Speaker #0Boo! I'm the ghost of your creative past, and I have one question for you. Do you have unfinished projects haunting you in creative purgatory? Those old ideas you've been ignoring, they might just be your best work yet, or they might reveal an even more important story. Today you'll hear what happened when I visited my own creative graveyard, and why what I found changed everything. What could happen if you did the same? Find out. on today's pod. Welcome to Unleash Your Inner Creative with Lauren LaGrasso. I'm Lauren LaGrasso. I'm an award-winning podcast host and producer, singer-songwriter, public speaker, and creative coach. This show sits at the intersection of creativity, mental health, self-development, and spirituality, and it is meant to give you tools to love, trust, and know yourself enough to claim your right to creativity and pursue whatever it is that's on your heart. Again, as a reminder, my sweet creative cutie, today we are talking about your creative purgatory, aka all those half-finished or forgotten projects that you haven't looked in in weeks, months, or even years. I want to share why taking a trip down memory lane can inspire you, unblock you, and even remind you of why your creativity is worth fighting for. If you're feeling stuck, uninspired, or questioning your creative path, the answer to getting unblocked and re-inspired might not be ahead of you, but behind you. And before we get into that, I just want to say one thing. I'm actually recording this episode without video, audio only. I'm getting back to my roots. You know, by the way, Unleash Your Inner Creative just celebrated its six-year anniversary. This podcast is now a first grader, which is just so wild. It is the longest creative commitment I have ever kept just to myself. And I'm so, so proud of it. I'm so honored to be in community with you. I want to thank you for tuning in, whether you've been tuning in from the beginning or just recently. You listening has helped me achieve a dream and continue to achieve this dream week after week. So thank you for being here, for showing up for yourself and for showing up for me. So that's wild. But it just is so different. You know, I always say like, we don't just have to be creative with the things we do, but also in the way we work and the way we approach our creativity. And so tonight I'm like, you know, I haven't. done podcasting from this perspective in a long time. I don't really feel like putting makeup on. I kind of want to get back to my roots and see what I think. It's interesting because I thought I would completely love it. And I do really like some aspects of it. But I'm noticing when I take the visual cue away, I'm more focused on how my voice sounds alone. And now I'm like micromanaging and picking at that. So that's just interesting. I did not expect that. But cool to try something in a different way than you normally do and something I definitely recommend. So back to the topic at hand, creative purgatory. Okay, how I came to this. As you may know, the fires here in LA went out four weeks ago. So my doctor had originally recommended we do not go outside without a mask on for four to six weeks after the fires completely went out. I pretty much did that. But that meant that I did not go on a walk, which is like my greatest creative unblocking tool and just like spiritual healing tool and just reconnecting with myself and also one of my favorite forms of exercise for a month or over a month from like the beginning of January. So this walk was really, really special to me that I decided to go on. And I decided I didn't want to just do a normal walk where I listen to music or a podcast. I started out with nothing in my ears. And I highly recommend for all creatives to go on a walk. without listening to anything because you can start to hear your own thoughts as you do that. And as I did that, I did it for about 20 minutes. I then after that felt like, okay, maybe I'm ready to like listen to something. But I knew I didn't want to just listen to music or to a podcast. And so I was like, well, what can I listen to that will inspire me? Should I listen to some chakra clearing sound bowl? Or should I, you know, do something else? And then all of a sudden, I realized, oh. go to your voice memos. So I went to my voice memos because for those that don't know, I am a songwriter and I always start writing my songs on voice memos, whether I'm writing it, just saying a thought I have for a song that could happen in the future or fully going after a song, it always starts on voice memos. So I decided what I was going to do was scroll through voice memos, like just randomly scroll. And then whatever my finger landed on, I would play. And I landed on a song that I had started writing in 2022. And I started listening to it. And I loved it. And I couldn't believe how good it was and that I had left it behind and totally forgotten about this song. And I did this several more times. So I did my little scrolly thing and just landed wherever my finger went. I played the song and I was blown away by how many incredible songs I had just sitting there waiting for me. Songs I loved and that I thought my voice sounded really good on. And yet... I had abandoned them or forgotten about them. And I really went on this walk. And as I walked, and as I listened to more and more, I was falling in love with my old music. Music that had never before been heard and that had been mostly even forgotten by me. I remembered it as I played the songs, but was not something that was interrupting my day-to-day. And I discovered some really important things from going through this creative purgatory and looking through this catalog of songs that have never seen the light of day. and most of them hadn't even been finished by me. What I discovered was my voice is powerful and deserves to be shared, and that I was sitting on piles of creative gold. We have a 401k that has been accruing interest in the form of our voice memos or notes app or past sketchbook, and we've just forgotten about it. And I realized from that, I actually want to start sharing some of these. And it doesn't have to be in a traditional way where I actually release the song, but I want to start intentionally sharing some of these. Maybe starting new posts on Instagram and TikTok where I post myself playing the song and give a little context with words that flash on the screen and maybe start a new series called From the Archives. But it just made me realize there's so much that we have that we've either forgotten about or tossed to the wayside. And, you know, this happens to all creatives. We all abandon our work at some point. And this happens for a bevy of reasons. Sometimes it's as simple as life's distractions pull us away. We get started on something and then we leave it behind. Sometimes, I think this happens a lot, especially it happens with me as a songwriter, you get really excited about the idea at first. You're in flow. And then you start thinking about it. They call it the second verse curse. So you start thinking about it and then it starts meaning something to you. And then you get blocked and it's no longer fun. And you also feel like you can't live up to the first verse and the chorus that you wrote. And you just think it's easier to leave it where it is and abandon it and walk away. It's called, you know, the messy middle, the second verse curse. It's not very hard to start. It is hard to make it through that middle piece and keep going through the end and to release. And so a lot of the work gets left there. That's involving also self-doubt, perfectionism, fear of judgment. A lot of times you'll be in the middle of making something. And especially because we live in this capitalistic society, we live in a highly achievement-oriented society, you start thinking about, well, is this song even a hit? Like, does it even matter? Would it resonate with anyone? Would people share it? You know, when really all you should be thinking about in the creative process is getting the thing done and like being in flow. You shouldn't really be thinking about how it's going to be received until it's to that point. And even then, depending on your intent, if your intent is just to share it. It should be just to share it. If it is to make money, that's a different thing and you can go into the marketing scheme. But while you're in the midst of creating something, it should be about the creative process. And, you know, a lot of times we convince ourselves something isn't good enough, it's not ready, or that it will even be too much work putting it out. But there are a million reasons to go back. Your creative breakthrough that you're looking for could be something you already started. Listening to it with fresh ears, like I did, and... I was becoming a fan of my music. I was like, oh, if this wasn't me, I would be interested in it and listening to it. Sometimes having that perspective can make you realize how beautiful something is. It's kind of like when you look back at a picture when you were younger and trigger warning body stuff I'm about to say, but like you look back on a picture from when you were younger and in that time you thought that you were like overweight and you look back and you're like, oh my God, I was so thin and I was so beautiful and I was beating myself up because I thought that I was something different than I was, but really I was beautiful. The same thing happened for me when I listened to this music. It was like, wow, I didn't think back then that this was good enough to continue on with. But now that I look back on it, my voice sounds incredible. It's powerful lyrically. I love the melody. This is something I definitely want to keep going with. So there's that. There's this one quote that Chanel Miller said on the podcast that I produce, We Can Do Hard Things. with Glennon Doyle. She's an artist. And she said, the characters and creatures I draw deserve to exist. And that broke me open because I think about these songs just like waiting there for us to find them. It's almost like they're the toys in Toy Story, right? But it's different because the toys in Toy Story came alive when people left. These are like waiting for you to see them in the creative box and then come alive. So they deserve to exist. And like, Maybe you could create this resurrection with your old work. So if any of this is resonating with you and you want to reconnect with some of your old work, here are the action steps that I would advise you take. Go to a place where you keep or have kept old or unfinished work, a sketchbook, voice memos, journal, or the notes app. Scroll through, page through, until you find something that you left behind. Read it, listen to it, think on it, take it in. and feel pride for the artist, creative, or entrepreneur you were then. Even brag to yourself about how much talent you have. I mean, if you look back and cringe, you can tell yourself how proud you are for how much you've grown, either way. But just take pride in the artists you were then, are now, and every iteration in between, and kind of take a moment to be your own fan. If the work is unfinished, ask yourself, how you can bring it to life in a big or small way. If it's a piece of writing, maybe you finish the writing. If it's a bigger project, ask yourself if you can do it either in the way you originally intended or in another way and like how you can make it work long term. Because the way to complete the work and share it could be big or small. It could be as big as releasing something on a more public and produced platform. For instance, if I listened to one of those songs and was like, oh, I'm going to fully record this with a producer. put marketing money behind it and release it out into the world. Or it could just be, I'm going to record this and put it out on social media, or I'm going to play this at an open mic. So it can range in how big or small you want to take the project to fruition. And again, if you are feeling blocked right now, I cannot recommend this enough. This is a fantastic way to get unblocked because you don't have the upward battle of trying to figure out where to start. Start where you left off. Easy. And the greatest thing in doing this process is that you might just fall in love again with who you are as a creative, your talent, your passion and your work. It gives you the opportunity to take yourself in almost as a fan and to see how much you've grown since then or what parts of you maybe that you've lost or forgotten that used to work that you want to bring in again. We don't just have to be inspired by others. We can also get inspired by our younger selves and past creative selves. So my final challenge for you is take a trip. through your creative purgatory because it might just lead you to creative heaven or at least back to life. And before we wrap it up, a couple of things. I do offer creative coaching. If you like what you heard today and you like my approach and you're interested in unleashing your creativity, sharing a creative project with the world and or finally going after your biggest dream, I would love to help. You can email me at lauren.lagrasso at gmail.com or go to my website on the contact page. to set up a free discovery call. I can't wait to help you unleash your inner creative and find your authentic voice. This podcast was hosted and executive produced by me, Lauren LaGrasso. Music is by Liz Full. For more information on the show, follow us at Lauren LaGrasso and at Unleash Your Inner Creative on social media. If you like what you heard today, especially if you liked this episode, leave us a rating and review so we know you liked it and feel free to offer up ideas for other topics and guests you'd like to hear me hit. Also, share the show with a friend, Podcasts are shared person to person, and there's no greater influencer in our lives than our friends and family. My wish for you this week is that you look back at your old work as a fan and see just how brilliant you are as a creative. I love you, and I believe in you. Talk with you next week.
