Hiding the Mess
“I feel a little less crazy now,” she said with a relieved smile.
She was a participant in an in-person workshop I did over the weekend called “Goal Achievement for People Who Can’t Follow Through.”
Sure, it was partly due to some new tools and strategies that she learned, but even more than that, it was due to everyone in the group sharing their own messy side when it came to achieving their goals.
It’s incredibly healing to realize you are not the only messy one and that your mess doesn’t indicate that something is inherently wrong with you.
In fact, we are all messy. Furthermore, messy is a necessary part of the creative process of achieving anything! We MUST imagine as many possibilities as we can before knowing the path to take which creates a mess that we slowly untangle as the creation emerges.
And, yet, we are always trying to hide it by doing things like:
→ Not talking about our projects or ideas until we are SURE they will work out.
→ Trying to get all the answers to how it’s going to happen upfront and, when that doesn’t happen, stop ourselves from starting.
→ Saying things are going well when you are a confused, frustrated mess and you could really use some support or at least a listening ear.
→ Getting creatively blocked in the middle of trying to achieve something because you are seeing the mess as failure.
When we hide our mess, we hide ourselves. We hide the real us which diminishes our ability to truly connect with others.
Contrary to what we might typically think, most people don’t always seek those who have it all figured out! When someone else reveals their mess, it gives us more freedom to be the messy human that we are.
We are all in-process and, with the right lens, it can be an opportunity for connection instead of a source of embarrassment or even shame.
Finding the courage to show up messy is, I believe, an important part of being truly seen and I’m going to dive into this deeper at the next Sistermind Roundtable Discussion: Visibility of Women in Business.
This Roundtable Discussion is for you if:
★ You are a Creative of any kind who wants your creations to be seen by more people.
★ You are a Creative with a business that you want to grow.
We’ll have the same format as last time: we’ll each speak for 10 minutes from our own unique perspectives, with an additional 15 minutes at the end for reflection and Q & A.
This time, though, we’ll be having a special guest join us. Dani Gardner is known as The Quiet Marketer. Dani has a very unique take on business in general (you can only join her list if you’ve participated in one of her paid offerings, for starters) and I can’t wait to hear what she has to say about visibility.
During my presentation, I will lead you in exploring your relationship with mess and help you to develop a messy practice so you can become more comfortable showing up with fully in your creative genius.
Here’s the full line up of speakers and all the details:
Suzanne Culberg: Be Unapologetically You
Dani Gardner: Visibility vs. Discoverability: What’s the difference? Why does it matter for HSP solopreneurs?
Laura Gates-Lupton: Is it Fear of Visibility? Or Fear of Our Power?
Linda Katz: Conscious Visibility: Claiming the Power of Choice
Karen Light: Show Up Messy
Larisa Noonan: (Title Coming Soon)
When: April 24 at 3:30 - 4:45 pm EDT
Where: via Zoom. Register here.
★ Creative Challenge ★ Join us live on Zoom, or sign up to receive the recording and watch my presentation to develop your own messy practice!
“I just wanted to pop in and tell you that I think your roundtable was lovely! There was so much good information presented that all came together in such unique ways. The individuals you guys selected for this were perfect, and I really appreciated the opportunity to participate. I can not wait to dig into some of the resources!” ~Chelsea Faulkner