Episode 7: Living a Creative Life Courageously

The Fibre Muse Podcast

This past week I did something scary: I reached out to the M?ori artists community and wrote a piece for Toi M?ori Aotearoa (a nonprofit supporting the M?ori arts and culture - I’ve been donating to them every month) talking about my mahi (work), feelings of displacement and creating something new and beautiful from a mix of different cultures.

This is a community that I’ve always wanted to connect with but stayed away from for the longest time out of the fear of not being “M?ori enough” to qualify.

But as I wrote in the article... “Since learning how to design and establishing myself as a designer, I have learned much about my ancestry and where I come from, with this most importantly: I am enough. While I have so much still left to learn, my desire to do so now isn’t out of a need to “prove my M?ori-ness” but to enrich my life and, hopefully, empower the M?ori community."

The link to the article is here, I would be honored if you took a bit of time out of your day to read it - and to hear your thoughts. A lot of people who’ve read it so far really resonated with the feeling like they are not enough.

So that’s why this is the focus on this week’s episode of the Fibre Muse Podcast: Living a Creative Courageous Life.

This episode is divided into two parts. The first part dives in a bit deeper on my experience reaching out to and writing to Toi Maori Aotearoa, the fears I had to fight against and what I’m experiencing now as a result.

The second part flips the script and focuses on you: how you can start creating courageously. I’m sure just like me, you have big dreams and goals for your crafting. Whether it’s learning a new technique, putting your work out into the world, or wanting to make a connection, there’s that small voice in our heads that want to hold us back. So I’m diving into both the mechanic (the how to’s and practical strategies) and the mindset roadblocks.

Links Mentioned:

Storytime Teller: @creatyveknitstudio