Creative Wellness Letters - It's all about who you know? 🤔

Hi Reader, 

The phrase “It’s all about who you know,” relating to success in a creative career, might provoke a strong reaction, depending on your attitude toward networking (a word I felt allergic to for a long time 🤢).

When I was younger, I mostly avoided anything labeled as “networking”. I was told that it was important, but I didn't necessarily want to do it, because navigating a roomful of sleazy, schmoozy business people as an introvert sounded like my nightmare.

Later I began to realize that, if I viewed networking as simply being interested in getting to know other people, I could connect and organically build community in a way that felt nurturing and life-giving, not draining. 

I even chose “connect” as my word of the year in 2018, which inspired me to attend more events and actively seek out collaborations with other musicians and artists.

Community gets talked about a lot, in all kinds of contexts, but what does it actually mean? 

I had a wonderful conversation with Megan Ihnen about cultivating creative community (and many other things) on the latest episode of Being A Whole Person.

Here’s Megan’s definition: 

“Community isn't one specific organization, one specific place, one specific building, or whatever. It's not even one specific online gathering of people. It can exist in those spaces, but community is shared values, shared activities, and consistency…it's about walking that no matter what you're doing, and thinking about, 'Who am I in this situation? 

What am I bringing, so that we can have a relationship that doesn't feel transactional, it feels transformational?”

The pandemic has forced many of our communities to look different than they previously had. Perhaps some of them became fragmented or even dissolved, and perhaps new communities sprang up where they hadn’t been before, as many activities shifted online. 

It forced many of us (myself included) to look at what’s most important to us, and whether aspects of our lives, including our communities, were truly serving us.

When it comes down to it, we’re all trying to increase the time we spend on what’s truly important to us, and decrease the time we spend on less important things. 

I’m willing to bet that relationships are near the top of the “important” list for most of us, including our creative collaborations, hopefully with people who are aligned with our values.

So how do we find those people?

Megan also mentions that, since many creative people are freelancers to some extent, there aren’t always tried and true highways of communication where we can find valuable information and opportunities. 

It’s important to her to “be the person who just kind of passes along something, because it doesn't have to be for me for it to be valuable information to somebody I know.” (This is exactly why I’m passionate about sharing resources, too!)

She suggests keeping an awareness about the people that you’re in community with about their likes, interests, goals, and desires, so that you can pass on opportunities or connect them with others that would be helpful.

You can also do your own “visibility building” - essentially, “making sure that your [existing] community knows what you're interested in, enough so that if they see something come across their desk, that your name is at the top of their mind…and every time it's a more fulfilling life experience to have these deeper connections with people.”

Bonus: you’ll find better opportunities from people who know you better, and vice versa. 

Getting to do more cool gigs/collaborations with cool people = win-win!

If you’re new to your city, or beginning to seek out creative work in a field that’s newer to you, you might think, “How do I connect with people when I don’t even have a community?”

Just like almost everything I teach, in small actions, bit by bit!

Here are a few things you could try:

• Supporting peers through attending their gigs, events, art exhibitions, shows, etc.
• Helping peers by promoting their events on social media
• Having a coffee date with someone whose work you admire, or an acquaintance who you’d like to get to know better
• Comment on someone’s Instagram post complimenting their work - if you think someone is awesome, tell them!
• Brainstorm new ways to share your art with your larger community
• Ask a friend or colleague to introduce you to someone who they think you’d get along with

Basically, follow your own curiosity and excitement, and community will start to happen organically and naturally.

And, of course, I have to say: I’m thrilled that you’re a part of my community - thanks for reading, and thanks for being here!

What's important to you in a community, especially a creative community? I'd love to know!

Stay well, my friends - I'm always rooting for you. My inbox is always open, so please feel free to reach out if I can help in any way. 

I always love hearing from you!

Have a lovely week! ⁠

Rebecca

• Breaking Cycles and Reparenting Yourself with Dr. Becky Kennedy on We Can Do Hard Things podcast with Glennon Doyle - I highly recommend this episode to anyone who has kids, works with kids, or who has ever been a kid! I found lots of great insights to apply to my coaching work and my own life.
• Empaths: The Part That Nobody is Talking About - This is a great, deeper explanation of what it really means to be empathic and how to protect your own energy
• Amelia Hruby on Telling Stories That Free Us - I loved this profile of Amelia and her podcast studio Softer Sounds on Maggie Gentry's blog. I greatly admire both of their work!

• E66: Megan Ihnen on Cultivating Creative Community

• E65: How to Come Back to Yourself
  

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