Podcast: Creating During Seasons of Recovery
In Episode 56, Sonya and Adrienne begin a much-needed conversation about nurturing our creative selves while recovering from challenging seasons. We are speaking to you from the middle of such seasons ourselves.
It’s worth acknowledging the many kinds of hardship humans experience that require rest and recovery in order to heal. In the last year, Sonya has physically recovered from a series of surgeries following a breast cancer diagnosis, and Adrienne has just had a baby. But we want to make space in this conversation today for the less visible kinds of recovery. It’s really only a few kinds of suffering that are seen and acknowledged by the world, but when you’ve gone through something transformative—a marriage struggle, a move, a loss, a prolonged period of stress—you’ll likely find yourself in a season of recovery.
In this episode, we discussed why art still matters when everything seems to have fallen apart. Adrienne shared this quote by Beth Pickens in Make Your Art No Matter What: (this book is also available for free on Hoopla)
“…artists are people who are profoundly compelled to make their creative work, and when they are distanced from their practice, their life quality suffers. Making their work is a way to take care of themselves, communicate, process information, engage a spiritual interior, or strengthen their relationship to themselves and others.”
Not only does our art ground us and help us process difficult experience, for many of us it is a necessary ingredient to our sense of wholeness. And yet, so many of us fall out of practice when our lives get hard. And it’s no wonder. Madeline l’Engle reminds us of what creative expression often requires of us in Walking On Water:
“It is a frightening thing to open oneself to this strange and dark side of the divine; it means letting go of our sane self-control, that control which gives us the illusion of safety. But safety is only an illusion, and letting it go is part of listening to the silence, and to the Spirit.”
Sonya shared that going through therapy specifically to address her emotional needs around breast cancer helped her to realize that she needed help processing the death of her mother. We discussed the value of therapy a lot in this episode. Here are a few quotes, resources, and other podcasts on the topic of healing and the creative life.
“We cannot selectively numb emotions, when we numb the painful emotions, we also numb the positive emotions.” — Brene Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection
Need to find a therapist? Try this “Find A Therapist” search bar from Psychology Today. Don’t be discouraged if the first 1-2 aren’t a good fit. Consider reaching out to trusted friends for recommendations. Be kind to yourself when you begin this journey.
Adrienne referenced Episode 47, in which she discusses her essay “Soul Leaves Body” and her experience being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Nicole Gulotta is a warm and wise voice on the topic of a sustainable creative life. This episode of her podcast specifically address grief and the writing life.
In this episode of The Habit podcast, Helena Sorenson discusses how being a woman brings specific challenges to her writing life, and how she’s worked around them.
We hope you feel encouraged and loved, wherever you are on your journey of recovery. We’re here for you.
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