Episode 087: How Self-Trust Helps Me Live a Creative Life

Hello creative soles! Welcome back to the Never Wear Boring Socks podcast, a podcast for the down-to-earth yet mystically-inclined creatives of all mediums, and the creatively curious, and this is a place where we talk about how to be more creative, how to make more art, and how to make progress on your artistic goals. We also sometimes talk about our socks, because even sock choices are an opportunity to get creative. Today I’m wearing some cute green socks with gardening tools and plants on them, because it’s actually finally warm today, which is super exciting, and I also matched them to the top I’m wearing which I haven’t gotten out since sometime last year, since it’s been very cold for months! So that’s an exciting development in sock land. If you’re wearing fun socks, if you matched them to your summer tops or your spring tops, let me know. I would love to hear. 

So for today’s main attraction, I really wanted to talk about an aspect of creativity that we really haven’t gone too far into yet on Never Wear Boring Socks. This is something that’s always been a big part of how I live my life and how I think about the world, but I just recently realized how much it’s actually related to creativity and living a creative life. And I feel pretty passionate about it, so I figured why not do a whole episode! 

So the thing with having a podcast and a business that’s focused on creativity and being a creativity guide is that creativity is such a vague topic in a way. Asking “what is creativity?” is sort of like asking, “what is love?” or “what is happiness?” They’re these things that are almost impossible to define because they touch so many different aspects of our lives. I feel like every time someone asks me how I define creativity, it gives me a chance to explore another facet of this very broad concept. 

And the facet of creaitivty I’ve been really contemplating recently is that I believe creativity is a willingness to approach things differently. That’s not the only thing that creativity is, but again it’s one facet and that’s like I said: creativity is a willingness to approach things differently. The idea of “creativity” often gets lumped together with “innovation” - and those things are related, but I think innovation implies this newness that is not necessarily helpful when it comes to creating art. I don’t believe that every time you create a piece of art that it needs to be something entirely new and fresh and original in the sense that nothing like it has ever been done before. I think that when it comes to creativity, it’s not so much about creating something new, but it’s really about seeing things or doing things in a way that may be new, or at least different from how things are usually done. 

So an example that came to mind for me is I used to be a wedding florist, and part of that involved meeting with clients and talking to them about what they liked, their style, the colors they loved, and how we could make that come to life with flowers. And something that I found really interesting is that a lot of people would ask questions like, “What do people usually do for ceremony flowers?” or “What other colors have people been using with pink lately?” And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with this. Often things are popular for a reason, so asking questions about what’s usually done can give you a solid place to start. And if you want your flowers to be on trend, which a lot of people do, this is actually a great question to ask. 

But what I found really fascinating about this was that it highlighted how much we tend to look at what other people are doing to decide whether what WE want to do is really okay. And while that’s okay if that’s how you want to go through your life — again I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, if you’re here because you want to be creative and that’s why you're listening to me talking right now, I don’t think it’s the most creative way to go through life. I think that living a creative life means that you are willing to follow your own inspiration, regardless of the trends or conventions or expectations you might feel from other people, whether we’re talking about your wedding flowers or the way you decorate your home or the kinds of foods you choose to eat… or, the way you make your art. 

One of the ways this has shown up for me in my approach to my art is that in the past couple of years, I’ve really given myself permission to lean into what I like making. And it’s also helped me develop the confidence to share what I’ve made and what I like making. I think for a while I felt really self-conscious about the kind of things I liked to write and draw, because they’re not really that “cool.” They’re not like edgy or weird or super conceptual, which is definitely what I saw from a lot of the people who studied art in school, for example, or the people who I kind of saw as “serious artists,” just because I think that’s kind of a trend right now. And again, there’s nothing wrong with that. 

But I personally like to make art that’s beautiful. That’s really my goal when I’m making things. And I used to feel embarrassed about that - like that meant I wasn’t really a serious artist. I would feel shy about sharing my poetry because it was whimsical and rhyming and I felt shy about sharing things I’d drawn because they were too focused on beauty, and not on some intense meaning or displaying the gruesome details of what it means to be a human in this world or whatever - which is totally cool if that’s what you’re into - but that’s not what I’m into. And that’s okay. And that’s the permission that I’ve given myself is that that's okay. 

Being willing to do things differently also means that I don’t start with a certain color palette because I learned about it in school. Color theory obviously is super useful, but when I really feel my most creative, I’m choosing the colors that my intuition leads me to. I don’t necessarily start writing a poem either with a message I want to convey, or some cool artsy concept - I follow what feels and sounds right in each moment. 

So I guess what this is all really about now that I’m saying it out loud is self-trust. I think living a creative life is about having the courage to trust yourself, even when the outside world isn’t necessarily giving you the confirmation that you might want. And this whole thing is feeling very meta right now, because how I created this podcast episode is exactly how I create my art. I started with an idea, and then I explored each next step as it came to me, until I got to the core of what I really wanted to say. And then it kidn of all came together and made sense. That’s pretty cool! Well done, Maria. 

I do want to add that one thing that can really help you build that self-trust is to have a person in your corner who encourages you to do just that. We certainly don’t need validation from an outside source, but it can really help speed things up if we do have it. So I hope that this little burst of insight from my mouth to your ears over the internet can be that - and if you want to go deeper, my calendar is ready for you. I’m ready for you. I’m currently booking Awaken Your Artist calls - this is a free 30 minute call where we’ll talk about what’s going on right now with your creativity, and how you can start moving in the creative direction that you want to move in. My goal is that you’ll walk away from the call with one action step and a little more confidence to be more creative, to be more expressive, and to feel more like an artist. 

So before we wrap up, my questions for you to reflect on are: What do YOU want to do? What do YOU want to create? I invite you to ask yourself these questions many times per day, as many as you’d like - and pay attention to what comes up. And it doesn’t have to be all related to art — you can ask yourself these questions when you're writing or drawing or making music. I think that’s great — you can also ask it when you’re deciding what to eat for breakfast or what you want to do after work. And this might feel a little fuzzy at first to hear your own answers, if this is new to you, but I’ve found that the more I’ve done this, the more I’ve asked myself these kinds of questions, the more I’ve gotten in touch with my own creative inklings and my own inner voice. 

That’s all I have for you today, my creative soles - just one final note actually before I sign off: I have a lot going on in the next couple of weeks, just in my life, so I’m also giving myself permission to take a quick break from the podcast if I feel like I need one. I’m going to play it by ear so we’ll see what happens. But if you do want to make sure that your hear from me in the meantime, make sure you’re on my newsletter - that’s where I tend to share the freshest insights and downloads and thoughts and any news of course, and by signing up you’ll also get access to my Secret Garden of Creativity, which is a resource library that I’ve created to help you get more in touch with your creativity. The link is in the show notes, along with the link for the Awaken Your Artist call that I mentioned so be sure to check those out if you’re interested in booking a call or or if you’re not already in my newsletter community. 

As always, my dear creative soles, thank you so much for listening. And until next time, my dear creative soles, I hope you have many beautiful days, and I hope you remember to never wear boring socks.