Our younger selves have been a topic for discussion in my work this week.
The women I am writing about in my book, Braving Creativity: Artists that turn the scary, thrilling, messy path of change into courageous transformation have been excitedly sharing wisdom with their younger selves.
They are becoming their own guides. Through many years of trial and error, life experience and growth, they are finding more ease in their creative process. They are bringing more compassion to the parts of themselves that used to hold them back.
The beautiful gift about guidance is that it is a gift that keeps on giving.
Can you recall an insight or acknowledgment that you received some time ago that still nibbles at your noggin? Was there some bit of wisdom that resonated with your inner compass as “true?”
Sometimes we hear a piece of wisdom, but we aren’t quite ready to receive it. So we file it away to revisit later when it nibbles at us again, wanting to be reconsidered.
The bits of guidance I share below might be what you need to hear today. File them away or receive them, either way know that you are NOT ALONE in your journey to live an honest and self actualized creative life. There are women who came before you who want to offer guidance!
“If my 2006 year-old self” could see me now, she we think 'Wow, how cool, she has made all of this artwork from this place I am now, which feels so stuck and so painful.'”
“If I could give my sixteen-year-old self some advice, it would be to follow what feels fun. Trust your quirky, complex, unique self. There will be an audience for you if you show up exactly as you are.”
"If I could tell my twenty-seven year-old self something, it would be to get involved in a group of growth seekers to show you what courage looks like, you'll have an easier time if you don't try to do your work alone.”
"If I could tell my thirty-year-old self to 'just show up.' Show up for the gig, the application, the conversation. If you show up, something will happen. And that something will lead to something else."
"I'd tell my younger self not to isolate herself. Find a way to connect with other people, use your creativity and create an opportunity to connect, if one doesn’t find you.”
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