This week on Honestly, Dear Listener, we’re talking about this American life—not the podcast—what it means to be an American (and ALL the things that come with it) AND make art. When we feel so bogged down by paying bills and managing households and businesses and remembering to schedule dentist appointments, etc., our creativity often takes the back burner or doesn’t get done altogether. When we’re overwhelmed, making things can feel like just another bullet point on a To Do list.

What if our art was something that nurtured us, giving us energy instead of draining us?

References:

• Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, book by Elizabeth Gilbert
• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, book by Yuval Noah Harari
• The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, book by Julia Cameron

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Intro
0:59 - Emily’s 40th birthday!
7:20 - Age as a self-fulfilling prophecy
9:00 - Carrie’s CO trip/RESET
12:49 - This American life - how can we do it all?
16:28 - Parenting
26:15 - But seriously. How do we have time for art when there’s so much we have to do?
30:49 - Taking care for our bodies
32:48 - Where does art fit in?
38:32 - Art as our safe place
44:38 - Art as a friend
47:00 - The Artist’s Way the CLASS is coming soon!

Hosts: Emily Hatch and Carrie Schaeffer
Instagram: @honestlydearlistener
Youtube: youtube.com/@honestlydearlistener

This week on Honestly, Dear Listener, we’re talking about passion versus paycheck—and which one makes us a “real artist.” Join us as we question the glorification of “original” art, the discomfort of financial dependence on one's art, and the ultimate pursuit of joy and self-expression in creativity. Whether we’re working on our own art, teaching, or helping someone else on theirs, we believe nothing in creativity is wasted and every step—no matter how frustrating—matters.

References:

• “40: How Do You Know You’ve ‘Made It?’ 07.05.24” - Honestly, Dear Listener podcast episode

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Intro
0:32 - The dream of making a living doing art
1:47 - Our histories of making money helping with other people’s art
6:46 - The car analogy
11:12 - THE question
15:21 - Financial pressure on our art
23:33 - When commercial success sucks/are we living the dream now (before commercial success)?
28:05 - Doing the thing for joy and delight
32:40 - It’s bigger than binary thinking
35:22 - Making things is hard for everyone!

Hosts: Emily Hatch and Carrie Schaeffer
Instagram: @honestlydearlistener
Youtube: youtube.com/@honestlydearlistener

This week on Honestly, Dear Listener, we’re talking about AGEING. Let’s face it: We live in a culture obsessed with youth and beauty (and conflating the two). For so many of us, the message is, “If you’re over 40, you might as well get used to the slow, slippery slide into obscurity.” Well, we won’t go quietly into that night and neither should you, Dear Listener. We have the choice to reprogram our brains—to flip our stories to make creating in every decade better than the last.

References:

• Girls5Eva - TV Show on Peacock
• “The Rite of Legacy” - art by Kinsey Aleksi
• We Can Do Hard Things - podcast by Glennon Doyle

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Intro
0:34 - When did looking good feel effortless?
3:06 - Aesthetic range
7:11 - Our beauty backgrounds
9:21 - How we look is the least interesting part about me
10:17 - Attraction and sex
20:08 - Drop the game, make the art
22:53 - Female archetypes
25:51 - Insecurity and culture
26:22 - You can’t be old
27:02 - Reprogramming ourselves
31:50 - Fear of aged women
38:39 - We can choose the stories we tell ourselves
41:16 - “I want to be more curious about where my face is headed.”
42:49 - Our bodies are tools to make art, not the art itself

Hosts: Emily Hatch and Carrie Schaeffer
Instagram: @honestlydearlistener
Youtube: youtube.com/@honestlydearlistener