FROM FRUSTRATED CREATIVE TO CREATIVE FULFILMENT

- without focusing on more doing.

I want to tell you a story about a rather incredible woman called Louisa who “after a decade of photographing newborns was ready for change”.

In 2021 Louisa’s life was turned on its head when her Mum suddenly passed away 10 years after Louisa had lost her Dad in equally unexpected circumstances.

And, as traumatic as this was, in Louisa’s own words, it was the wake up call that left her contemplating just how precious her life was, what she wanted in it … and how she wanted to be in it. And, like many passion-led business women one of those big areas of her life was her business and her creative expression.

When we first started working together Louisa felt lost - she knew she didn’t want life to carry on as it was … but she didn’t know what she wanted, from herself or her business.

We created space to allow what was here to be here and Louisa’s story so far, who she had been in it already, everything that she had already created in her business and celebrate the success so far … whilst also acknowledging the part of her that wanted things to change, that something deep inside her that she felt had woken up.

We created a safe space to allow the parts of Louisa that she wasn’t giving a voice, space to be seen and heard - the parts that felt so messy and confusing, overwhelming and all consuming, and as she had held it all in, everything had become so tangled up in the mind Louisa had got lost in the old stories of who she was, the emotions of what’s here now and the fear of what she didn’t know as that desire to do things differently became a roar Louisa could no longer ignore.

Louisa knew she wanted change, that she could no longer carry on as she was, overworking, over thinking, over giving, overcompensating and as frustrated as she was - and as certain as she was that things had to change, she had no idea what that change got to look like, or even where to start figuring out what got to be different.

When we listened, really listened, the truth was, like many of the women I work with, Louisa knew exactly what she wanted to create it was just that her fears, limiting beliefs and unexpressed emotions had the loudest voice … when we dug deeper, buried underneath it all, was the lie Louisa was telling herself “I’m just not creative enough to do the work I am longing to do …”

And there it was - the story of "I’m not good enough" that was underpinning everything - how Louisa was leading, in her life, her business and creatively. The impact of that was constantly looking outside of herself comparing herself to others, especially her creative heroine’s and hero’s, wondering how on earth she was ever going to create work like them if she wanted to “be” a successful creative.

Because in order to be a successful creative, Louisa was living into the story and the belief that she had to produce work that lived up to the vision and voice of all those creatives she was admiring out there in the big wide world that she was trying to fit in.

But what if that wasn’t true?

What if … it was never about trying to fit in and create like all those leaders in her field … what if, instead, it was about figuring out who Louisa was as a creative in her own right, what Louisa’s authentic creative voice was? And, rather than focussing her energy and attention on how she could create like others Louisa got curious and asked herself “what would it be like to create like me?” … and she looked within instead?

What if … it was about learning to notice the stories Louisa had been telling herself for so long “that she wasn’t good enough” and rather than identifying with those stories Louisa started recognising that story for what it was - an old story that had become a belief, a very clever coping mechanism that was once created to keep her safe, and was now stopping her from exploring who else she was becoming and what else was possible for her.

What if … it wasn’t about re-enforcing the stories she had created to protect herself from her biggest fear of failure by prentending it wasn't here or ignoring it … what if instead it was about giving those thoughts and feeling a voice, listening to the unspoken and then creating the space and safety within herself to listen to her heart, her soul, her essence - her creative spirit and create from this place instead?

What if … it wasn't about following the norm, what if instead it was about a creative revolution? Because what if it was ok to do things differently to the way she had always done things before, even if what had come before had created a certain level of success?

What if … it was never about Louisa needing to be someone different and look at others for inspiration- what if it started with remembering who she already was and reclaiming those parts of herself that had got lost, buried deep down underneath all the negative self talk. What if it was about being more of the part of herself that was already enough, letting the parts of herself she’d kept hidden, silenced, didn’t believe in space to be here?

And without me having to teach her a single thing about photography
Or
Teaching posing or styling or any of the doing practices linked with her craft, Louisa's creative work went off her own scale.

And, Louisa never spent a single second scrolling on Instagram looking for inspiration nor did she compromise on her vision.

How?

We stopped focussing on the technical, the equipment, the doing - connected to the vision, the feelings, the creations that had been trapped behind the stories of the mind and we opened up the realms of the imagination in a whole new way by listening to what was already here, listening to her heart, body, senses, feelings, emotions, energy, intuition and created from this space instead.
And for the first time in a very long time Louisa’s creative juices are flowing, she’s exploring what’s possible for her business, boldly going where she has never gone before, moving her business from baby portraiture to creative portraiture as she asks herself … what does my dream business look like now? and leading from this place.

LOUISA'S DREAM

I want to create work that I’m proud of that gets featured on the front cover of a magazine
I want to combine creative image making and my love of writing
I want to win awards for my creative work
I want to find purpose and possibility as I live into my potential

IN THE LAST FOUR MONTHS
Louisa’s creative work was recently featured on the front cover of a top industry magazine
Louisa is currently guest writing x 6 feature articles as she shares the story of her journey inspiring others to come along for the ride
Louisa won her first award from creating work she never knew was possible for her
Louisa has found more purpose in her work as she explores what her dream business might look like and reimagines what's possible for her and her business

 

If you want to follow louisa's journey, you can follow her on instagram louisapeacockphoto and you can read her articles in then next 4 editions of Professional Photo magazine.

If you are ready to unlock your creative potential ask me about EXPRESS YOURSELF my new programme for passion-led business women who are ready to unlock the next level of creative potential in their businesses.