Stepping Off Now: Support for Neurodivergent Creatives

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.

Check out Honest Rox on Instagram.

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.

NYT article about the busy trap (what I refer to as the "cult of busy").

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!

Note: Haven promotion no longer active.

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!

Note: Haven promotion no longer active.

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.

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.

Wiggle Fitness YouTube channel

Wiggle Fitness on Instagram

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?

Sign up for my newsletter!

Buy me a coffee! You can give me a one-time donation using this link.

Become a Patron of Stepping Off Now!

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!

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

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.

This episode's accompanying blog post can be found here.

What Do You Do with an Idea? (children's book)

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.

Chrissa Trudelle's website

Are You an Analyzer or a Synthesizer?

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.   

You can find this episode's accompanying blog post here.

We Should All Be Millionaires