Don't let your ego stop you from doing your creative thing!

The Joyful Creative

Lately I've found myself wondering if I should still be performing in a rock band at age 53.

After 35+ years in the biz, am I too old for this? Sometimes my aching body says yes! But more often it's my nasty nagging inner-critic (ego) that says I look too old and it's silly for a woman my age to be prancing around the stage, belting it out like Tina Turner. Nobody told Tina to stop doing it when she was 53 so why should I?

I believe that when your soul calls you to do something creative, it shouldn't matter what age, gender, type you are. Creativity transcends stereotype so just go for it!

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Transcript:

Well, hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of the joyful creative. This is the seventh episode. And if you've been listening to all the episodes so far, I just want to say, thank you so much for listening, for tuning in for giving me your support. If there's anything in particular, a subject about creativity that you'd like me to cover in a future episode. I'd love to hear from you. You can get in contact with me via email or social media, all the links are below in the show notes. So, yeah, reach out and let me know. And if you know anybody who could really do with this sort of support and inspiration, then by all means, please share this episode. You can message or text them the link and then they'll be able to listen as well. That will be wonderful.

Also just a little update on my episode from last week where I talked about my collaborative artwork with all abilities Australia that was auctioned off at a gala last Friday night. The piece fetched $2,300 at the live auction for the fundraising gala. And yeah, I'm just so pleased with that result. All abilities Australia are an amazing organization that really support adults with various mental and physical abilities. They do such a great job and they were fundraising to purchase a big van a wheelchair accessible van that they can transport the participants around town in to take them out on excursions and around the place.

And when I was working with these people, I really felt how valuable it would be for them all to have the enriching experience of being able to go to an exhibition or an art gallery or a live performance or any other type of arts that's outside their four walls and so hopefully the money raised from this artwork will help them to reach their goal to be able to purchase this van.

Another public service announcement I have is that this Saturday I will be presenting at the Rest Easy Expo at Technology Park. So that's this Saturday time of recording the 24th of August, 2024. It's going to be amazing. So many vendors that are all geared up to share their information on improving your quality of sleep, rest, relaxation, wellness, all that good stuff. The tickets are $10 if you buy them beforehand, if you turn up on the day, they will be $15. So if you're thinking of going, if you're in the Brisbane area, I recommend getting online and booking your tickets early so you can save yourself $5. So I will be there with a giant colouring page. That'll be a free activity for anybody to come along and contribute to this massive colouring page pick up a pencil, have a little bit of time out and do some colouring. And. Yeah, it's going to be amazing.

I'm also going to be presenting a modified version of my mindful creativity workshop at the expo, that's another free activity. I'll be taking people through the doodling part of my workshop. I normally do some work with ink and other materials, but just to keep it simple I want it to really show people how easy it is to really drop into that relaxing flow state with nothing more than a fine liner pen and a piece of paper. And these are materials anybody could have in their hand bag or the backpack, whatever you carrying around. And if you're sitting there waiting at an appointment or on public transport or any time when you would normally get out your phone and scroll through social media, which can be not as relaxing as we'd hope. Having a pen and paper available just to go through some repetitive mark making is really a wonderful thing for your central nervous system and to reduce stress. So I'll be presenting that at the Rest Easy Expo. So if you're in the Brisbane area, like I said, come along, so if you do see me there absolutely come say hi. I would love to meet you.

Now if I sound a little bit like a drag queen today, um, I can tell you, I'm certainly not looking as glamorous as a drag queen. But my voice is very tired because I've just done a week of five gigs in six days. Five very high energy big jumping around like Tina Turner and singing like Tina Turner. Not the whole time, but, yeah, these gigs have been quite high energy, which is a lot for a 53 year old like me.

And I just wanted to talk about that because I've recently been thinking, When is the time when I'm just, I've got to pull the pin on this? When does the time come when I am too old to be performing in that situation? And it's a really hard one because when I'm performing, I just love it. I really get a buzz out of singing, performing, and especially that music. It really actually energizes me. And I know I do it well. I have over 30 years experience performing as a professional vocalist. And yeah, I really love it. I love the people I work with. I actually work with a lot of very young musicians, so I do feel a bit like the mum of the group. But we all have great banter Uh, they're very respectful of me but I'm really happy to say that I am performing at my peak at the moment, and I'm very happy to be a mentor to those younger musicians. I think working with younger people actually does keep you young. So I'm really grateful for the opportunity to keep doing this. But yeah, my body feels it when I have done a gig and today I really am feeling very tired. My voice is tired. I do wonder when is the time that it should be put to bed. My husband says I'm silly for even thinking that because while I still enjoy it, why am I even considering giving it up? And I guess I'm thinking of giving it up because sometimes I wonder about how it appears to the audience that I'm, I'm 53. I think I look okay for my age, but I certainly don't look 25. You know, I've got a bit of middle-aged spread and some jowls and some crows feet around the eyes like we all do at this age. I'm not ashamed of them. But yeah, I just wonder about the perception from the audience when they see me jumping around, whether it seems weird or dumb. And really that's just the ego talking if I really think about it.

My spirit tells me that I'm still supposed to be performing because it still brings me a lot of joy and the audience love it too. I get lots of good comments after my performances. Nobody says “You're a great singer, but gee, you know, you do look a bit middle-aged”, nobody's talking about what I look like. So why am I even worrying about it? Why do I think it's an issue? Why do I think that my age should preclude me from performing if it still brings me joy and still brings other people joy and still brings a capability to the band that I'm working with? I realize when I say it out loud, it's ridiculous.

But it made me wonder whether there are other people out there who might be shying away from potential creative pursuits because of their age, because of their gender? Maybe you're a young person in your twenties and you feel like maybe cross-stitching might seem a bit Nana-ish. Or maybe you're a bloke and you really want to get into knitting, and you feel like it's a bit feminine and strange. And what if you’re a middle-aged woman that wants to get into deejaying? I actually have a friend who is learning to DJ and it's super hot. Like it's, it's crazy good that she's during that. When I look at other people, of course I say, This is the most empowering thing you can do is just to push through any doubts that are to do with the ego, wondering whether you look silly or it's not the thing for a person my age or my gender or my type to be doing. And this is where the spirit comes in.

I'm sounding a little woo here, but you know, the soul has a calling. And it might not be the same calling all the way through your life. You might have different callings at different times of life. I think we're all experiencing that. I know people who are changing careers and changing marriages and changing gender. Recently, there seems to be this wave of people, just shaking things up and burning down what's been and building up something new. And that's sort of all in together with, if you want to do something creative and your soul is calling you to do it, then there was a reason for that. There is something in the universe, that's presented an idea to you, and if you're thinking about it, and if you can't stop thinking about it, then do it. It doesn't have to be sensible. It doesn't have to be normal. In fact who wants to be normal anyway? Um, Yeah, go for it I say.

But what I do think is to be careful of making the distinction between creative pursuit that really is your soul's calling and something that maybe your ego might think might be a cool thing to do. For example, I have a guitar sitting there that really hasn't been touched for a while because when I'm busy, it's the first thing to go. But I really fancy myself as a chick with a pick. I'd really love to just be standing up there, not just singing, but also strumming the guitar. I love the idea of me doing that. And funnily enough, when I think of doing that, I don't think I yes, but you're 53, you can't do that. That's just, how hot would that be? But I don't show up for the guitar. I do show up for my visual art. I don't know whether it's mainly because singing and performing is sort of my job so to add guitar, it is a bit of a creative, extra thing. But my real creative calling is to delve into visual art. That's what I'm really drawn to do. And that's what I do every day.

But yes, if you're thinking, oh, I just really wanted to do some artwork so therefore I'm going to paint with oils or they're going to be big canvases and they're going to be like this other artist that I like. Well, unless you actually going to show up for it and actually buy the materials and make the time and create the space to do that, then maybe it's just a thing that your ego thinks that it will be cool to do. But if you have an idea in mind and might even seem silly or might even seem weird at your age, gender, Time of life and whatever and you can't get that idea out of your head then that's a real thing. That’s, That's something to be listened to. And if you can't get away from it, then you need to be there.

So this is just a bit of a short kind of reality check for myself actually. And hopefully it might be useful for somebody out there who's having a few doubts about what they should pick up or whether they should pick up something that they're thinking about. And yeah, just feel empowered, feel empowered to do the thing that your soul is calling you to do. And if you don't like it after a while, or there's any reason why you need to give it up, then just give it up. There's no rules. You can just try something and then try something else. But yeah, listen to your gut. And if your gut’s telling you to do it, pivot, try something else, then what's stopping you is my question.

So on that note, I hope that you all are inspired to pick up something creative. And if you're wondering why then just go back to my first episode. If you haven't listened to it, or if you forgotten about it it just goes back to the why, why it's good to do something creative, if your soul is calling you to do it.

So on that note, keep creative my friends and I'll see you in the next episode.

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