Week 15: Artist Check-In | One Little Step at a Time

Sometimes the bravest thing we can do is honor what we need in the moment. In this episode, we share how checking in with ourselves—whether through crochet, watercolor, or just pausing to breathe—creates the foundation for real growth. Gentle progress, not pressure, is what keeps creativity alive.

Thank you so much for listening.

If you know someone who needs this kind of gentle nudge, send it their way. The more kind, creative hearts in this space, the better.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Before we decided, we wanted to cultivate more safety, peace, love, alignment, and excitement through our art and our art practices. So here we are sharing our journey with you, and we're so excited you're here. We hope you enjoy our conversations. They're honest, raw, just two friends talking to each other about the realities of life and creativity. We're so excited for you to join us and be along with us for the journey.

UNKNOWN: 0:29

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00: 0:32

Week 15. We have... almost made it to summer break we're today is the last day of school for our kids and yeah we're there we're here we've got like an hour left whether we're ready or not oh my gosh were you able to draw or paint or think creatively this week were there any thoughts this week that's the question um so i didn't paint but um this week was crazy but i did crochet oh good which I was thinking about it and it was like you know some weeks you just you don't have the bandwidth or the time or anything um and we talk about this all the time it's okay to do you know to have other things that you can fall back onto and anyways yeah so I crocheted I didn't have like the bandwidth to create something from nothing and so creating something with the help of of another material you know yeah that was that was just what I just like following a rhythm the rhythm yeah Yeah, that was super helpful. It was like intentional, calming, like bring me back, you know, all those good things and healthy things for your body and your brain and your creativity. Yeah. Like it wasn't fully like me thinking up something and then creating it from nothing, but it was the act of making something, right? Yeah, I love that. Of building on something. Yeah, it's interesting because when we started this, we're like, it's an art challenge. Yeah, like we're going to make art every week. Like that's our but what it's really come to is just Letting ourselves be creative every week and celebrating that. Yeah. Like it's so hard to stop and know what you need in the moment. Right. Yeah. A lot of times I remember myself, I can look back and be like, oh, I needed that. You know, like I needed to take a deep breath or I needed a moment or I needed this or that. But in the moment, it's really difficult. And so I think that's also part of this, like what we're learning through this is practicing being able to check in in the moment and see what we need. Especially when you you grow up or are like how do I say this like constantly checking other people like what they need and like caretaking and taking care of others and like making sure that the people around you are okay which I feel like happens a lot especially for women yeah caretaking mentality is yeah can be really hard to switch out of yeah and then that leads to you know burnout and not really actually being able to be there for the people you care about Yep. You know, it's, it's, you know, taking the oxygen mask for yourself first. It's. Yeah, exactly. Like, what do I, what do I actually need? How do I support myself? How do I give myself what I need so that I can show up for other people? If that's what you want to do, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Part of your life and your goal and what you actually want to maintain in your life. I mean, I think some relationships are, it's hard to move away from, but. Yeah. Well, but we've all got relationships that we, you know, Yeah, exactly. art challenge has been really helpful in that in the checking in and seeing what I need and you know yeah it's like forcing us to actually yeah do something nice for ourselves and but being like really real about it right yeah real about like is this helping what is what is this accomplishing yeah I have this amount of time or this limited you know bandwidth brain space time whatever it is and so how what is the thing that would best serve me in in the moment like that I need the Yeah. Oh, I love it. No, that's so great. I'm so glad that you let yourself. check in and actually do what you needed this week like I feel like that is such a win you know like that's such a victory and yeah I don't know I feel like starting at the beginning of this we would have um beat ourselves up yeah or tried to force ourselves into doing something that may not have been actually what we needed or or even beneficial you know it just caused more stress yeah not the point of this right and I love that like week 15 like still pretty early into it yeah already seeing that seeing that difference yeah and I love it yeah I think that's really great thanks yeah I think so too I think it's I think it's been surprisingly so helpful in different ways than we even we couldn't have predicted right we couldn't have we couldn't have we were not expecting yeah not expecting that at all but I think it's beautiful yeah what about you how was your week did you create this week I did so I actually did something huge oh tell me for me at least yeah um I love that I know so I it's gonna sound a little silly if you haven't listened to any of our other episodes but I used the big piece of fancy watercolor paper oh this week man so what's funny is I Well, okay, it's not funny, but throughout this experiment... It's been really cool because I've let myself take small steps that have built on each other to the point that I could actually use the expensive, nice, high quality paper because that's something that I have had lots of limiting blocks and beliefs about. Yeah. are really frugal like all of these things and using the expensive paper or the paint which is interesting because I had already purchased it it was just sitting in my house for like years I mean the paint I've had I had that before my daughter was born like I've had it for a long time and my paint brushes and then just didn't use them because of this fear of wasting I won't have enough. I won't get more. Yeah. Yeah. It's so silly. Like, yeah, it's real. It is. I'm not the only person that has gone through this or is experiencing this. No, I feel the same way. Like I have that same fear every time I pick up my, my, my pad of pastel paper, you know, it's expensive. Like it's, it's a thing and same. I like, I have, I do watercolor, not currently right now, but I have the expensive paper too. And I, It still is a package. It's just not using it. Yeah. Yeah. And I find it really funny that I had like bought watercolors and I had bought the watercolor paper, but then my entire life I've always told myself, you're not good enough to watercolor. You can't watercolor. This is not for you. Like other painting mediums find watercolor. No. Did I let myself paint with other traditional mediums? No. Like watercolor was like top tier. You can't do it. So interesting. Yeah. And so with this, it's like, okay, I'm going to watercolor it. And I'm going to use the fancy paper, but I didn't just jump in, like didn't dive headfirst in. Yeah. You know, I was like, okay. Dip your toe a little bit. Dip my toe a little bit. But what's interesting is I realized this morning, I was thinking about it before we got to record and I realized I kind of a little bit tricked myself into it. Like I used that scarcity mindset and I was like, how do I use this to help myself so that I Whoa, tell me how you did that, please. get your movement right yeah like I didn't have to be all in one or like or nothing you know it's just the the image that came to my mind was you know in Mulan when they're um the guys all come to the lake you know to go take a bath and the big guy he like dips his toe in it's like and then he like jumps with this big tidal wave I love that sorry keep going um yeah so I um I had to then print out my sketches. Yeah. Right. And so I was like, okay, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to do four small sketches so that I'm not just using one sheet of fancy paper. I can cut it into four, four pieces, you know? And then, but then I had to print out my sketches. So that's, I, I used printer paper. Okay. It's not the fancy paper, but it's still part of that like scarcity mindset. I use supplies. Yeah. Okay. So I use the supplies and then I took the fancy paper. I cut it into four pieces. So it's not rusty. It's not new. It's no longer safely in the packaging. It's like, okay, I've already tainted it. I've already used it to some extent. It's cut. And then if I don't do all four of them, I'm wasting the printer paper. I'm wasting this paper. It's like, okay, I'm committed. I have to use it now because otherwise I am wasting it. So I'm like, okay, I've tricked my into just getting started. I love that. I used my limiting beliefs against myself. That's great. Brilliant. I know. Hilarious. Mastermind. But it was in this way of, I'm not going to let myself stay stuck in that limiting belief place. It's like, okay, I'm going to use that to start training myself to be safe and okay with painting. Because by the end of it, it's like, I have four paintings. And it's like, okay, let's do it again. I I love that. It was just like one really small act, right? One, like sending this to the printer, boop, you know, cutting the paper, boop. And then it just, it built on each other and built up to create that. That was brilliant. I love that. It was a way to go. Thank you. I'm so proud of you. I just like manipulated myself. It's fine. It's totally cool. But then by the end of those first four paintings, it was like, oh, okay, well now I get to like sketch on my iPad again. Yeah. Fun. Okay, great. And then, you know, print it out. It wasn't so scary because I'd already proven to myself that I– That wasn't a waste. You know, I could use it. And then when it came to cutting the paper, you know, it was again, like there was like, instead of this, okay, I'm using the fancy paper. It was like, oh, okay. I'm excited. Like we're going to do this again. Like I've already proven to myself that I could do four paintings that I liked and that were, and not even that the end result was good, but just how much fun I had doing it, which I don't know that I would have paid attention to that if we weren't doing this. Yep. You know, it would have all been the end product, but because we were doing this, it was like, no, pay attention to how you feel while you're painting. Pay attention to quality of life that that brain, you know, like the full picture. Yeah. Intentionally paying attention. Yeah. Yeah. And so then when it came time to, you know, yesterday was my, it's my last painting day before my daughter's home for summer break. And, you know, I, I'd already gotten the, I'd gotten the sketch ready the day before, like transferred onto my fancy paper, sat down to paint, got through, like my alarm went off to go, go to school and pick her up. And, and I came home and I, and I just, you know, walked back into my office and looked at it and was like, oh my gosh, I used the full sheet of paper. Yeah. I didn't cut it. And I had no anxiety over it. Wow. It was just like, it just, it happened. And I was like, I did it. Oh, and it wasn't scary. And like, it was okay. I love that. And I feel like, but if you hadn't done those small steps, it would have held that anxiety. It would have held that like, yeah, what have I done? You know? Oh my gosh. Right. But because you took those little, little baby tiny steps leading into, into it and creating those small pockets of safety, you know, it wasn't like this big, huge thing that you jumped. You didn't do the full on tidal wave jump. Right. You know, you dipped your toe again and again and again. Yep. And like did went a little bit farther. It was just so gradual that by the time you actually got to this point, then you had already built that foundation of safety and excitement and joy and intentional paying attention of, you know, the quality of life and how it's affecting you. And so you, you knew that. And so it was already tied to that by the time you even even even worked on the full page you know right it was it was cool and and it was cool too because um in you know going back to that first page that I cut into four um the first two paintings I did I didn't like them they weren't great but then because I'd already cut it into four I had to keep going gotta keep yeah gotta use them and then I told myself okay any paintings that I don't like that paper is then used for gouache oh nice so it's not wasted yeah it's just go over it okay great now I have gouache paper like it's watercolor paper until it becomes gouache paper right perfect another layer of safety another layer of comforting yourself you know like tricking myself into like this is okay I love it so that I can take the next step forward but then that you know it's never with that mindset of okay I'm going to trick myself to be okay with this so I can stay stuck there yeah it's with that moving forward no I I really like that because I like the mindset that you had with it because it wasn't you beating yourself up like, well, I just got to use it because I just got to get out of that mindset. Yeah. But you really held yourself where you were at. Yeah. And worked with that and you were gentle with yourself and you didn't try to force yourself out of your limiting beliefs all at once or, you know, or judge yourself for it, you know, and be like, I'm so bad because this is, you know, holding me back or whatever. Um, it wasn't negative. It was, it was a very positive, like, okay, I have this thing, this fear. And so I'm going to, how can I, how can I help it just a little bit? Yeah. How can I help myself just a little bit? Cause I really want to move forward. So how can I do that in a way that's, that's safe and comfortable for me where I'm at right now? Yeah. And it's sustainable. Yeah. If I had just been like, Nope, I'm getting out that full piece of paper and I'm going to paint all on it and then I did it and if it had turned out the way that my first painting had turned out yeah I would have been like I can't do that again yeah I can't do that again I wasted it yep and it would have just fed that limiting belief it would have just fed that fear and that block greater bigger it made it stronger ooh this is so good this is so good I know anyways I'm feeling very proud of myself you should I did the big piece of paper but even more than like actually painting on the big piece of paper is I had taken those steps that it wasn't scary anymore. Yeah, the process is what you're to be proud of because that's huge. That's the mark of real growth. It's the growth. You grew so much. Oh, so good. I'm so proud of you. I'm so excited for you. Thank you. And I like how this painting is turning out, so that's also fun. Yes, bonus cherry on top. Exactly. It's not the point, but it does feel nice. Yeah, for sure. well I'm super excited to see I haven't seen it yet so I'm really excited to see it and see where it's see the product I'm sure it's just gorgeous because your paintings always are so thank you aside from those first two I still think they're gorgeous thank you yeah I'll show you I'll show you after this it's like halfway done nice needs a few more hours but it's fun so fun well this was a successful week I I agree. Good job. Way to go. So if you're needing the reminder that you don't have to jump all in with the big tidal wave, this is your reminder. Just one little step at a time. Look at where you're at with gentleness and love and acceptance and know that it's okay. It's okay to be where you're at and you can do those little steps that will help you in your journey of growth. Just take it one day, one moment at a time. That's right. And we'll be here next week. See you then. that's it for today friend thanks for spending this time with us we hope you're leaving with a little more light a little more peace and maybe even a nudge to go be creative just because it brings a little more joy to your life if anything in this episode spoke to your heart sparked a thought or made you smile we'd love it if you'd follow the show leave a quick five-star review or share it with someone who might need a little creative encouragement too and remember your creativity matters your voice matters You matter. We're cheering you on always. Until next time, keep making, keep softening, and keep showing up as your whole beautiful self.