As creatives, the body is our tool. It’s the vessel through which our work is expressed. If we don’t feel safe inhabiting our bodies, we can’t express ourselves fully. This is true for every creative expression, including those that might not seem to involve the body. For a long time, I thought a sharp
One thing I get asked a lot is how I talk to my daughters about all the things I write about. Feminism, sexual violence, body image + all the rest of the patriarchal fuckery. And I get why you ask. It’s tricky. We want to help our daughters understand and handle this world, but we
The three biggest mistakes I’ve made in my creative career can be summed up in: Not allowing myself to start small, trying to do too many different things at once, and dropping my day job too soon. All of them are related. They all have to do with rushing; trying to get to where I
♦ Clarity comes with the willingness to listen. ♦ Your talent might be just a whisper at this point. A quiet urge in a certain direction. Nourish it. ♦ Give yourself permission. ♦ Seek out what delights you. ♦ Keep showing up. Make yourself available for your work. ♦ Your life shapes itself around
Most creatives I know – including myself – are empaths. We’re highly sensitive people who feel the pain of the world acutely, and as a result we often feel like we don’t do enough to help relieve that pain. There’s always more suffering. There’s no end to the things that need our attention and our
For me, midwinter is rarely the right time to kickstart anything. It is still dark and cold outside, I’m still not out of hibernation. So instead of big plans and changes, what I want to do at New Year’s is to let go. Let go of the year that passed. Let go of all the
I had a friend sitting in my kitchen a while ago, staring wistfully out the window towards the lake and the misty mountains beyond. If I lived in a place like this, she said, I know it would be easier. I’d have space to do those things I dream of. You know, to really be
It happened a few weeks into high school. I was thirteen, and I knew by then that others considered me pretty. Until then it had never been a big deal, it was just one of the many things my friends and classmates knew me as. Other things were: Very tall, a fast runner, a quick
