Maybe It's Just Me

Welcome back to, “Maybe It's Just Me.” I'm your podcast host and founder and host of Creative Work Hour. Our work on here are advancing thoughts about what creativity is and what it's not. In the last two episodes I've talked about, “Go Where We Are Celebrated” and “Never, Ever, Ever, Ever Stay Where We Are Being Tolerated. In the S1 E10 finale episode, I give a primer in how to manage being tolerated in a way that saves your creativity if not at least some peace of mind. What I want to pick up on now, is that even though you're learning and growing in your life and in your work, from time to time you may have to put up with being tolerated for a time. As in, it is a first choice put up with it because it serves a higher purpose, one that reflects your values an integral part of who you are and an intrinsic part of your creative self. Take this as an example. Let's say there are some special occasions, like birthdays, holidays, observances, memorial services or even the introduction of a new little one to the family and friends of the family. It is your idea to participate because to do so expresses your value of being a part of the whole, more specifically being an aunt or uncle who shows your care for the new niece or nephew. Of course, your participation in the celebration involves that there may be some unruly friends or family members that may bring about the sensation of being tolerated. So how do we take care of our creative lives while we take care of our other cherished parts? Here’s the trick. You have to hold something back in a type of effort or giving savings account for taking care of yourself. No one is entitled to lucidity. No body. One musts to the allocation of resources for that. If you want to play a part in a family, then simply account for the expenses of it, no matter whether you play the role of a hero or a scape goat. This lesson comes in the shape of a the two-sided coin. On one side is the notion, “Go Where You’re Celebrated,” and on the other side, “Never, Ever, Ever Stay Where You're Tolerated.” So take a running assessment of your values. Keep in mind that mileage varies. Pick your moments when family and/or friends are obviously most important, as expressed by in what ways and how much you participate. Allow the same build up care credits with you. Let the dynamics show. If you are the one to always hold the line, and the other side disappoints time and again, you may have just solved the mystery to your writer’s block or your stage fright. Let's fiddle with the outcome that may result in a creative obstacle – You are present for your mother’s or step mother’s birthday, eh? Perhaps there was a great deal of baggage. It's understandable. It happens to more people than you’d think. Or perhaps it's your father’s or step father’s birthday and there’s simply too much history there? I sincerely hope the ‘being tolerated’ scenario certainly does not apply to you. There are a myriad of personal obstacles that can throw a wrench in the creative monkey works. If your family is thriving, “huzzah!” Good on you. Don’t take any shit over it, because there is plenty in life that can bring obstacles. We will shine a spotlight on many of those in our next season of “Maybe It’s Just Me.” You know, it's OK to give yourself an out a day off few days off if things have proved to be a bit much Your creativity will thank you for it your mental health will thank you for it the people around you who care about you well thank you for it I think you for it this weather and realize you're not we're kind of all connected and I'm thrilled that you were connected with me for my first season of “Maybe It's Just Me.” Love y’all! Let’s talk next season. Bye!

Self confidence is built from blocks of useful self-awareness. Listen to this Part 2 to find out the flip side of, "Go Where You're Celebrated."

I'm not for everyone. You're not for everyone. It's cool. So it is safe to observe those around you. Be brave enough to recognize if you are the one being tolerated. [Listen to Part 2, Go Where You're Celebrated.]

Welcome back to Maybe It's Just Me. I'm your host, Alexandra White. I'm also the founder of Creative Work Hour. So I'm all about living the creative life. And I help people do that every day in our online sessions. So today we were talking about trees. What does that have to do with creativity? Well, each day that we come together to do work, we start with a quick check in of what we intend to work on for the hour, and then we do a meditation. It's like 3 minutes. 2 minutes. It's not long. But it helps us to get to that flow state really quickly. Then we turn on the music that is daily curated for the purpose of flow, and we all do the things that we're doing. We come back 5 minutes before the top of the hour and we check out and just give a quick little report on how it went. For example, "I read," "I wrote," "I got a title for my poem," or whatever it happens to be, right? So today, here's how the meditation began. You are a tree. Among other trees. And you can see with your tree eyes what all the trees look like around you. You see the trunk, the branches, the leaves (if they're still there). But the most grounding part of the tree is beneath the surface, isn't it? And what I've learned about trees fascinates me is it's not just that roots grow in the ground and secure and take in the nutrients. For the tree, the roots are also there for communication with their community, with the other trees, in fact. If there is an infestation in one part of the neighborhood where the trees live. Signals will go out through the root systems that there is a need to jack up. For protection against. The infestation that is further into the wood. I love that. That the whole group is responsive to any one of the wood. And it's just like that when you get creatives together. Even if it were like like by pen pal. Is that how it was done? And it's still being done. Authors write to each other. Poets write to each other. Painters write to each other. That hasn't disappeared. But the communication is what keeps you grounded, and it doesn't need to be time consuming. Like with our little group made up of high bands and other creatives that are just now learning about Hive.io. It's that being sparked by one another makes for a more creative life being sparked by one another's thoughts and remarks. Brings about a creative life that creates its own energy. You know, sometimes we just can't do that. One more thing. But we can if it comes with its own energy pack. Right. So there's the thought for the day is it's not just that we're all connected, but that we're well grounded and healthy routes communicate with each other signal to each other, bring about responses in each other. It's a lively and dynamic thing. Yeah. So think about what do you have? That you want to do. You maybe have not told a soul. But that if you realized or recognized that it comes with its own energy, you just might pull that off! Thanks for listening to today's episode of Maybe It's Just Me.

Let's stategize how to safeguard ourselves or more quickly recover from burn-out.