Hello my loves,
How has your week been? I’m writing this week’s issue of L’Artiste from my bed. It’s school holidays (again?!) and Gaspard is sitting next to me watching cartoons on the iPad while I work (you know, making memories and all…)
And this got me thinking.
When I first started working for myself, I thought working from home was the best thing since M&M’s (a bold statement if you know my love for the little fuckers) and I thought I’d never work from an office space ever again if I could help it. (For context, this was way before the pandemic when we all got sick of working from a sticky corner of the kitchen table alongside too many family members with Cocomelon blasting in the background.)
I absolutely love working for myself. I relish the calm, quiet and freedom that comes with it every single day. And, as I’m sure you know, creativity requires all of this.
But at some point, I became a little too comfortable being by myself most of the time and I started feeling lonely and disconnected from reality. It’s almost like my work life was starting to shrink to the size of my laptop screen, and that wasn’t good for my mental health nor my business.
All my work was taking place from behind a screen. As a result, I became obsessed with marketing and how my business looked from the outside, comparing myself to others all the time. I started losing sight of why I do what I do: to support and connect with other artists and creatives. I was losing sight of the fact that, even if most of it happened through a screen, I was working with actual real life people.
Why am I telling you this right now?
Well, because it turns out I’m not the only one, as pretty much every single one of my clients has expressed some version of this.
Most of us feel really lonely in our creative pursuits. You may not have a support structure or peers you can turn to when things get tough.
The problem when we’re too much by ourselves is that we become overly focused on ourselves. As a result, if we’re not careful our self-doubt can get freakin’ loud as there’s nothing to pull us out of the abyss of negative thoughts. Nothing to get us out of our heads and bring us back to reality. So what do we do?
We start believing our self-doubt induced inner dialogue.
The truth is, most of us experience a similar form of inner dialogue. And while it makes a lot of sense to experience this as artists, it’s important to remember that it is mostly fear based.
When we have support in the form of other trusted humans, it becomes much easier to untangle from it.
The best thing I ever did for myself and my business was to stop working from home and get out into the real world to work alongside peers I appreciate and admire.
Before I even start my work day I have a chat in French with the car guard from Congo, the warmest greetings from Patrick at my building’s reception, Jesse remembers my usual order at the coffee shop and I get to greet my colleagues at the studio, seeing them whipping up all sorts of creative magic around me.
This mini village makes me feel firmly anchored in reality and makes me feel so much more connected to my local community in general and the people I want to serve.
And look. I get that not everyone can work from a studio outside their home and that sometimes screens is all we got to connect.
The connections and relationships I have developed with artists in South Africa and beyond through my work and this newsletter have been more fulfilling than I could have ever imagined.
Seeing my clients birthing their art, selling out their exhibitions, but also going through less tangible shifts in their self-belief while learning to love and accept exactly who they are brings me such joy. It really has cemented my belief that creativity too requires a village.
If you have not found your community yet, please don’t despair. It will come.
I see L’Artiste as a starting point. And I wanna take this connection to the next level.
So here’s my invitation today:
If you want to be part of a community with your fellow L’Artiste subscribers (🤩❤️ you’re bound to have heaps in common), I’d love for you to come join the chat over on Substack, where we can continue the conversation in a room of our own in the form of a group chat (without judgy family members or that one annoying mom from school).
Only artists, creatives, art lovers and really cool people like you.
I’d love to get to know you, what you do, and how I can best support you.
I’d love for you to make new friends, start new connections and feel less alone in your creative journey.
I know creating can be really tough at times – but I got your back. Promise.
Please hit reply if you need any extra connection and encouragement this week. I’m here for you.
Much love, and creativity, always.
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