What can I say: Covid-19 and submitting to film festivals kept me away.  But I promise to do better!  This episode:  you've got to listen.  Toxic people in your personal and professional life will attempt to derail your creative journey.  Boundaries and letting go are necessary.  It's not easy.  But you have to let go.  Hell, people and family have let me go too.  The only one you have to answer to is yourself.

I'm back.  I graduated from film school December 2022.  I was consumed with getting my final movie Dr. Dominatrix produced, production, and post production.  I've let my TV pilot rest, after completing 11 drafts.  And, I've been doctoring differently by working at my telemedicine gig.  I've also started a Substack: Trading Places: A Doctor's Memoir. 

I re-learned that small mini habits are doable and leave one feeling more satisfied and not like a failure. I've started flossing my teeth more.  I've become an anti-perfectionist.  Nothing you do will ever be perfect and it's ok.  You can always tinker and tweak.  

And I'm going to start a new season, and commit to doing the podcast every 2 weeks.

Did you know that many, me included know that sexuality equals creativity.  That when you are creatively constipated you are also probably sexually constipated or blocked as well.   Sexuality isn't just about the physical act of sex, or procreation, but co-creating your life.  It's about desire and pleasure and joy in all aspects of our lives.  Being sexually confident as a woman physician equals being boldly creative.  A boudoir photoshoot showed me that sexually confident woman who's become wildly creative.

Dr.  Lori got Covid-19, OH NO!  But while recovering she did something she hadn't done in a while, sampled multiple books at once, did two watercolor paintings, and re-watched a favorite movie:  He's Just Not That Into You.  As someone who is often reluctant to ask for help she did!  Being ill made her slow down and stop worrying and being anxious about the movie she's in preproduction on.  And it made her realize how much she is loved by friends and family.

In this episode Dr. Lori, Creativity Coach, Board Certified Ob/GYN and Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Specialist, Filmmaker, Writer, Director, Actor, Artist shares her storytelling essay  Sean, that got her into film school.  She shares that we creatives want to get our voices heard and have a burning desire to leave something behind that says we were here.  What better way than writings, music, acting, or film. 

In this episode Dr. Lori talks about one of the darkest moments in her life: divorce.  She always wanted to be married, but the last 7 years of her 23 year marriage Dr. Lori realized she was in an abusive relationship carrying all of the weight.  The only way to survive was to leave, despite a child still at home.   She ended up moving and living in her mother's basement, a metaphor for her life, working a necessary job in a toxic environment, while still supporting her family financially and materially as best she could.  Art classes allowed her a joyful respite and these creative baby steps got her to where she needed to go: a divorce,  eventually standup comedy, and the healing of herself and family.  Dr. Lori went from the basement to the 44th floor over a 10 year period.  With her hard won knowledge and wisdom she wants to shorten the creativity learning curve for other physician creatives.

Dr. Lori explains how a Creativity Coach can help you identify and change mindsets that block your creativity.  She'll help you design and implement processes and routines to fuel your creativity and most of all develop beliefs and confidence in your creative skills and talents.  You can have the life you want.  And, she'll encourage you to try new things.  She's taking an acting class, though she never dreamed of acting.  

Dr. Lori, Creativity Coach, Physician Creative, Physician Filmmaker describes what a Creativity Coach does, guides physicians to  "excavate, unblock, and amplify" their creativity so that they can live the audacious life of their dreams.  In this episode, she describes how creativity was a balm, and the honey that eased the grief of losing a parent, moving and family financial  loss, losing both her siblings in less than 5 months, and almost losing her life.  Writing, poetry, painting, comedy, improv, storytelling, and now filmmaking have "created" a life she never imagined, until she imagined it and began living it.  Dr. Lori  "creatively coached" herself through grief and loss and wants to pass these lessons on to other physician creatives.

Dr. Lori ( Lori-Linell Hollins MD)  describes her perilous journey ( yes, perilous) from being creatively constipated to getting unblocked and pursuing a creative calling.  Many of us have buried, and tamped down our creativity to fit into a box and our living someone else's life.  We do what we think we have to do to survive.  However, this comes at a high cost.  Though many factors went into to my Lori apocalypse; the consistent theme was that I was not being my authentic self.  Yes, it sounds cliche, but it's true.  You can run, but you can't hide.  You can't hide from your self.  I define creativity, what it means to be creatively constipated, and how almost losing my life propelled me into my creative calling.   I posit that art and creativity in any form, but especially comedy and humor are necessary and required life skills.  To live without them is to be joyless i.e. the real walking dead..