0:02

Welcome to In The Making,

0:05

I'm Teresa Aou. Join me

0:07

for conversations with creatives, solopreneurs,

0:09

and experts as we explore

0:12

the unique challenges and surprising

0:14

rewards of the creator economy.

0:17

One quick bit of housekeeping before

0:19

we get into this amazing episode

0:21

ahead. We have a listener survey

0:24

up right now because we want

0:26

to hear from you. Tell

0:28

us a little bit about yourself so we

0:30

know who we're serving and what you're

0:32

looking for from In The Making. Find

0:35

the link in the show

0:37

notes in this app here

0:39

or go to adobe.ly slash

0:41

itmsurvey. Thank you so much.

0:43

Now on to our show.

0:46

Today I have psychotherapist Sara

0:49

Ahmed who has a devoted

0:51

following on TikTok and Instagram

0:53

as the POC therapist where

0:56

she dispenses wisdom and reacts

0:58

to videos on relationships, self-love,

1:01

and tough truths. She's

1:03

also the founder of Lina,

1:05

Canada's first and largest BIPOC

1:07

focused mental health platform. I

1:10

asked Sara to join us today to

1:12

talk about mental health for creatives since

1:15

she's a creative herself and

1:17

to give us some strategies

1:19

for navigating the emotional side

1:21

of putting yourself and your

1:24

work online. Welcome, Sara.

1:26

I am beyond thrilled that you're

1:28

with us today. Thank

1:30

you, Teresa. I'm so excited to be here. I

1:33

know you're a licensed psychotherapist

1:35

based in Toronto, Canada working

1:37

with clients. What

1:39

made you take your

1:42

expertise to social media?

1:44

I was actually putting off social media

1:46

for the longest time because it makes

1:48

me so uncomfortable and I think as

1:51

is the case with most folks because it

1:53

is very uncomfortable to really put yourself out

1:55

there and especially when you think about

1:58

it as women of color. Return.

2:00

To not take up space were taught to

2:02

shy. Away were tied. It's more feminine to

2:05

be in the background sound. just you know,

2:07

just slow. Don't. Show up, don't

2:09

be so audacious. Don't see obnoxious things,

2:11

don't see things that are controversial, don't

2:13

get attention on you. and the other

2:16

thing also was not ready for internet

2:18

trolls and at some point I really

2:20

does has as a tough conversation with

2:22

me to say no I'm actually to

2:24

scared of going online and talking about

2:26

the to things that I do talk

2:29

about with clients and session and I'm

2:31

scared that be burdened a look at

2:33

me on steer the people of me

2:35

and it's open. Family members can see

2:37

it cousins. Can see at only

2:40

share vulnerable information about myself

2:42

or with what's happening and

2:44

sessions I feel. Naked.

2:47

Uncomfortable. Naked. And

2:49

I had that a tough conversation those like

2:51

know, but these things do need to be

2:53

talked about. and if I'm hiding behind the

2:55

shadows, how my actually breaking barriers, how my

2:58

breaking cycles and I was like no. You

3:00

gotta do it In needs to be done. For.

3:02

Game Bite The bullet just pushed through a severe

3:04

we are of a. I think

3:06

a lot of creators have this debate.

3:09

Or conversation with themselves before

3:11

they take any leaps or

3:14

do something that's uncomfortable. I

3:16

think you are saying to yourself that

3:18

you could do. More good. By.

3:21

Sarah What you know in your expertise. Then.

3:25

The small amount or whatever

3:27

amount of may be negative

3:29

responses. Yeah. Yeah yeah,

3:31

Now that. You're. Really big on tic

3:34

toc. How did you grow your audience on

3:36

tic toc? And how long did it take?

3:39

Though. I typically. Refrain.

3:42

From answering questions like that because if

3:44

people go so quickly to comparison. but

3:46

I'm happy to share information. and I

3:49

found them when I started sharing content,

3:51

especially as a hyper visible Muslim. When

3:53

I'm talking about sex or when I'm

3:56

talking about financial literacy in relationships are

3:58

the imbalance of ceremony and. The

4:00

two most common problems that come up in

4:02

almost every relationship yeah people were like oh

4:05

you know like it's refreshing to see somebody

4:07

who I can relate to or looks like

4:09

me or resonates with me speaking about these

4:11

things and normalizing s and also providing a

4:14

certain type a language that I didn't know

4:16

I could use the providing them the tools

4:18

to have the language to have of conversation

4:21

I found was really helpful and people are

4:23

really resonated with that content. The really A

4:25

with picking up on with what is it

4:27

that the light to hear what is it.

4:30

That they wanted a know what are these questions it

4:32

would he goes on and else alive and well as

4:34

lol can if your husband can you do is declared

4:36

dropped this and that all of that and so would

4:38

bring it back to like met have met the have

4:40

mental health because I want to be mindful like this

4:42

is not a lifestyle and actually did not think so

4:44

much about the follower count I know it's very difficult

4:47

to do that because what I learned was in the

4:49

beginning with with isis last to get to a certain

4:51

number and i realize that with the wrong way to

4:53

approach it till i find that certain things totally hit

4:55

a certain things a. Total. Mess

4:57

and you're like I put it so much

4:59

effort into that. now it's and just fell

5:02

flat the when it comes to follow uptown

5:04

to Bro that I remember on Tic Toc.

5:06

It actually when I started creating content because

5:08

there's not a little lot of people who

5:11

look like me who are doing the work

5:13

that we're doing. so I kind of like

5:15

shot up very quickly to be honest. and

5:17

then we had the plateau and actually Europe

5:20

plateaued for the one zero, eight or nine

5:22

months numbers will draw thing picking up like

5:24

he was a while and then actually now

5:26

slowly. Starting to go up but it again it's

5:29

it. Up and down up and down up and

5:31

down. but then also have been posting content on

5:33

Palestine. And that also came in.

5:35

As. Are getting set of and actually search loose.

5:37

And features on Tic Toc. So in terms

5:40

of how long did it to answer your

5:42

question, how long did it takes? me. I

5:44

can't tell you how long it took me because

5:47

I don't have a linear trajectory center and other

5:49

factors come into place where what I can. Tell

5:51

you confidently is. On been putting

5:53

in the work now consistently. On to talk.

5:55

For about three years. Mere, you have

5:58

to be consistent. And it too, The

6:00

time. So. What are

6:02

some things? That creators can do

6:04

to protect their self image from

6:07

the sing of criticism. expresso when

6:09

it comes to hard words about

6:11

their appearances, their voice, or even

6:14

their personality. To him. When.

6:17

I started off one of my closest friends

6:19

is also helped me a lot and that

6:21

a worthless She said don't share anything online

6:23

they are comfortable with a somebody with sir

6:25

put you in public. If I

6:27

feel uncomfortable having that conversation at a coffee

6:30

shop or five months somewhere do not posted

6:32

online. You. Need to have a

6:34

self care routine, especially when you're exposing.

6:36

Yourself online? Go ahead.

6:39

Put. Your phone away if you posted something.

6:41

Do Not Look at it. Do not to

6:43

go back and keep refreshing. seventy these How

6:46

many views on your life Just because you

6:48

got twenty Likes only. Do Not take the

6:50

poster just because people gave you some negative

6:52

feedback and totally missed what you're saying or

6:55

misinterpreted it were the conversation totally went. Somewhere.

6:58

Else you know I have many conversations were

7:00

opposed to video and then the comments or

7:02

something of us are no way makeup or

7:04

something like that and it's very easy to

7:06

get caught up in that because of yeah.

7:09

So. Post something. Luckily, luckily

7:11

go for a walk, gotten some water, take

7:14

a shower to something but do not look

7:16

at the numbers. Know right off the bat

7:18

because it is very uncomfortable. You're putting yourself

7:20

in a very vulnerable space, you feel exposed,

7:23

you feel there is seen, and it's not

7:25

a nice feeling to go take care of

7:27

yourself rather than digging yourself into that whole

7:29

of like how many likes know. What?

7:32

About now that the of yes yes

7:34

I have done it myself I'll put

7:36

a post and say oh my god

7:38

how he likes that I get in

7:40

the last five minutes it's it's less

7:42

now but. In the beginning when you're

7:44

trying to get followers are just. Starting

7:47

out that is a very normal thing

7:49

for most people to do, I think

7:52

so. And it's weird because like there's

7:54

some part of your like self. Self

7:57

esteem and ego. The Just Like instantly gets

7:59

tied into. And you're like I just

8:01

needed a scrub account yesterday. What is a feel? Like

8:03

it's a. Third, Lamb on my body

8:05

now that I feel like I don't get

8:08

enough likes her and off nice comments or

8:10

enough validation there. I feel like something's missing

8:12

and find that to be such a slippery

8:14

slope that so dangerous but it sound advice.

8:17

Part. Of toss out there and

8:19

then walk away with co pathetic

8:21

possibilites. Wait, A couple of hours a

8:23

day to day before you go back to

8:25

Ice. Yeah, We're. On the topic

8:27

of mental health obviously September. Now

8:29

are big issues in our economy right

8:32

now. Sarraj.

8:34

What can we do about it? This

8:37

is a whole session. I know, I know,

8:39

I like to put things into two buckets

8:41

within my control without of my control. And

8:43

as a woman of faith, I find that

8:45

this is also really helpful for me because

8:47

I'm like listen God, these are your problems.

8:49

These are my problems and these are the

8:51

larger teams problem. So we have to figure

8:53

this out. I to figure this out solo

8:55

individually, I have to figure this out with

8:57

the rest of my team and these woods.

8:59

None of these are got problems and you

9:01

know it.hansen. it. We don't have to worry

9:04

about it and that's much easier said than

9:06

done because. I think that requires a lot

9:08

of work to be able to have

9:10

that level of faith and trust. and even

9:12

for those who you know or perhaps agnostic,

9:14

I find that people always resonate with

9:16

the statement. The. Universe has

9:19

a very funny way of working things

9:21

out. Whole. Seaworthy.

9:23

yeah you know I can tell you couple

9:25

instances where that happens to me which shows

9:27

you like sometimes certain things to fall into

9:29

place any have to let them be in

9:31

a save us all the time about the

9:34

work culture of only were to North America

9:36

so I don't know where it's like in

9:38

other places to believe it. When

9:41

I see that North America has

9:43

is very false sense. Of Manufactured

9:45

Control. You. think you're

9:48

in control with everything we get weather updates hour

9:50

by hour the rent starting as as much as

9:52

one to three millimeters and then at stopping at

9:54

six o'clock and then we plan will that for

9:56

the run at six o'clock or go to the

9:58

patio at six o'clock But

10:00

like, when you kind of think about it, don't

10:02

you find it exhausting? You're like, do I really

10:05

need to know? Yeah. I

10:07

actually did two months in Southeast Asia and honestly,

10:09

one thing that is not, it's still there since

10:12

I was a kid when I visited India. If

10:14

it rains, all plans are off,

10:16

the roads are flooded, the system is not

10:19

set up for you, right? So guess what?

10:21

It rained, plans change. And

10:24

so you have to pivot. And what

10:26

happens is when you actually get used to the

10:28

idea of like, look, your cards are sometimes going

10:31

to keep changing as the day passes. What

10:34

do you do? You need to learn how to pivot.

10:36

And that's the big thing I find people struggle with

10:38

so much like, yeah, but this was planned and this

10:41

was supposed to happen. And then I missed my bus

10:43

and because of that and that this happened and then

10:45

my coffee spilled and are these

10:47

things actually worth stressing about? Are they

10:49

coffee spilled? It's all good. Like, we

10:51

don't need to be experiencing that level

10:53

of stress. It's unnecessary.

10:56

My team member, Chris Andy just said, if

10:59

there's anything in life that's a given, it is

11:01

that you can count on. They are

11:03

changes. So we

11:05

have to learn to live with them and really

11:08

make the best of them and how to work with them.

11:11

We hear a lot about mental health these

11:13

days. But when is it

11:15

a good idea to seek out therapy?

11:18

Great question, because there's two separate concepts over here. There's

11:21

a difference between your day to

11:23

day mental health slash let's call it

11:25

mental fitness versus

11:28

I'm actually in crisis

11:30

and I need support. Those are two separate

11:32

things. Most people, they just think

11:34

of part two. They don't think of the first half.

11:37

First half is the thing that's most important. It's

11:39

like saying, when it comes to physical health, well,

11:41

you know, I read a marathon every quarter

11:44

versus what's your day to day

11:46

habits that actually keep you physically

11:49

healthy? What's your sleep like? What's

11:51

your eating schedule like? What's your stress levels like? That's

11:53

actually the stuff that's going to take you to probably

11:56

a hundred. Not the marathon you

11:58

ran. I mean, even the marathon. to train

12:00

for once. You don't just get like pick up and you're like,

12:02

no, I'm going to do the 10K today. Right?

12:04

Right. So the concept of mental fitness is the

12:07

one thing that I really like to drill in.

12:09

That is a very big part of the work

12:11

that we do at Lina because we want people

12:13

to be able to understand that this is just

12:15

as important as my physical health. So no, I'm

12:17

not going to wake up to have that donut.

12:19

No, I'm not going to wake up to check

12:22

my phone first. I want it

12:24

to be the same thought almost right? Just like,

12:26

you know, you're not going to eat the donut

12:28

for breakfast. No, I'm not going to wake up

12:30

and open my phone. The only thing we're going

12:32

to do is we're actually going to go invest

12:34

in an old school alert book where you smack

12:36

the bell down when it's drinking to snooze a

12:38

couple more minutes. You don't touch your phone because

12:40

instantly you hit snooze or stuff. What happens next?

12:43

Email. What happens next? Instagram. Honestly, I'm guilty

12:45

of it myself. I think most of us

12:47

are. Me too. Me too.

12:49

Now, when you don't take care of your day

12:51

to day mental fitness, what's going to happen is

12:53

it's going to actually keep stacking on to the

12:55

point where we crack and then we have health

12:57

issues pop up. And that's when you're like, Oh,

13:00

I got to go to the doctor and the

13:02

doctor's like, what's going on? The reason why your

13:04

hair is falling off or you're

13:06

experiencing, you know, extreme period pain

13:08

or your skin's breaking out. The

13:10

dermatologist, they're asking questions. What's the

13:13

underlying issue? Unaddressed anxiety,

13:15

unaddressed stress. And for most people, it's anxiety

13:18

and depression, the top two concerns that are

13:20

there. So if you go ahead and you

13:22

leave them unattended, you don't take care of

13:24

something. Naturally, it's only going to get worse.

13:26

And that's when you actually do need to

13:29

step in to get some support. What's that

13:31

saying? An ounce of prevention

13:33

is better than a pound of cure.

13:35

You have to start small, like start

13:37

small steps, but start taking care of

13:39

yourself. I have benefited

13:42

greatly from therapy and other things,

13:44

like really focusing on myself the last couple

13:47

of years. And it's been really beneficial. But

13:50

I do know a lot of my friends, a

13:52

lot of people I know, they struggle silently. And

13:55

they're Really nervous about taking that

13:57

first step to meeting with a therapist.

13:59

Is There something. Something you would you

14:01

could say to them this advice on

14:03

how to take that first step into

14:05

hey I'm gonna go check in with

14:08

somebody. Tell. Yourself if you're starting off

14:10

from the place out. Ah, you know what Are they

14:12

going to tell me that? I don't know? Check yourself

14:14

on it. Will remember what having

14:16

a conversation at first thing second.

14:19

Thing: As a lot of people say, I don't

14:21

know where to start my life as a massive

14:23

everything just feels like it's so. Mixed.

14:25

In with each other. I don't know how to do

14:27

that. And it also to have to

14:29

say don't worry that our job that for us

14:32

to take care. Of if you really don't know

14:34

where to start. This is totally free.

14:36

Going to to the P B C and to

14:38

have been I'm gonna have my first session. I

14:40

don't know where to start, what are some questions?

14:43

I can start off with chatty, but you will

14:45

spend a whole bunch of questions and you can

14:47

go answer answering those questions in your journal and

14:49

I'll give you some sort of framework to feel

14:51

more pressed. To come to your first session. Yeah,

14:54

so using a I to help.

14:56

You. With your first

14:58

lesson to give you some ideas. Yeah.

15:01

I. Love that! I want to know

15:03

more about your company. Also, it's.

15:06

Fascinating. Why did you name

15:08

it Lena? And and tell me a

15:10

little more about what Lena does? Course

15:12

yet so Lena actually means light and

15:14

if you look at the colors as

15:16

well and a website, I don't want

15:18

great use of Breaks youth because I

15:20

wanted people to associate mental health with

15:22

joy not meant a house with oh

15:24

my god lysis tasks. Wanted to resist

15:27

people's mindset when it comes to that.

15:29

And just as though you know we've

15:31

seen over time when it comes to

15:33

like physical health, now it's a part

15:35

of like overall wellbeing. and i

15:37

wanted people to think of them when it comes

15:39

to mental health and one of them to think

15:41

this is something that's like actually part of my

15:44

day to day it's important and lean out specifically

15:46

means in many languages meaning that really stood out

15:48

to us what it means life or a ray

15:50

of hope and for a lot of people who

15:53

look like you and me you know we've grown

15:55

up feeling has always turn to many doors and

15:57

all of them for us on our faces i

16:00

you said this. I said it too, which is like, I

16:02

feel like no one gets it. How do I

16:05

explain all of these concepts, the intersectionality? I

16:07

don't even know how to explain certain things.

16:09

I just wish I spoke to somebody who

16:11

kind of like, you know, is from the

16:13

same ish region too as I am, who

16:15

just kind of gets it. Like I didn't

16:17

have to explain. So let's jump

16:19

back to some of the practical

16:21

questions that we have for our

16:24

audience of creatives. What about the

16:26

solitude of being a solopreneur or

16:28

someone that works from home? It

16:31

can be so isolating and so very lonely

16:34

working on your own, staring at

16:36

a screen. What are

16:38

some of the good ways to connect

16:40

with others? It's

16:42

community. Community is the thing that's going to take

16:44

you all the way to the end, right? And

16:47

so people say this, we say this often on

16:49

social media, find your trip. And sometimes

16:51

that community doesn't mean that you have to be

16:53

in the same spaces or do the same type

16:55

of work. Frankly, actually, all of my closest friends,

16:57

none of them are in the mental health world.

17:00

Well, not true. Maybe one, but most

17:02

of them, no, far from it. But you know,

17:04

of course, they're mental health informed, but they're not

17:06

in the work that I'm doing. They're

17:08

not. But yet I feel very

17:10

supported because I find that yes, they're

17:12

going through their struggles and they're doing their

17:15

own thing. However, I find that they're a

17:17

part of my community because our core values

17:19

align outside of work. And so

17:21

when I find that multiple of my core values

17:23

align with them, I find that there's

17:25

a lot of community and sisterhood there that I find

17:27

a lot of satisfaction in. That's the thing that's so

17:29

important where you have to find your community and your

17:32

community doesn't have to be based off of the work

17:34

that you do. Based off

17:36

of your interests. So yes, you do your

17:38

work alone, you mind your business. However, after

17:41

that, you have this community of friends,

17:43

whether you joined a running room or it's a

17:45

chess club or whatever it is, and you find

17:47

there's someone join there and meaning in there, that's

17:49

the community that's going to stick around. If you

17:52

don't have community, you will lose your way. I

17:54

guarantee you find your people. I

17:56

always say that to find your tribe,

17:58

finding people. Yeah. So we're always

18:00

looking on our phones, right? We look at

18:02

our phones so much that we

18:05

know it really impacts our mental health,

18:07

particularly for people who post

18:09

online as part of their jobs. How

18:13

can we manage our

18:15

relationship with social media

18:17

when so much of our

18:20

life now exists there?

18:22

Yeah. And

18:24

also, in addition to that, the life that exists

18:26

there, to push back on what

18:28

you said, is the one you've curated. So

18:30

it's like a fantasy world you built for

18:33

yourself, the highlight reel. I

18:36

always say that. Yeah, what you

18:38

see is not always the truth. It's

18:42

true. And most times it's not. If

18:44

you look at any of my videos, you think I look

18:46

like that, you should have seen me an hour ago in

18:48

session. No, no, no, no, I look like struggle. So it's

18:50

true. How do you detach? How

18:52

do you separate yourself from that? So

18:54

there's a ton of apps that are

18:56

there that actually post for you. Utilize

18:59

them. Go ahead and create a schedule for yourself. Yes,

19:01

you have to do a little bit of work. This

19:04

one, you have to put in a little bit more

19:06

elbow grease into it, but it does a job and

19:08

it does it beautifully. Frankly, most people, myself included, we

19:10

create batch content. You know what? It

19:13

happens twice a month. That's about it. Go online to check to

19:15

see if it's posted. Make sure it's like, you know, all your

19:17

emojis and everything is like lined up

19:19

and stuff. And then walk away from

19:21

your phone. That's the first thing I would suggest. Second

19:24

thing is also put those locks and timers on

19:26

your apps because it's very, very helpful

19:28

to be able to do that. Third,

19:31

this one, actually, a lot of people

19:33

don't realize how easily accessible it is, but

19:36

ask your friends and family, ask the kids

19:39

in your family and your cousins if they

19:41

want to volunteer to help you with some

19:43

of this stuff, because they probably have a couple of tricks

19:45

up their sleeve that you don't. You know what? You

19:48

don't have money to pay for them, but no problem.

19:50

Get them their meal, buy them a gift, whatever it is.

19:52

You can always do that in small, meaningful ways. I get

19:54

this all the time, actually. So we're just looking for

19:56

exposure when it comes to mental health. We just want

19:58

to understand how you're doing. things. So hey, do

20:01

you want like any help? I'm happy to

20:03

volunteer my time. So we take a lot

20:05

of people up on and say like, actually,

20:07

sure, you know what, here you go. Can

20:09

you help with us? And they're happy to.

20:11

But people are shy to ask because why

20:14

we're taught, especially as women, do

20:16

not ask, do not be a burden. Yeah,

20:20

I'm the same way. I think

20:22

we all are. But we're learning. I'm

20:25

learning to ask, you know, you

20:27

got to put it out there. And it's always a

20:29

no if you don't ask. Yeah, it's true.

20:31

And so ask and you'll get the help. And you

20:34

know what, you'll have to ask a couple times and

20:36

it's very uncomfortable. But how do you

20:38

expect to have any kind of growth if you haven't

20:40

gotten out of your comfort zone? Yeah, yeah,

20:42

those are all very great tips. And

20:44

I was smiling big when you talked

20:46

about the scheduler because shameless

20:49

plug, Adobe Express actually has

20:52

a scheduler component so

20:54

that you can, like you said,

20:56

just queue up all your

20:58

posts, work on them, get them already,

21:00

and then you can post them. You

21:02

could just plan it out for the

21:05

next month, two months, quarter, year.

21:08

But those are really great sound advice.

21:10

What is your number one

21:12

suggestion for creatives to improve

21:15

their mental health, something that

21:17

they can actually start doing

21:19

today? Do not spend 15

21:22

minutes critiquing the fact that your eyebrows

21:24

hair is crooked, or your liner is

21:26

not wingtip enough, or your lip liner

21:28

was not on properly, or the background

21:30

was a little bit messier. Do not

21:32

take more than a quick 10 minute

21:34

look and ask yourself, what was my

21:37

intention behind creating this video or post?

21:39

Did the message get received? Am

21:41

I happy with the message in the

21:43

sense that the language is appropriate? I'm

21:45

not saying something that's offensive. Am I

21:48

communicating effectively? Yes. Get

21:50

off that video. Get off that post. There's

21:52

nothing else to look at. It is what it is.

21:54

It'll never be right. There's no such

21:56

thing as perfection. Yeah, it's true. And It

21:58

comes from a place of people. Please. The nine which is

22:00

it is. Not per se per going to judge

22:02

me. they don't know. Which. Is

22:05

human once we judge. Now

22:07

and then you say hey, you know, well.

22:09

This. Is me? That. Said. What

22:13

brings you the most joy there's.

22:15

A. Lot of things and most recently about

22:17

a kitten and I've never been at

22:19

that, period. And so I'm just an

22:21

entity. Have been right now because it's

22:23

just it's so sweet and I'm actually

22:25

playing with his toys more than he

22:27

plays with them and are just like

22:29

going nuts. It's like the beautiful rainbow

22:32

colored like Rabid that sets and I'm

22:34

just like going nuts with it. As

22:36

a lot like a ballet dancer, I

22:38

don't know how to do nothing. Okay,

22:40

I'm actually so clumsy that I'm tripping

22:42

over malibu toes, but I'm just like

22:44

twirling it around me and I'm enjoying.

22:46

My time so much and it's kept

22:48

me away from my phone and email

22:50

for some super aguri this time. That

22:52

that actually is also a byproduct of

22:55

joy that are coming from because unlike

22:57

his detaching me, what does success. Look

22:59

like for you sir. For me success

23:02

looks like being able to be content.

23:04

With myself in a position I'm in a

23:06

position where on able to reclaim way to

23:08

them back for the things that I'm so

23:10

no longer saying sorry you know we're going

23:12

to do take out for them. So busy

23:14

and I got worked into this email thread.

23:17

And saying no? Actually this is that

23:19

this is actually not an emergency thing.

23:21

This is like a perceived manufacturers. Sense of

23:23

urgency. This is Not. Urgent that to

23:25

me a success. Being able to understand differentiator

23:27

for myself to say walk away is not

23:29

worth your time. Go cook. You'll enjoy that

23:31

instead. Yeah.

23:35

Amazing! I love need that you have

23:37

that reflects and and you know what

23:40

you want and you going for it.

23:42

You go for it to my best

23:44

I asked all of my guess is

23:46

question what is one word that is

23:49

going to guide you are. There

23:51

has been guiding you this year

23:53

intention. what is there and and smell

23:55

it he as a business owner i'll say that because

23:57

somebody is running a start up nine it is has

24:00

you're going to fall flat on your face. But as long

24:02

as you ask yourself the question, what was my intention behind

24:04

doing that? And you say

24:06

these, these were my list of reasons, and you're

24:08

able to hold hearted and say, well, you know

24:10

what, my intentionality was in the right place. And

24:12

it still fell flat. That's okay. Because you would

24:14

do it again. It wasn't a bad decision. It

24:16

just didn't land the way you were hoping for

24:19

it to land. So redo that again, and it

24:21

might land again better intention. It

24:23

applies to everything in life. It's

24:25

also a cop out answer because it

24:27

blessed everything and I love it. It's

24:31

very appropriate. Thank you so much for sharing.

24:33

I feel like I

24:35

learned so much from this conversation.

24:37

Thank you for spending time with

24:39

me and the audience. I'm

24:41

sure they're going to take something and

24:44

do it right now today. I hope

24:46

so. Thanks again

24:49

to Sara for joining me today.

24:51

Her advice gave me so much

24:53

hope, just showing that there

24:55

are healthy ways to work within the

24:57

creator economy. You can find

24:59

her at the dot p o c dot

25:01

therapists on social and check out our show

25:04

notes for all of the links. One

25:06

quick thing before we get to the takeaways. We

25:09

need a huge favor from you. Please

25:12

take a couple of minutes to fill out

25:14

our listener survey. You'll find a link

25:16

in our show notes or go

25:19

to adobe.ly slash itm

25:21

survey. We would really

25:23

appreciate it. Now back

25:25

to the key takeaways from

25:27

this episode. One, being

25:30

online can be vulnerable.

25:32

So protect yourself. Don't

25:35

share anything online that you wouldn't

25:37

be comfortable talking about with a stranger

25:39

in a coffee shop. Two,

25:42

put your work out there in the world and then walk

25:45

away. Don't sit there

25:47

watching for the likes and the clicks in

25:49

the comments. Three,

25:52

find sources of joy that will keep

25:55

you off of your screen. For Sara,

25:57

it's her new kitten, Ghost. 4.

26:01

Your community doesn't have to be

26:03

fellow creators to understand and support

26:05

you. Thanks

26:07

for listening to In the Making,

26:10

brought to you by Adobe Express,

26:12

the all-in-one content creation app included

26:14

in your Creative Cloud membership. If

26:17

you'd like this episode, be sure to leave us

26:19

a rating and a review and

26:21

subscribe in your favorite podcast app.

26:24

I'm Teresa Al, and I'll see you next

26:26

time.