If you remember back to 2018, my theme for that year was FUN. I attempted my year of fun, trying one new fun thing a week, and I learned a lot in the process about what I call fun.
This year I decided to focus on… adventure. I’m still not sure what I mean by adventure, but this is what the dictionary says:
: an undertaking usually involving danger and unknown risks
It’s safe to say I had a year of adventure then. The difference between fun and adventure for me, is that fun is light. Breezy. Joyful. Relaxing. Adventure, on the other hand… might involve peril. Struggle. Challenge. Overcoming fear. Employing courage, embracing the unexpected, encountering the unknown.
So in January 2019, I left my home by the sea in Hove, gave up my flat, gave up a bunch of my possessions all in order to do the digital nomad thing for one year.
I travelled in 3 continents, visited 10 countries and made dozens of new friends.
Now rather than just telling you about my travel stories which I’m sure are only interesting to me, I thought I’d wrap this year up with 12 lessons (one for each month) that I learned from being a digital nomad (I kind of cringe at that label) and what I’m going to do to embody those lessons in 2020.
I don’t know if this will resonate with you, but I hope it does. If you’ve been listening for a while, we’ve probably got a lot in common, even beyond our creative introverted-ness, and I’d like to think there’s one takeaway in this episode that you can take into 2020 too. Maybe we can keep each other accountable in the new year too.
Watch the video version: https://youtu.be/77j2xcFyZ1M
This podcast is made possible only by means of my generous supporters on Patreon. Thank you! Supporting the Creative Introvert podcast also gets you lots of goodies, from a Monthly Ask Me Anything to a copy of my new BOOK, The Creative Introvert: How to Build a Business You Love on Your Terms. Hitting milestones also funds future projects, and ideas guided by you, my supporters.
Today’s guest is someone who I’ve been meaning to have on the podcast since… before it even existed.
Andy Mort is the host of the Gentle Rebel Podcast, a musician, an undertaker and someone who is very much on my wave length (fellow INTJ too!)
We talk about:
• The challenges introvert musicians face
• The stigma attached to sensitivity in our society
• The problem with desensitising ourselves
• How to encourage sensitivity as an act of gentle rebellion
• What Andy would tell his younger self ... And much more!
FOR THE FULL SHOW NOTES: https://www.thecreativeintrovert.com/andy-mort
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In this episode of the Creative Introvert I'm asking the question: What's Your Calling?
In my experience, there is NOTHING as powerful as knowing what your calling is for fuelling your actions.
Willpower is something we have to manage, like our energy. Like a muscle, it get’s tired out. It gets drained by making decisions, by stress, by lack of sleep, by too much sugar.
But we need willpower to stay on task. To get up every day and go to work to pay the bills to look after the kids to make our businesses thrive, to finish that painting that’s been there for months.
What if we could speed up willpower recovery, or provide ourselves with a second wind?
Well, that’s exactly what knowing our calling can do, and that's what this episode is all about.
FREE CALLING PROMPTS DOWNLOAD: https://www.thecreativeintrovert.com/calling
According to today's podcast guest, being single does not mean being broken, lonely, or desperate. And whether or not you already knew that, it can feel like society at large is sending us another message.
I rarely talk about matters of relationships on the podcast - mostly because I'm certainly no expert there - but I've been eager to broach the topic, and felt that Acamea Deadwiler, author and all round badass, would be the perfect guest to have on the show.
This podcast is also being released as we approach holiday season, a time of year I can attest is particularly difficult for those of us who are not in relationships. I hope you find Acamea's words as comforting and inspiring as I did.
Why women in particular suffer from the stigma of being single
The challenges that single introverts face in dating
How to handle being single at the holidays
Pros and cons of online dating
Single That: Dispelling the Top 10 Myths of Single Women
The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
This podcast is made possible only by means of my generous supporters on Patreon. Thank you! Supporting the Creative Introvert podcast also gets you lots of goodies, from a Monthly Ask Me Anything to a copy of my new BOOK, The Creative Introvert: How to Build a Business You Love on Your Terms. Hitting milestones also funds future projects, and ideas guided by you, my supporters.
Everything we've experienced to this point plays a part in our overall story.
And they don't all have to flow together neatly into some overused Heroes Journey (though, it is overused for a reason, I'll grant you.)
The story I most often tell is how I left my job. I use this to illustrate how vital it was for me when I finally started paying attention to my introversion.
But you might not know about the time I first built an online course. Which was an abominable fail. I didn’t sell one, not a sausage.
Now, I tell this to clients and when I give talks or do workshops on building a career online, in order to illustrate how bloody important it is to do thorough testing before putting your heart & soul into something.
I also have stories I may never share: stories of unrequited love, rejection, regret, shame. These stories are for me: their purpose isn’t to remind me of the harshness of life or my wounds: they are here to remind me that I lived through them, and came out the other side, a little bruised and battered, but stronger for it. It doesn’t matter if they pale in comparison to stuff you hear about on the news or read about in memoirs. They still have their place.
In each story, I can see part of me that transformed because of that pain or challenge or disappointment. I wouldn't want to forget them, because they are part of me today. Just like you know not to fuck with the past when you’ve got a time machine: I know I wouldn't change a thing because God knows what I'd be like without those experiences.
The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
Stoicism for Creative Intoverts
This podcast is made possible only by means of my generous supporters on Patreon. Thank you! Supporting the Creative Introvert podcast also gets you lots of goodies, from a Monthly Ask Me Anything to a copy of my new BOOK, The Creative Introvert: How to Build a Business You Love on Your Terms. Hitting milestones also funds future projects, and ideas guided by you, my supporters.