs in ~90 minute itervals through the day and night. The ultradian rhythm influences everything from our REM sleep to how long we can effectively focus on tasks.
For years I felt something was wrong with me that I have a very clear 60-90 minute window for doing concentration-heavy tasks like creative writing. I'd hear self-proclaimed "serious" writers talk about how they write for 4 hours a day and feel like I must be inherently lazy. Nope. I'm just strongly in touch with my body. This episode is also about trusting our intuitive knowledge of ourselves and what works for us.
Plus, stick around at the end of the episode for a holiday surprise! (Here is the link I mention!)
If you'd like to learn more about the science of the ultradian rhythm, this episode of the Huberman Lab podcast has some info.
Transcript
Would You Like to Support My Work?Sign up for my newsletter! You'll get a free gift when you do.
Buy me a coffee! You can give me a one-time tip using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done.
Sign up to be a Patron of Stepping Off Now!
Hire me! I offer heart-centered, science-informed creativity coaching to HSPs and other creative types who want to move from chronic creative unfulfillment to feeling they are living their creative purpose.
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. My reading approach is intuitive/psychological. Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
This special holiday season episode is part of the bonus content of my Patreon Reverse Side of the Tapestry tier. In it I talk about the challenges I face doing business as an introverted HSP. You'll also hear my thoughts on the forced and often aggressive positivity you see in the public sphere of the creator economy, why I not only accept but embrace the darker/heavier emotions of the human experience, and my gratitude that I've finally committed to a life of creative fulfillment. Thank you to all my listeners for supporting my podcast and a special thank you to my Patreon supporters! I'll be back next week with regular programming.
In this episode I mention Tad Hargrave, who runs Marketing For Hippies.
Transcript
Would You Like to Support My Work?Sign up for my newsletter! You'll get a free gift when you do.
Buy me a coffee! You can give me a one-time tip using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done.
Sign up to be a Patron of Stepping Off Now!
Hire me! I offer heart-centered, science-informed creativity coaching to HSPs and other creative types who want to move from chronic creative unfulfillment to feeling they are living their creative purpose.
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. My reading approach is intuitive/psychological. Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
Today I have a happy holiday surprise for you! It is the one-year anniversary of my podcast, and I wanted to do something special for all my wonderfully supportive listeners. So for the next two weeks, I will be releasing episodes that are part of my Patreon bonus content. Today's episode is from my What the Research Says tier. Please check out my Patreon and consider signing up as a holiday gift for yourself or for me! You can also leave me a one-time tip through Buy Me A Coffee. Thank you for your support!
In this episode I discuss why and how procrastination can be used as a creativity tool through an in-depth analysis of a recently published (2020) article by Jihae Shin and Adam M. Grant in the Academy of Management Journal. You can access a pre-publication version of the article here.
Transcript
Would You Like to Support My Work?Sign up for my newsletter! You'll get a free gift when you do.
Buy me a coffee! You can give me a one-time tip using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done.
Sign up to be a Patron of Stepping Off Now!
Hire me! I offer heart-centered, science-informed creativity coaching to HSPs and other creative types who want to move from chronic creative unfulfillment to feeling they are living their creative purpose.
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. My reading approach is intuitive/psychological. Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
By the time you're in burnout, it's too late to manage it. You're in recovery mode. And it's a lot harder to recover from burnout than to manage it before it gets bad. In this episode I talk about the two kinds of burnout (why one you may actually want to experience, but the other kind you definitely don't), how to recognize when burnout is imminent, and what to do about it.
Also, an update on my path to publication with my novel!
Transcript
Here is Mark Steadman's podcast resource community Podcode Plus.
Here is the episode I mention about why burnout may be inevitable and ultimately positive for HSPs and creative types.
Would You Like to Support My Work?Sign up for my newsletter! You'll get a free gift when you do.
Buy me a coffee! You can give me a one-time tip using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done.
Sign up to be a Patron of Stepping Off Now!
Hire me! I offer heart-centered, science-informed creativity coaching to HSPs and other creative types who want to move from chronic creative unfulfillment to feeling they are living their creative purpose.
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. My reading approach is intuitive/psychological. Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
Have you ever thought you wanted something, but it didn't turn out as great as you expected? Or thought something would make you happy but it doesn't? It's confusing when we get what we think we want but don't feel as good about it as we'd expected. We can begin to doubt that we know ourselves, or that we have the capability to make good decisions for ourselves.
The problem isn't that we don't know how to make good decisions. It's that we're basing decisions on the wrong information. In this episode I talk about how we can begin to figure out what we really want in life through paying attention to the quality of our day-to-day rather than the big goals we have for ourselves.
SPECIAL NOTE: I will be taking next week (Thanksgiving) off from podcasting, so there will be no new episode. See you in two weeks!
Transcript
Would You Like to Support My Work?Sign up for my newsletter! You'll get a free gift when you do.
Buy me a coffee! You can give me a one-time tip using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done.
Sign up to be a Patron of Stepping Off Now!
Hire me! I offer heart-centered, science-informed creativity coaching to HSPs and other creative types who want to move from chronic creative unfulfillment to feeling they are living their creative purpose.
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. My reading approach is intuitive/psychological. Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
Jas Hothi is a writer following his dream. He started blogging in 2015 when he left his corporate job, and he is passionate about ‘writing freely’ and making an income from doing so. He recently published his debut book, The Indie Author, sharing the raw and honest stories of writers all over the world who have self-published books. Jas is an INFP, cares a lot about ‘freedom’, and enjoys coffee shops, mini-adventures, and sunny days.
In this interview we discuss the self-publication process, why he's an advocate for self-publication, being an empath, justifying our downtime needs (we both need significant downtime as empaths/HSPs), and the tension we feel between our desire to "make good" in our lives out of respect for our parents' sacrifices and our desire to follow our dreams.
Transcript
You can find Jas Hothi at the following links.
Main: https://jasraj.me/
Blog: www.indiewriter.net
Book: www.theindieauthor.net
Here are the links to my live event with Matthew Bellringer on November 16:
YouTube
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Sign up to be a Patron of Stepping Off Now!
Hire me! I offer heart-centered, science-informed creativity coaching to HSPs and other creative types who want to move from chronic creative unfulfillment to feeling they are living their creative purpose.
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. My reading approach is intuitive/psychological. Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
In part 2 of my miniseries on creative rejection I tell you all about my coping techniques, the ones that worked and didn't work (but were still useful!) during my recent experience with creative rejection, and what I learned from it all. Whether or not you are an HSP, this episode will be useful to you! Here are some of the things I cover:
- Why it's so important that you actually enjoy your creative practice.
- How to accept the truth that the creative life will always include rejection no matter how successful you are.
- The 100% / 0% rule.
- My favorite of the Four Agreements and how to use it when encountering rejection.
CORRECTION: The live event I'll be doing on neurodiversity with Matthew Bellringer will be on the 16th of November, not the 11th! Sign up for my newsletter (link below) to get the details when I make the official announcement.
Here is the blog post I mention about developing a creative practice without forcing it.
Transcript
Would You Like to Support My Work?Sign up for my newsletter! You'll get a free gift when you do.
Buy me a coffee! You can give me a one-time tip using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done.
Sign up to be a Patron of Stepping Off Now!
Hire me! I offer heart-centered, science-informed creativity coaching to HSPs and other creative types who want to move from chronic creative unfulfillment to feeling they are living their creative purpose.
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. My reading approach is intuitive/psychological. Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
In this first episode of a two-part series, I talk about why HSPs struggle so much with creative rejection through the lens of my recent experience of entering the PitchWars competition (see E41 about my writing journey for more on that). If you are an HSP and feel it has held you back from pursuing your creative dreams, rest assured you are not alone! I'm right there with you. I don't sugarcoat things in this episode. I talk about how and why HSPs have difficulty managing the stress of putting their work out there into the world. It's not just about the possibility of rejection. HSPs have fewer emotional "spoons" and when an added stress like putting their work out there enters their life, everything can become less manageable. This episode will help you better understand the HSP experience, whether you yourself are an HSP or know someone who is. Stay tuned for Part 2 next week, where I'll go into detail about coping techniques that help me deal with creative rejection as an HSP!
Transcript
Would You Like to Support My Work?Sign up for my newsletter! You'll get a free gift when you do.
Buy me a coffee! You can give me a one-time tip using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done.
Sign up to be a Patron of Stepping Off Now!
Hire me! I offer heart-centered, science-informed creativity coaching to HSPs and other creative types who are experiencing blocks and burnout.
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. My reading approach is intuitive/psychological. Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
Most of us see creativity as something we do when we have the time for it. After all the things we have to do are done, then we'll have the space to really focus on our creative practice. But this perspective of how creativity fits into our lives is one of the major reasons we suffer from blocks. What if instead we saw creativity as integral to a healthy, happy life, something sacred that we always find time for? In this episode I talk about how elevating creative practice to something that is sacred (or at minimum, is a regular part of self-care much like a shower or a jog is) can help you find the space, and energy for it. The world will always have reasons why you shouldn't be putting the time into your creativity that you want to. If you see your creativity as a nonnegotiable in your own life, you'll find the confidence to prioritize it despite all the messaging from the world that your creative work has no value.
Transcript
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Buy me a coffee! You can give me a one-time tip using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done.
Sign up to be a Patron! My generous Patrons enable me go on, both by helping me finance the costs of producing a podcast and through the moral support.
Join the Haven! The Haven is a monthly subscription online community for gentle souls, empaths, and HSPs, where you can explore your creativity in a safe and kind environment. If you join through this link, you will get a free 45 minute consultation with me about your writing endeavors, which will help me know how to better meet your needs in my dedicated forum in the Haven community called From Burnout To Book.
Hire me! I coach people who are feeling held back by conventional life choices and want to explore their creativity, are creatively unfulfilled, or are struggling to get their creative projects and dreams off the ground.
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. My reading approach is intuitive/psychological. Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
Carlos Saba is a co-founder (along with Laurence McCahill) of the Happy Startup School, an online community for people looking to do heart-centered business in creative ways. Like myself, he is a PhD holder who has taken an unconventional route in life. In this episode he talks about his own journey to getting the PhD and beyond, the importance of centering fun in our lives, and the possibilities for doing business if you are a creative or artist that do not sacrifice your creative space and vision. If Carlos has one message for people, it is that it is enough to just be who you are, that we can lean into being ourselves and live happy, fulfilling lives by focusing on what energizes us and brings us joy. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did!
Transcript
The Happy Startup School website, blog, and videos.
Would You Like to Support My Work?Sign up for my newsletter! You'll get a free gift when you do.
Buy me a coffee! You can give me a one-time tip using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done.
Sign up to be a Patron! My generous Patrons enable me go on, both by helping me finance the costs of producing a podcast and through the moral support.
Join the Haven! The Haven is a monthly subscription online community for gentle souls, empaths, and HSPs, where you can explore your creativity in a safe and kind environment. If you join through this link, you will get a free 45 minute consultation with me about your writing endeavors, which will help me know how to better meet your needs in my dedicated forum in the Haven community called From Burnout To Book.
Hire me! I coach people who are feeling held back by conventional life choices and want to explore their creativity, are creatively unfulfilled, or are struggling to get their creative projects and dreams off the ground.
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. My reading approach is intuitive/psychological. Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
Being irrational is bad, right? Not always. Sometimes our culture labels something as irrational because it challenges cultural control. If you find that all the things you thought would make you happy in life don't, and you have a feeling that you're missing something, it could be because you have learned to distrust your own feelings and eschew making decisions based on them...because to do so would be irrational. In this episode I discuss how cultural conditioning works on us and how to get back in touch with your feelings so you can make decisions that lead to a life that feels good to you.
Transcript
Here is the episode I mention on how reasoning can lead us astray.
Check out Honest Rox on Instagram.
If you join the Haven using this link, you will get a free 45 minute consultation with me about your writing endeavors, which will help me know how to better meet your needs in my dedicated forum in the Haven community called From Burnout To Book (find it in the Café after you sign up).
Would You Like to Support My Work?Sign up for my newsletter! You'll get a free gift when you do.
Buy me a coffee! You can give me a one-time tip using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done.
Sign up to be a Patron! My generous Patrons enable me go on, both by helping me finance the costs of producing a podcast and through the moral support.
Hire me! I coach people who are feeling held back by conventional life choices and want to explore their creativity, are creatively unfulfilled, or are struggling to get their creative projects and dreams off the ground.
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. My reading approach is intuitive/psychological. Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
So many people don't believe in their own creative capacities. They think that they're not one of the "really" creative ones. But everyone is creative, and everyone has the capacity to be highly creative. In this episode I talk about how we define creativity, what creativity actually is, and what holds us back from seeing ourselves as creative or making time for creativity. My main point? That everyone is creative - it's an actual cognitive function and we all have it. YOU are creative. But creativity can be challenging, and in this episode I talk about why, and how we can work on facilitating our own creativity in our lives for healing and for happiness.
Transcript
NYT article about the busy trap (what I refer to as the "cult of busy").
Would You Like to Support My Work?Sign up for my newsletter! You'll get a free gift when you do.
Buy me a coffee! You can give me a one-time tip using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done.
Sign up to be a Patron! My generous Patrons enable me go on, both by helping me finance the costs of producing a podcast and through the moral support.
Hire me! I coach people who are feeling held back by conventional life choices and want to explore their creativity, are creatively unfulfilled, or are struggling to get their creative projects and dreams off the ground.
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. My reading approach is intuitive/psychological. I use a different deck every time and provide a picture of the cards! Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
That's right, I actually love networking now, and that's saying something for a shy, sensitive introvert with social anxiety! In this episode I give you all the tips I've learned over the past 1.5 years of running my own creative business. The reason I used to hate networking is because I had a misunderstanding about what it actually is. There is a way to approach networking if you are shy, introverted, socially anxious, and/or an HSP that will make networking both enjoyable and effective!
Transcript
If you join the Haven using this link, you will get a free 45 minute consultation with me about your writing endeavors, which will help me know how to better meet your needs in my dedicated forum in the Haven community called From Burnout To Book (find it in the Café after you sign up).
Find out more about Andy Mort, who designed the Haven as a place where sensitive creatives can find a nonjudgmental and mutually supportive environment in which to explore their creativity.
Would You Like to Support My Work?Sign up for my newsletter! You'll get a free gift when you do.
Buy me a coffee! You can give me a one-time tip using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done.
Sign up to be a Patron! My generous Patrons enable me go on, both by helping me finance the costs of producing a podcast and through the moral support.
Hire me! I coach creative types who are feeling held back by conventional life choices, are creatively unfulfilled, or are struggling to get their creative projects and dreams off the ground.
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. My reading approach is intuitive/psychological. I use a different deck every time and provide a picture of the cards! Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
I don't think I've ever been this excited about a Stepping Off Now episode! I share all about my writing journey, including my previous failures to get published (ouch), how deciding not to seek publication of any kind for my work for a number of years helped me reconnect with my creative inspiration, and how I feel about now being back on a path toward publication with my newly completed novel (suffice it to say, those feelings are complicated! I know you expect nothing less from me haha).
Plus, I have some exciting news! Andy Mort, the proprietor of the online community the Haven, for sensitive creative types, has asked me to share my path toward publication in a dedicated forum there! I have named it From Burnout To Book, and I would so love for you to join the Haven and participate. I will be sharing all my hard-earned wisdom and lessons learned in a gentle, encouraging, and mutually supportive environment for writers of all kinds, including those who have yet to write a word. All are welcome!
If you join the Haven using this link, you will get a free 45 minute consultation with me about your writing endeavors, which will help me know how to better meet your needs in my dedicated forum in the Haven community called From Burnout To Book (find it in the Café after you sign up).
Find out more about Andy Mort, who designed the Haven as a place where sensitive creatives can find a nonjudgmental and mutually supportive environment in which to explore their creativity.
Here is my interview with Andy Mort on this podcast.
Transcript
Would You Like to Support My Work?
Buy Me a Coffee! You can give me a one-time donation using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done.
Sign up to be a Patron! My generous Patrons enable me go on, both by helping me finance the costs of producing a podcast and through the moral support.
Hire me! I coach creative types who are feeling held back by conventional life choices, are creatively unfulfilled, or are struggling to get their creative projects and dreams off the ground.
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. My reading approach is intuitive/psychological. I use a different deck every time and provide a picture of the cards! Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
We cover so much in this interview that I hardly know how to introduce it! We talk about Samara's journey to Ministry as a non-theist Unitarian, how to be an individual in community, her struggles with autoimmune and mental health issues, how to reconcile chaos and disorder, the links between poetry and math, her possible ADHD (seeking diagnosis), and more.
Here is Samara in her own words:
Samara Powers is a self-described generalist and aficionado of Dad Jokes, and user of she and they pronouns. Her life experience ranges from theatrical training to hospitality to singing to a career in marketing and design and more. She is a single mom of two and a first-year seminary student at Meadville Lombard Theological School. Earlier this year she started a Wiggle Fitness intuitive motion and mindfulness channel as a brave space for those seeking to improve their relationship to movement and who don’t mind a little goofiness and deep thought along the way. She is a non-binary, trans-positive, queer-positive relationship anarchist, a Best of the Net- and Pushcart-nominated poet, a writer, speaker, activist, anti-racist co-conspirator, priestess, jester, non-theist, embracer of learning, and seeker of the next better question. She co-houses with another single mom (aka platonic life partner) in Gainesville FL.
Transcript
Wiggle Fitness YouTube channel
Wiggle Fitness on Instagram
Would You Like to Support My Work?
Buy Me a Coffee! You can give me a one-time donation using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done.
Sign up to be a Patron! My generous Patrons enable me go on, both by helping me finance the costs of producing a podcast and through the moral support.
Hire me! I coach creative types who are feeling held back by conventional life choices, are creatively unfulfilled, or are struggling to get their creative projects and dreams off the ground.
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. My reading approach is intuitive/psychological. I use a different deck every time and provide a picture of the cards! Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
I figured it was time for an update on my intentional practice of wasting time! I first talked about this in episode 3, and since then anti-productivity practices like wasting time have become even more important in my life as I grow my creative business.
In this episode I get into the backstory of how I started wasting time and its relationship with burnout, both as a symptom and a path toward recovery. My life looks very different post-burnout from what it looked like before burnout, and I discuss what my intentional anti-productivity practices have to do with that and how they help me both manage stress and tap into my creativity. Then I talk about anti-productivity practices around the world. As you can imagine, most places view wasting time as negative, but the picture is a bit more complex than that. And finally I give you some tips for developing your own anti-productivity practices. Trust me, it's worth it, so give it a try!
Sign up for my newsletter!
Transcript
Mentioned in this episode:Jihae Shin and Adam Grant's article on procrastination (pre-publication copy).Article about the Chinese concept of wuliao.
Article about the Dutch concept of niksen.
Stepping Off Now episode about my relationship with money.
Stepping Off Now episode on passive flow (wuwei).
Do nothing for 2 minutes website.
Would You Like to Support My Work?
Buy Me a Coffee! You can give me a one-time donation using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done.
Sign up to be a Patron! My generous Patrons enable me go on, both by helping me finance the costs of producing a podcast and through the moral support.
Hire me! I coach creative types who are feeling held back by conventional life choices, are creatively unfulfilled, or are struggling to get their creative projects and dreams off the ground.
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. My reading approach is intuitive/psychological. I use a different deck every time and provide a picture of the cards! Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
I have always felt guilty about my strong craving for solitude. Is something wrong with me? Am I a weirdo? Does desiring so much solitude mean I don't deserve to have intimate relationships? The answers to those questions are no, no, and...wait for it...no!
In this episode I talk about the role solitude has played in my life from childhood to now, and advance the theory that creative types need significant periods of solitude not only in order to do their work but to feel alive and inspired. But how can we obtain the solitude we need when we often feel guilty about what often seems like our excessive need for alone time? I discuss this through the lens of a summer of solitude I negotiated with my loved ones and that I am finishing up now as August comes to a close. How did it go? What are my lessons learned? Listen to find out!
Transcript
Mentioned in this episode:
Oops - it wasn't a podcast episode but an essay about empathy and lettuce that I mention.
Solitude: A Return to the Self, by Anthony Storr
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, by Susan Cain
Would You Like to Support My Work?
Buy Me a Coffee! You can give me a one-time donation using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done.
Sign up to be a Patron! My generous Patrons enable me go on, both by helping me finance the costs of producing a podcast and through the moral support.
Hire me! I coach creative types who are feeling held back by conventional life choices, are creatively unfulfilled, or are struggling to get their creative projects and dreams off the ground.
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. My reading approach is intuitive/psychological. I use a different deck every time and provide a picture of the cards! Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
You know that feeling of inertia we all get sometimes, when doing something, anything, to improve our lives just seems so hard? Maybe you're dealing with exhaustion and burnout, maybe it's fear that's holding you back. Or maybe you just have no idea what your next step could be. What do you do when you are in a period in your life when you're just kind of doing...nothing?
This episode is an appeal to see these periods of doing nothing as a valuable and necessary part of a transformation-driven life. Don't want to grow and change? That's fine! You are allowed to make that choice. But if you do seek growth that leads to fulfillment and yes! even happiness!, you'll want to hear what I have to say. I tell you how I've dealt with those periods of inertia in my own life, and how you can allow yourself to sink into them while still positioning yourself for growth.
Transcript
This episode's accompanying blog post can be found here.
Melissa Green's website (the creator of my business logo)
What Do You Do with an Idea? (children's book)
Would You Like to Support My Work?Do you find value in my work and want to support me in creating it and putting it out there into the world? Here are some ways you can do that!
NEW: Sign up for the Stepping Off Now Reverse Side of the Tapestry extra content Patreon tier! You'll get two behind-the-scenes bonus episodes monthly, one research-based and the other about the business and life of being a creative entrepreneur, plus a possible third episode where I answer patron questions about anything! Don't forget to watch the video (also accessible through above link) where I explain what this extra content tier is all about!
Hire me! I coach creative types who are feeling held back by conventional life choices, are creatively unfulfilled, or are struggling to get their creative projects and dreams off the ground.Buy Me a Coffee! You can give me a one-time donation using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done!
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. My reading approach is intuitive/psychological. I use a different deck every time and provide a picture of the cards! Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study. Click through and scroll down to listen to the sample episode.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
In this episode I interview Chrissa Trudelle, a fellow INFP, and we talk all things personality typology! Both being INFPs, we have many points of resonance, but as I'm an Enneagram 4 and she's a 9, we also diverge on many points. You'll hear about how being an HSP interfaces with being certain personality types in the Myers-Briggs and Enneagram systems, the difference between INFPs and INFJs, and what it's like for Chrissa, an INFP, to be married to an INFJ.
Chrissa has a science background and has taken workshops on flow, so we also discuss the cognitive side of flow, how the brain works when entering flow, and the brain waves involved. And finally, we talk about how we both handled being in situations where we had jobs that just made it too hard to switch our brains at the end of the day from that focused, task-oriented cognition to life-giving creative cognition, and how the "depression flu" can be a warning signal that you're living the wrong life. What a great conversation!
Chrissa Trudelle is a writer and a coach for writers. She specializes in creative nonfiction and helping others bring their own creative work to life. As a lifelong learner, she is passionate about emotional states of being, human connection, flow states, and finding magic in the mundane. Chrissa lives high in the mountains near Lake Tahoe with her husband where they fuel their passion for entrepreneurship and outdoor adventure together.
Transcript
Chrissa Trudelle's website
Are You an Analyzer or a Synthesizer?
Would You Like to Support My Work?Do you find value in my work and want to support me in creating it and putting it out there into the world? Here are some ways you can do that!
NEW: Sign up for the Stepping Off Now Reverse Side of the Tapestry extra content Patreon tier! You'll get two behind-the-scenes bonus episodes monthly, one research-based and the other about the business and life of being a creative entrepreneur, plus a possible third episode where I answer patron questions about anything! Don't forget to watch the video (also accessible through above link) where I explain what this extra content tier is all about!
Hire me! I coach creative types who are feeling held back by conventional life choices, are creatively unfulfilled, or are struggling to get their creative projects and dreams off the ground.Buy Me a Coffee! You can give me a one-time donation using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done!
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. My reading approach is intuitive/psychological. I use a different deck every time and provide a picture of the cards! Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study. Click through and scroll down to listen to the sample episode.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
So this was supposed to be an episode on identifying what motivates us and using that to guide us through periods of doubt, but it turned into a bit of a manifesto on how I want to do business as a creative. Here it is in a nutshell: I want to fit business into a creative model, rather than trying to fit my creativity into a business model. What does that mean? Stick with me as I continue down this long and challenging road of creative entrepreneurship, because I aim to find out!
Also in this episode: How my commitment to myself as a creative and to my creative work helped me through my latest bout of depression flu, what fitting business into a creative model might look like, and my guiding principle going forward.
Transcript
You can find this episode's accompanying blog post here.
We Should All Be Millionaires
Would You Like to Support My Work?Do you find value in my work and want to support me in creating it and putting it out there into the world? Here are some ways you can do that!
NEW: Sign up for the Stepping Off Now Reverse Side of the Tapestry extra content Patreon tier! You'll get two behind-the-scenes bonus episodes monthly, one research-based and the other about the business and life of being a creative entrepreneur, plus a possible third episode where I answer patron questions about anything! Don't forget to watch the video (also accessible through above link) where I explain what this extra content tier is all about!
Hire me! I coach creative types who are feeling held back by conventional life choices, are creatively unfulfilled, or are struggling to get their creative projects and dreams off the ground.Buy Me a Coffee! You can give me a one-time donation using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done!
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. My reading approach is intuitive/psychological. I use a different deck every time and provide a picture of the cards! Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study. Click through and scroll down to listen to the sample episode.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
I've struggled with depression since childhood, and in this episode I tell you all about it. You'll hear about the two different kinds of depression I have, what they feel like when they hit, and how I'm dealing with a current bout of what I call the "depression flu." I discuss why I think depression is an inevitable and even important part of my experience as a human on this planet, and what it has to do with my creative, highly sensitive personality. Finally, I share my thoughts on how depression is conceptualized within the medical establishment, and why that conceptualization doesn't resonate with how I experience depression. Basically, I don't think anything is wrong with me that needs to be "fixed," and I think that many creative/sensitive people have a specific emotional and psychological experience of the world that is misunderstood and pathologized in a way that furthers our trauma. This is my personal story of depression, and all my opinions are based on my personal experience as someone who struggles with mental health issues. As I always note when I talk about mental health and associated therapies, I do not have a medical degree and my PhD is not in psychology.
Transcript
The World Needs People Who Feel Empathy for Lettuce
E21. Why Burnout May Be an Inevitable – and Positive! – Developmental Stage for HSPs
Eric Maisel's website.
Would You Like to Support My Work?Do you find value in my work and want to support me in creating it and putting it out there into the world? Here are some ways you can do that!
NEW: Sign up for the Stepping Off Now Reverse Side of the Tapestry extra content Patreon tier! You'll get two behind-the-scenes bonus episodes monthly, one research-based and the other about the business and life of being a creative entrepreneur, plus a possible third episode where I answer patron questions about anything! Don't forget to watch the video (also accessible through above link) where I explain what this extra content tier is all about!
Hire me! I coach creative types who are feeling held back by conventional life choices, are creatively unfulfilled, or are struggling to get their creative projects and dreams off the ground.Buy Me a Coffee! You can give me a one-time donation using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done!
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. My reading approach is intuitive/psychological. I use a different deck every time and provide a picture of the cards! Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study. Click through and scroll down to listen to the sample episode.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
During my decades as creative writer, my greatest struggle has been consistency of habit. I always had to force myself to sit down and write on a daily basis. I started and abandoned writing projects constantly (four novels, at least that many blogs). When I started up my creative business in 2020, I knew that needed to change. I had to find a way to maintain consistency because my plan was to grow my business through weekly blog posts and later through weekly podcast episodes. If I have to miss a week sometimes, fine - life happens. But I wanted to hit that weekly target as much as I possibly could (and in fact I haven't missed a week yet). And the nature of the way I work means I don't batch (do a bunch of posts or episodes over the course of a few days). I have to be able to be creative week after week.
So how do I do it? In this episode I tell you everything I've learned so far about how to maintain that inspiration to create for the long periods of time needed to do large projects like a novel or a business venture. The key is understanding the difference between different kinds of resistance and between resistance and forcing it. And to never, ever force it. How do you keep resistance from turning into forcing it? Listen and find out!
Want to learn more about the Reverse Side of the Tapestry extra content Patreon tier and see that awkward video? Find both here.
Transcript
This episode's accompanying blog post can be found here.
Would You Like to Support My Work?Do you find value in my work and want to support me in creating it and putting it out there into the world? Here are some ways you can do that!
NEW: Sign up for the Stepping Off Now extra content Patreon tier! You'll get two behind-the-scenes bonus episodes monthly, one research-based and the other about the business and life of being a creative entrepreneur, plus a possible third episode where I answer patron questions about anything! Don't forget to watch the video (also accessible through above link) where I explain what this extra content tier is all about!
Hire me! I coach creative types who are feeling held back by conventional life choices, are creatively unfulfilled, or are struggling to get their creative projects and dreams off the ground.Buy Me a Coffee! You can give me a one-time donation using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done!
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. My reading approach is intuitive/psychological. I use a different deck every time and provide a picture of the cards! Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study. Click through and scroll down to listen to the sample episode.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
In this episode I talk to Dr. Ann Wainscott, a politics professor I met in grad school. Ann is one of the most naturally creative and intuitive people I know, and it's evident in how she lives her life on a daily basis. In this interview she talks about studying to be an end-of-life doula, the rituals she uses to get into creative flow, and how teaching is an alchemy that leads to transformation. This is a DEEP conversation that challenged my ideas about creative identity, what creativity is, and what purpose it serves. In other words, it's just the kind of conversation I love! It's also a good example of how conversation, not debate or argumentation, is what really enlivens minds and gets us to see things in new ways. As always, I summarize my thoughts and offer some analysis at the end, so stick around for that part!
Announcement! My extra content Patreon will be debuting this coming week! I'll be making the official announcement in next Friday's episode. This has been a long time in the works, and I'm really excited bout the bonus content I'll be creating for supporters!
Transcript
Ann Wainscott's website.
The episode about rational decision making.
Would You Like to Support My Work?Do you find value in my work and want to support me in creating it and putting it out there? Here are three ways you can do that!Buy Me a Coffee! You can give me a one-time donation using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done!
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. My reading approach is intuitive/psychological. I use a different deck every time and provide a picture of the cards! Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study. Click through and scroll down to listen to the sample episode.
The extra content Patreon for Stepping Off Now will launch next week, so stay tuned!
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
Would you believe I didn't understand flow until recently? I could tell when it happened - it's that feeling when you lose track of time and your surroundings, and your creativity just flows - but I didn't know how to make it happen. It seemed like I had no control over when it did. I just had to hope I'd get lucky when I sat down to write. I was determined to figure out how to facilitate active flow so I could have more control over my creative process (if you're wondering why I call it "active" flow, it's because there's such a thing as passive flow - see Episode 26 about demystifying flow to learn about that!).
I started to research flow, and I discovered that there's a formula to it. I'm still learning and practicing (it's always a practice rather than a destination), but I now can reliably enter flow almost every time I sit down to write. It may only be for a few minutes - often even less than that! But flow shows up for me, and I'm relying on it to finish my novel this summer (10k words to go!).
In this episode you'll learn the formula for facilitating flow, what it looks and feels like, and its place in the creative process (it's not all about flow!). I talk about it from the lens of my own experience with it, so you'll hear about the specifics of my own creative practice in detail, even down to a scene I'm currently struggling with in my novel. Ultimately it's about making friends with flow, and I tell you how to start.
Transcript
You can find the essay I mention about flow and discovery writing here.
The essay I mention about different types of resistance to creative practice is here.
Would You Like to Support My Work?Do you find value in my work and want to support me in creating it and putting it out there? Here are three ways you can do that!Buy Me a Coffee! You can give me a one-time donation using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done!
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. My reading approach is intuitive/psychological. I use a different deck every time and provide a picture of the cards! Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study. Click through and scroll down to listen to the sample episode.
The extra content Patreon for Stepping Off Now will launch in July. In the meantime, I've set up a tier where people can support the work I'm already doing on the regular free show if they so desire. You can find information below.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
Being a grownup isn't supposed to be fun. Sure, there can be fun moments here and there, but mostly it's about responsibilities. Somewhere along the way we lose our ability to get lost in creative play. Do you remember when the magic of childhood started to fade for you? I do. In this episode I tell that story and many more about my own painful journey to adulthood - and how the goal of my life now is to reclaim my childhood sense of fun and joy in being creative.
A big piece of the puzzle is grappling with shame. I think that our capacity to experience shame is tangled up in the loss of our ability to immerse ourselves in our own magical worlds that we so easily enter as children. In this episode I talk about my own struggles with shame through the lens of an experience I had as a mid-twenties young woman that caused me to feel shame for many years, but that I eventually learned to feel proud of. This is a complex episode that really stretched my brain, and I had to dive deep. I'm very proud of it, and I hope you find value in it!
Transcript
This episode's accompanying blog post can be found here.
The blog post where I talk about doing a creative pivot is here.
Would You Like to Support My Work?Do you find value in my work and want to support me in creating it and putting it out there? Here are three ways you can do that!Buy Me a Coffee! You can give me a one-time donation using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done!
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. My reading approach is intuitive/psychological. I use a different deck every time and provide a picture of the cards! Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study. Click through and scroll down to listen to the sample episode.
The extra content Patreon for Stepping Off Now will launch in July. In the meantime, I've set up a tier where people can support the work I'm already doing on the regular free show if they so desire. You can find information below.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
My work on this podcast and on my blog is all about examining our implicit assumptions about ourselves and the cultures we live in, and in this episode I tackle a big topic: why I think despite all the introvert advocacy online in the last decade, being an introvert still carries a stigma. I think understanding and acceptance of the character trait of introversion is still nominal at best. I want to change that.
In this episode I talk about a big paradigm shift that occurred recently for me in how I see myself as an introvert. Instead of thinking about introversion as signifying I lack something (i.e. the ability to go out in the wider world and be around people without having my energy drained), I am learning how to see it as an advantage. As an introvert, I have an amazing ability to generate my own energy, and most people can't do that - they have to get their energy by interacting with others. I think it's time we start shifting how we talk about introverts, and in this episode I tell you how I'm already doing that.
I also discuss a special subset of introverts, the intuitive types (INFPs and INFJs), who have their own particular skills. Plus, stories from my childhood as a shy, introverted kid abound! So let me ask you: are you ready to feel proud that you're an introvert? If so, this episode is for you!
Transcript
Would You Like to Support My Work?Do you find value in my work and want to support me in creating it and putting it out there? Here are three ways you can do that!Buy Me a Coffee! You can give me a one-time donation using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done!
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. My reading approach is intuitive/psychological. I use a different deck every time and provide a picture of the cards! Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study. Click through and scroll down to listen to the sample episode.
The extra content Patreon for Stepping Off Now will launch in July. In the meantime, I've set up a tier where people can support the work I'm already doing on the regular free show if they so desire. You can find information below.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
I have long wanted to have Lauren Sapala on my podcast, because she is one of the major reasons I even have a creative business! She is not only my writing coach, but also my business mentor. Lauren is the person who taught me about intuitive writing, which I've mentioned here and there in my podcast and explored more thoroughly on my blog. In this episode, we discuss what intuitive writing is and how Lauren discovered the difference between rational and intuitive styles. Then we talk about how introverted, intuitive, highly sensitive, creative types such as ourselves can guard our energetic resources that tend to get used up so fast in interactions with other people. Lauren really blew my mind with some of her ideas in this part, and gave me some good counsel about how my recent desire to be alone all the time is totally fine even if other people don't get it and think it's excessive. Finally, we address something we have both struggled with in the past: alcohol misuse and abuse. We discuss why creative, sensitive types turn to substances like alcohol, and what living in rational cultures has to do with it. Plus, we come up with a whole new archetype system based on Star Trek characters! This is a not-to-be-missed episode!
Transcript
Would You Like to Support My Work?Buy Me a Coffee! You can give me a one-time donation using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done!
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. I use a different deck every time! Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study. Click through and scroll down to listen to the sample episode.
The extra content Patreon for Stepping Off Now will launch in July. In the meantime, I've set up a tier where people can support the work I'm already doing on the regular free show if they so desire. You can find information below.
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Are you secretly waiting for your own golden ticket or letter from Hogwarts that will show you, once and for all, the path of your destiny? Many of us spend our lives hoping that we'll be chosen somehow, and that it will change everything. That was me, until I realized that no one is going to choose me. I was going to have to do it myself. Learning how to choose yourself can change everything, but many of us struggle to advocate for ourselves like that because we either don't believe we have the right or authority to do so, or we fear being a tall poppy that gets cut. In this episode I talk about why it's essential we learn how to choose ourselves, and how all of us have a potential for greatness that we ourselves must recognize first. You'll hear about how being a "seeker" amplifies this quest for a singular destiny, and why seekers are particularly prone to that kind of existential disappointment in life that many of you may be familiar with. This is a tough topic but it needs to be explored, and I'm excited about this episode!
Transcript
You can find this episode's corresponding blog post here.
Would You Like to Support My Work?Buy Me a Coffee! You can give me a one-time donation using this link. No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done!
Subscribe to my tarot podcast! This is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, with an episode featuring a 3-card draw released every Sunday. I use a different deck every time! Great as a weekly reading or a supplement to your own tarot study. Click through and scroll down to listen to the sample episode.
The extra content Patreon for Stepping Off Now will launch in July. In the meantime, I've set up a tier where people can support the work I'm already doing on the regular free show if they so desire. You can find information below.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
You've probably heard of flow - aka being in the zone; being in your element - but did you know that flow can be active OR passive? Active flow is that state you enter when you're totally immersed in the moment and the activity you're doing just...flows. It can happen during creative practice, athletics, just about any activity. But what about the rest of the time? Is flow all or nothing? I don't think so. I believe there's such a thing as passive flow that we can cultivate in our lives to make life more enjoyable and active flow more accessible. If active flow can be characterized as swimming with the current, you can see passive flow as floating with the current. All of us have access passive flow - it's already there in our lives. Except most of us have let its streambed get clogged with junk. In this episode I talk about how to remove some of that junk and let the stream flow again. Plus, I announce a small change I'm making to the podcast format for its six-month anniversary next Friday!
Transcript
This episode's corresponding blog post can be found here.
The previous week's blog post on discovery writing and flow can be found here.
Find out more about Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's classic book about flow here.
Find out more about the Star Trek podcast I was recently on here. The podcast is called Yelling About Star Trek, and I'm in episode 14.
If you think you might be interested in getting extra podcast content for a subscription through Patreon, please fill out my survey! It's really short and will take less than a minute. Thank you!
Interested in Supporting My Work?You can give me a one-time donation over at Buy Me a Coffee! No need to sign up for anything, just head on over and click a few buttons and you're done!
Sign up for my Patreon-exclusive Sunday evening tarot podcast! Click through and scroll down to listen to the sample episode.
The extra content Patreon for Stepping Off Now will launch in July. In the meantime, I've set up a tier where people can support the work I'm already doing on the regular free show if they so desire. You can find information below.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
Ah the dreaded creative impasse: that feeling you get when you've seemingly hit a dead end with your project and just can't see a way forward. What should you do? Trash the project and start over? Force your way forward? Hate on yourself for yet again being a creative failure? None of the above! In this episode, I talk about a recent impasse I experienced with my novel and how I've decided to deal with it. You'll hear about why experimental types are prone to creative impasse, and I give you some tips on how to work through these inevitable periods of disorientation in the life of creative projects, particularly big ones with a lot of moving parts. I discuss the challenges experimental types have when doing conceptual work (like plotting a novel, for example), and how we can move forward conceptually without being overwhelmed with the conceptual aspects of a project. And lest you think that it's all challenge and hardship for us experimental types, I cover some of the things we are especially good at and how to take advantage of that. Plus, I set a very public goal with regards to my novel. Making clear goals for ourselves can be hard for experimental types, and not always advisable, but I think I'm ready for this one! And saying mine out loud to all my listeners means I'm committed to at least trying to achieve it - and updating you on my progress or lack thereof.
If you think you might be interested in getting extra podcast content for a subscription through Patreon, please fill out my survey! It's really short and will take less than a minute. Thank you!
You can find more information about my Sunday evening tarot reading Patreon here. Scroll down to listen to the sample episode!
Transcript
The extra content Patreon for Stepping Off Now will launch in June or July of this year. In the meantime, I've set up a tier where people can support the work I'm already doing on the regular free show if they so desire. You can find information below.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
Jill Patterson is a road and gravel cyclist who has been making a name for herself on the circuits the last few years. After a year's hiatus from races due to Covid, she's ready to maintain her dominance this year! We discuss how she got into competitive cycling at the relatively late age of 30 while living in Japan, how she never imagined she would grow up to be an athlete, and how she found the courage to make the decision to leave "normal" life behind and create a life for herself around her passion for the sport. Jill is a quintessential example of living life experimentally, and she talks about how she deals with anxiety over an uncertain future while living for the now. Like me, Jill is child free by choice, and you'll hear about why we both made that choice for ourselves and how it plays out in our lives. And of course we hit on creativity - Jill doesn't consider herself a creative, but I beg to differ. You'll see a different side to me in this interview - it's a fun one!
The essays I mention at the end can be found here and here.
If you think you might be interested in getting extra podcast content for a subscription through Patreon, please fill out my survey! It's really short and will take less than a minute. Thank you!
You can find more information about my Sunday evening tarot reading Patreon here. Scroll down to listen to the sample episode!
Transcript
The extra content Patreon for Stepping Off Now will launch in June or July of this year. In the meantime, I've set up a tier where people can support the work I'm already doing on the regular free show if they so desire. You can find information below.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
If you've ever worried whether your creative work is good enough to share, or how you're supposed to get it noticed at all, I have some answers for you. You may have heard that it's perfectionism that holds us back from sharing our creative products with the world, but I think perfectionism is a distraction from our actual problem: we don't know how to judge the value of our own work. For most of us, putting our work out there can feel a lot like dropping it into a hole. It doesn't matter if the work is "perfect" or not - either way, it doesn't get much attention. So what can you do? In this episode, I talk about shifting your perspective from sharing your product to sharing your process. This will help you not only in dealing with insecurities vis-à-vis your work, but also with finding your audience by inviting people into your creative space to engage with you. Plus, it has the added benefit of making the creative process more fun and helping you produce better quality work. Want to know how it works? Give this episode a listen!
This episode's corresponding blog post can be found here.
If you think you might be interested in getting extra podcast content for a subscription through Patreon, please fill out my survey. It's really short and will take less than a minute. Thank you!
If you're interested in the Sunday evening tarot Patreon I mentioned, you can find more information here. Scroll down to listen to the sample episode!
Transcript
The extra content Patreon for Stepping Off Now will launch in June or July of this year. In the meantime, I've set up a tier where people can support the work I'm already doing on the regular free show if they so desire. You can find information below.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
Money is always such an elephant in the room, don't you think? In the field I now find myself in, where we are all are trying to make a living based on creative content we put up online, people seem hesitant to speak publicly about the specifics of their own financial situations. I want to change that, and here's why. As a content creator, I make my money from people who are willing to give it to me in exchange for my work and services. It's a very personal, one-to-one type of financial transaction. Because of that, I want to be transparent about my personal finances with the people who decide my work and services are worth paying for, as well as about my evolving thoughts on making money this way. I plan to do this kind of reporting as a regular feature of my work, probably on a yearly basis. Think of it sort of like how a company issues a yearly shareholder statement. In this episode I discuss how I plan to monetize (hate that word) my business, the projects I've already put into motion, how I'm currently making money (spoiler: it's not from my creative business, yet!), and how I feel about doing creative work for money. This is a new type of episode that I'm trying out, just me saying whatever comes out, an experiment of sorts. I hope you enjoy it!
If you think you might be interested in getting extra podcast content for a subscription through Patreon, please fill out my survey. It's really short and will take less than a minute. Thank you!
If you're interested in the Sunday evening tarot Patreon I mentioned, you can find more information here. Scroll down to listen to the sample episode!
Transcript
The extra content Patreon for Stepping Off Now will launch in June or July of this year. In the meantime, I've set up a tier where people can support the work I'm already doing on the regular free show if they so desire. You can find information below.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
A couple months ago I came across some work by a forgotten Polish doctor, psychologist, and poet named Kazimierz Dąbrowski (Ka-ZHI-meerz Dom-BROF-ski) that upended my understanding of my experience with burnout. Dąbrowski believed that HSPs (highly sensitive people) may inevitably experience burnout at some point during their lives, and that it is actually a positive step in their personal development. HSPs experience burnout in an existential way that leads them to question the very foundations of their lives and beliefs - and after they've gone through this dark night of the soul they emerge with a special purpose in society, ready to share what they've learned with others. If you are struggling with any kind of burnout, from mild to severe, this will give you a new way of contextualizing what you are going through. You'll also hear more about my personal experiences trying to treat my anxiety and depression, including with therapy and medication.
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You can find this episode's accompanying blog post here.
Transcript
SPECIAL NOTE: I am in the process of setting up a Patreon where I plan to offer extra content for subscription. This will launch in June or July of this year. In the meantime, I've set up a tier where people can support the work I'm already doing on the regular free show if they so desire. You can find information below.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
Ever wonder what it's like to be an undertaker? In this interview, songwriter and slow coach Andy Mort tells us all about how he survived in this emotionally taxing career and working through the early part of the pandemic as an HSP. But that's not all! Andy and I do a deep dive into the experimental creative process, as Andy takes us on a journey through how he designed his newly launched goal-setting course for people who struggle with conceptual goal setting, Return to Serenity Island. It is essential listening for anyone curious about what an experimental creative process looks like! Plus, we discuss being a performing musician when you're an introvert, why youthful dreams of "making it" may not really be our own, and how detaching from outcomes can have the paradoxical effect of manifesting those outcomes in your life. At the end we talk about dealing with how audiences receive your work, which will be helpful to anyone worried about putting their creative products out there and what people will think about it. Make sure to stick around after the interview for my concluding discussion of some of the points that resonated the most with me!
Find out more about Andy Mort's Serenity Island goal-setting course here.
You can find the blog post I mention about our addiction to goal setting here.
Transcript
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Boredom and neuroscience in one episode? You may be thinking, "I'll give this one a pass," but I promise it's not as meh as it sounds! Boredom can actually be used as a creativity tool - and I have the neuroscience to back it up. You'll hear about what studies have shown in terms of how boredom stimulates creativity, and how to cultivate intentional boredom using several different methods. Then I delve into what the latest neuroscience on creativity shows about why boredom and related brain activities like daydreaming are so essential if you want to cultivate your own creative powers. Finally, I tackle some of the typical advice you see floating around about doing creative work, like that you should try to eliminate distractions (Twitter scrolling, anyone?), and why it might not be such good advice after all. I think you'll find this episode useful if you tend to get on your own case about not doing enough active creative work - it shows how our zone-out time is just as important if not more so than the task-oriented part of creativity. So let's get lazy!
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This episode's accompanying blog post can be found here. You can also read this post for more about the CEN and DMN.
Find out more about the book I mention, Creativity by Elkhonon Goldberg.
Transcript
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Do you have something about yourself that you've always felt you need to grow out of? For me, it's my gentleness. I've always been too soft for this world, too sensitive. Or to put it another way, I've always believed that I need to toughen up - and that this would/should happen as I matured. Except it didn't. I just got better at repressing and hiding my gentle soul. Then one day I decided I'm not going to do that anymore! As you listen to my story of "coming out" about this "undesirable" personality trait, think about the parts of yourself you've always been taught are undesirable. What would happen if you leaned into them instead of trying to avoid, repress, or change them? You'll hear what happened for me (hint: I started living in integrity with myself, which made my life and what I should do with it a lot clearer), and if you're also an HSP and gentle soul type (I explain the difference), this episode will help you root out any residual shame you may be holding onto because of those traits.
Sign up for my newsletter to get your free Are You an Experimental Type quiz+information packet!
This episode's accompanying blog post can be found here.
Here is the article on how the most socially successful teens combine kindness with aggression.
Information about the study on baboon social hierarchy and the anxiety and depression found in low-status baboons can be found here.
Transcript
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Hold onto your hats, guys, today I'm talking about the connection between theoretical physics and creativity! This is an oddball episode with one overarching theme: we need to stop bullying ourselves (or letting other people bully us) out of trusting our emotional, creative selves. I touch on tapping into the flow state, why creativity is actually easy (it's breaking through the stranglehold of rational thought that's the hard part), and why we need to practice listening, not telling, if we want to live from our creative centers and tap into that energy. Plus, you'll hear a teeny tiny bit about the novel I'm currently working on, and then witness me actually defy time's linear constraints. It's a wild one! In a quiet, nerdy kind of way, of course. This is a follow-on to Episode 10, where I talked about the difference between rational and intuitive/creative cognition.
This episode's accompanying blog post can be found here.
Find out more about Alan Lightman's novel Einstein's Dreams.Transcript
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Welcome to the inaugural interview of my interview series! In this series I invite people onto my podcast to talk about living the unconventional life, being a late bloomer, being a generalist, the creative process, and how to balance a personal creative practice with the necessity of making a living.
Manuel Cordero is a senior set designer at Universal Studios Orlando, where he works on their yearly Halloween Horror Nights event and other live immersive entertainment experiences. He is also an accomplished fine arts painter. We talk about the long path that led to his current job, why being a generalist is essential for what he does, and how he puts being a generalist into practice in his work. You'll also hear about how 9/11 caused him to pick up the brush and finally commit to fine arts painting, what an experience of doing a commissioned piece taught him about the downside of creating art for money, and why he paid an art model extra to learn how to play a conga drum before sitting for one of his paintings. This is a wide-ranging discussion that touches on the creative process in work and play, and Manuel has some great wisdom to share about staying motivated, diversifying your practice, and the necessity of remaining open-minded and curious along the way. I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did!
Transcript
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So it turns out reasoning isn't a good way to make decisions. Wait, what? In this episode I delve into a fascinating theory that reasoning didn't evolve to help us increase our understanding and make better decisions, but to help us win arguments. You'll hear more about my painful PhD journey, my resulting decision paralysis, and how I regained my faith in myself to make smart decisions. I discuss how flaws of reasoning, like confirmation bias and the sunk cost fallacy, are actually features of reasoning, which makes them virtually impossible to avoid. So how can we make good decisions for ourselves? Listen to find out! This episode will be helpful for anyone feeling like they're in a rut they can't seem to reason themselves out of, or like they try very hard to make good decisions for themselves but things never turn out as they planned. Don't despair! I offer an alternative perspective here that will get you thinking about things in a different way. And sometimes that's all it takes!
This episode's accompanying blog post can be found here.
A copy of the paper I discuss can be found here.
Transcript
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The more I learn about late blooming, the more I think we're all late bloomers. Our society pushes us to achieve early, to all of our detriments. I can remember feeling like a late bloomer in my 20s, and I certainly feel like one now, in the midst of a career change in midlife! Really we should be embracing late blooming, or as I like to call it, repeat blooming. Life just feels so much better when you believe that it has more than one act. In this episode I talk about false beliefs we have about cognitive functioning and age, the challenges of trying to understand creativity, a key factor in late blooming, from a neuroscience perspective, and why what really holds us back is more psychological than cognitive. You'll hear how to push back against the arbitrary power of gatekeepers and naysayers, and how to deal with the critics in the cheap seats. I round it up with some tips on claiming sovereignty over your own potential, and how to stick it out when it takes so much longer to achieve your goals than you'd expected. Let's hear it for potential at every age!
You can find this episode's accompanying blog post here.
The Brené Brown Netflix special I refer to is here.
Find out more about Rich Karlgaard's book Late Bloomers.
Transcript
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This last year has been the most productive of my life in terms of my creative output, despite the turmoil of the Pandemic and the political and cultural upheavals unfolding in my country (the US). How did I do it? I used what I now see as my secret superpower: my curiosity muscles. Curiosity is an essential skill for creatives, not only because it points us toward what we should be pursuing creatively, but it fosters the kind of openness and energy we need to maintain a consistent creative practice. But it also serves another purpose: it can help us navigate times of turmoil in our personal lives or our wider communities. Strong curiosity muscles can guide us through the often overwhelming emotions of such times, as well as the ontological anxiety we feel living in an era of paradigm shift. I also touch on a little-discussed aspect of curiosity: how we can feel guilty (or be guilted) for cultivating an intellectually curious, observational perspective during highly emotive times. This episode is a deep one, and I get quite esoteric in some sections - it will give you lots to think about!
This episode's accompanying blog post can be found here.
The other blog post I mention is called How Creatives Can Use Crisis to Overcome Blocks, and I recommend checking it out if the esoteric portions of this episode appeal to you!
Transcript
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Have you ever felt like a failure because you haven't become an expert in one area, or at anything? Our society expects us to specialize, especially in terms of career. Those of us who can't seem to settle on one path and stick with it are considered dilettantes or worse. I'm here to tell you that being a generalist is a benefit! Our world may seem like it's made for specialists, but generalists are already thriving and they will rule the future. The good news? Most of us are natural generalists. In this episode I talk about what it means to be a generalist, why generalists are actually more likely to make stand-out contributions, and what living as a generalist looks like. Plus, I offer some tips on how to cultivate your own generalist mindset and value your generalist inclinations. I've struggle a lot in my life with being a generalist, but I can truly say that now I'm so grateful that I am one. If you are a reluctant generalist too, I hope this episode helps you develop a different perspective so that you can glory in all your awesome generalist power!
This episode's accompanying blog post can be found here.
This is the Tim Ferriss Show episode I mention.
Find out more about the book Range, by David Epstein.
Transcript
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The origin story of this podcast is about burnout. As I was struggling to finish my PhD a few years ago, I suffered from burnout that was so severe I was largely nonfunctional as a human being. In this episode, I talk about what that looked and felt like, and the realization I eventually had about my condition that enabled me to pick up all my pieces and recover. Don't worry, this isn't a depressing story! It's full of interesting thoughts about burnout and society, why I think we are all the burnout generation right now (it's not just Millennials!), and it ends with a hopeful message for anyone out there also suffering from burnout, or who is feeling stuck and confused about the direction of their life and what they really want from it. I started my creative business (my writing site kendrapatterson.com and this podcast) to reach out to other creative, sensitive types who are struggling, and to provide them with information I would have loved to have found when I was struggling like that. I'm so proud to have this episode out there in the world, and hope that you find it thought-provoking and inspiring!
This episode's accompanying blog post can be found here.
Here is some more stuff I've written about burnout's relationship to my creative business.
Transcript
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Do you feel like you have to force creativity, or does it feel like it's harder than it should be? Are you struggling with blocks? It's possible the reason is that you have a habit of applying the rules of rational cognition to everything, and don't trust your intuitive/creative self. You're not alone! Most of us have this problem because we live in a society that prefers rational to intuitive cognition. We are taught to distrust and disregard knowledge and understanding that comes to us through non-rational means, which can block our creativity. We can support our creative selves by challenging some of the basic precepts of the rational approach, and in this episode I tell you how to start. I examine the relationship between intuitive cognition and creative thinking, how our overemphasis on rational cognition causes us to suppress creativity, and why we need to learn how to center ourselves in our creative practice and lean into our biases. The key message of this episode is that creativity doesn't have to be hard! I've only just begun to research this topic, and I'm excited about its implications for creative practice!
Find this episode's accompanying blog post here.
The paper on intuition and creativity that I cite can be found here.
Transcript
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This week I'm back on the topic of creativity and why it's so important for creative people to give themselves radical permission to do their creative work. So many of us struggle with guilt over taking the time and space for our work. In this episode I talk about how to channel Trickster energy to give us the confidence to do our creative work anyway - whether or not we have the support of people in our lives, it makes any money, or we're scared of the changes it might cause if we truly commit to being creatives. You'll hear about why logical thinking isn't going to help when we are trying to decide if we have a right to make time and space for our creative work, and how the Trickster archetype can help us realize that simply wanting to do it is enough of a reason. Plus, I discuss why and how creative work can help intuitive, creative types heal from the trauma they accrue living in rational, capitalist societies. If you are in need of a pep talk, this is the episode for you!
Find this episode's accompanying blog post here.
Transcript
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Is it possible to have goals without goals? In this episode, I delve deeper into what I see as the incompatibility between the goal setting, achievement-oriented paradigm and living life experimentally. I discuss the origins of the goal setting paradigm, what it's actually useful for, and why it will never result in personal happiness for us creative, intuitive types (hint: it's just not the right tool for the job). You'll hear about the trick goal setting plays on us, how I differentiate between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, and the two words I use to help me visualize how to live a more experimental-style life. This episode rounds out the three-episode arc on living life experimentally - I hope you've enjoyed it and found it useful!
You can find this episode's accompanying blog post here.
The Harvard Business School paper on goal setting that I cite can be found here.
Transcript
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We're told that we should always seek excellence and achievement, and that it's important to be the best - or at least to try. But that kind of approach is antithetical to living life experimentally. This episode is a follow-on to last week's (Ep. 6), but you can listen to it as a stand-alone too. I discuss why playing to our strengths is the "easy way out," and how it keeps us from truly enjoying our lives. You'll hear about what made starting a podcast fun for me, even though I don't have what you'd think are the right skills for it, and why the concept of having fun is so important when we try new challenges that scare us. Plus, I give you some tips on how to change your life that don't actually involve changing anything. Curious? Give it a listen!
You can find this episode's accompanying blog post here.
My friend's podcast that I mention is Supporting Characters. It's a really high-quality production and I'd recommend checking it out if you are any kind of movie buff! Here's the description: Host Bill Ackerman talks to writers, bloggers, podcasters, fanzine publishers, programmers, preservationists and more about their creative endeavors and today’s film culture.
The microphone I chose for my podcast is the Audio-Technica ATR2100x-USB (non-affiliate link - you can shop around for a deal). It's a dynamic mic, which I think is the best choice for home podcast recording because it's less sensitive than condenser mics and won't pick up as much background noise. If you have a professional studio with soundproofing, a condenser mic (like the popular Yeti) might be the better choice. I think a good mic is worth the investment if you intend to do podcasting for the long term.
Transcript
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Have you spent your life watching people around you hit all the milestones, wondering when your turn will come? Do you feel like there's something you're just not getting about how to do life the right way, or have you found that you've had to reinvent yourself a number of times in your life? This episode is for all of you out there who don't have lives that follow that linear trajectory our culture tells us is the "right" way to live. I discuss the difference between being a conceptual creative vs. an experimental creative, as well as why being an experimenter is going to be increasingly important in this new economic era we are entering. Plus, I talk about why experiencing life crises where it seems like you've lost the plot isn't a sign of personal failure - so let's stop feeling like it is!
You can find this episode's accompanying blog post here.
The article I reference is Weinberg and Galenson, 2019 (open access).
Transcript
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In this episode I talk about an exercise I developed called Embracing the Ugly that helps me deal with critical, judgy voices (both the external and internal types), and how it's allowed me tap into my creative potential and made me braver about putting my creative products out there - like this podcast! I discuss the difference between your internal critic and internal judge, and how this exercise works to shift your perspective on what is or is not true about you and your creative work. Hint: only YOU have sovereignty over the meaning of you and your work - and here I tell you how to begin to manifest that power in your life. Plus, I talk about something that gives me the shame sweats (yikes). We're talking about some tough stuff in this episode, but you've got this!
You can find this episode's accompanying blog post here.
Transcript
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Have you ever been called too sensitive, or told you take things too seriously? Are you empathic, intuitive, and/or an HSP? If so, you may be a gentle soul like me. In this episode I talk about this special type of person and the struggles they face trying to survive in a society that sees them as having a less desirable personality type. You'll hear about how one of their "handicaps" is actually their greatest strength, and the important role gentle souls can play in our society. I let you in on my secret childhood wish, and of course as always I talk about the role creativity plays in all this. Plus, announcements, another reader question, and a request!
You can find this episode's accompanying blog post here.
Fall Into Your Flourishing
Are You a Gentle Soul?
Gentle Souls are Badass
Transcript
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Have you ever noticed that we don't really have a positive way of talking about not being productive? In this episode I discuss the insidious influence our society's ideological obsession with productivity has on our psychological and emotional health, and how I've learned to counteract my anxiety about using my time "wisely" with an intentional practice of wasting time. I talk about when and how I intentionally waste time as well as the benefits the practice has had in my life. You'll also hear about a Japanese saying I really wish we had in English, and how I suck at brushing my dog's teeth. Plus, I answer a listener question!
You can find this episode's accompanying blog post here.
For more details about my intentional practice of wasting time, see this post.
Transcript
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In this episode I talk about the difference between productive and generative energy, and how you can use the latter to realize your creative potential. If you are struggling with completing projects, feel like the creative process is a chore, or are discouraged with your output, I offer some wisdom and tips that I learned along the way in my own journey. You'll hear about how I dealt as a writer with the submissions process inevitable rejections (spoiler: badly), and how I got to a place where I actually love doing my art, instead of having done it.
You can find this episode's accompanying blog post here.
Transcript
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)
Welcome! In this inaugural episode I discuss the origin story of the Stepping Off Now Podcast, including how it got that name. You’ll hear about my experience with burnout, how I got a creative block so severe I couldn’t write anymore, what I did to move through the darkness, and why I’m actually grateful I had that experience. And of course I talk about what it means to follow your bliss and how to make that work for you in your life if you are a creative.
You can find this episode’s accompanying blog post here.
For more on generative energy, see this post (or listen to Episode 2!).
Transcript
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/steppingoffnow)