The new season of the podcast is here! And I’m kicking it off on my Birthday hehe! I’m so excited for this season, to get us started I’ve shared a quick update on all things here at Blue Jay of Happiness including the direction I’m moving in with work. I also go into the power of creativity for confidence and share some prompts for you to try.
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Links and further reading
Transcript
Introduction:
In this first episode of season 5 I’ll be updating you on all things BlueJay and diving into the power of creativity for confidence. So, you know the drill – get a cup of coffee, sit back and let’s get into it.
Episode:
Hello, long time no speak! How are you doing? I am so excited to be bringing back the podcast for another season! And for season 5 there’s going to be a real focus on building confidence for creatives. So, let me catch you up a bit and explain why I’m going in this direction…
Last year was very much a year of experimentation for me after burning out in 2020, I launched various things from an audio course to workbooks and one-off workshops. Alongside this I was working with Josephine Brooks in her coaching mastermind and I was having fun drawing in my free time – taking botanical illustration classes and doodling at the weekends. As time, experiments and discussion in the mastermind went on, I realised I needed to refine my messaging. I also recognised the impact creativity has in making me feel fulfilled.
What this all eventually led to was me deciding to niche down a touch to work with creatives and those with creative dreams and to help them with confidence specifically. I truly believe confidence is the tool we need to reach a place of freedom and fulfilment in our lives. Without it I wouldn’t be writing for a living, I wouldn’t have had the courage to try a completely new art medium that’s filled me up in so many ways.
I also realised how much creative activities themselves can help us build confidence, and we’ll be coming back to this idea later in the episode. The link between creativity and confidence and what that can all lead to just clicked in my head, and that is the direction I’m moving in for Blue Jay. So now I am a confidence mentor for creatives and everything feels clear, like I finally have the right prescription in my glasses, you know?
And this year I’m going in deep. I’ve got plans to launch a confidence course specifically for creatives and I am so excited about it’s potential. I’m hoping to bring this to life in spring this year, so I’ll be sharing more throughout the podcast I’m sure.
So there we go, I think you’re all up to date and for this first episode I really wanted to talk a bit more about using creative activities as a tool to build confidence and how it can enhance your self-belief.
And here’s why I believe it can be such a powerful tool. As humans we are naturally creative, we all have an innate ability to problem solve and envision different things, it’s what makes us different than other animals. So when we harness this skill and turn it towards building confidence, it’s like we are infusing more of ourselves with the process and making it more…. Organic.
Let me use an example to explain this – a friend of mine recently mentioned that they’d had a breakthrough in a therapy session, a phrase their therapist said really struck a cord and it was something they didn’t want to forget. So I said “write it down! Put it somewhere you’ll see it!” and they said “Maybe I’ll paint it” and I was like YESSS, this is genius.
As a writer I know how powerful it is to write things down on paper, but adding a visual element, whether it’s painting, collaging or drawing, puts more power behind it – it puts more of yourself behind it and that is where the power is. We can believe something more when we see ourselves in it.
I’ll give you another example – at the end of last year I ran a confidence moodboard session on Instagram live and I encouraged those watching to include a representation of them in the piece. Typically mood and vision boards involve cutting and sticking images from magazines, and this was included but I also wanted people to add photos of themselves when they felt confident. I wanted them to draw something that represented confidence to them, to write some words of encouragement to themselves. We need to see ourselves when we’re working on confidence and creativity is a fantastic way to do this.
So I thought I’d leave you with some more ideas if you want to explore this idea yourself:
- Number one is to try a confidence mood-board! Head to @katbluejay on Instagram and look in my video tab to find the replay of the session
- Paint an affirmation, mantra or quote that resonates with you
- Create a confidence playlist of music that makes you feel bad-ass, I’ll leave a link to mine in the show-notes
- Draw what comes to mind when you think of the word confidence – what shapes and colours come up?
- Write a scene of a day in your life when you have confidence, describe how you stand, what you’re wearing, what you’re doing.
If you try any of these please do let me know! Tag me over on Instagram or send me a DM, I’d love to hear from you.
That’s all I have for you this week – if you’re listening to this on the day it goes out, today is my birthday! So I will have lots of lovely things planned hopefully and cake – I very much hope there is cake. Anyway, thank you for listening whether you’re a long-time listener or a first-time listener, I appreciate it so much. I’ll be back in a couple of weeks and until then, take care.
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