If I’m Not Learning, I’m Not Really Living | 🎙️ Podcast Ep

Catch me on “The Everything Podcast” in a convo about creative pivots.

Welcome (or welcome back!) to Multifaceted. I’m Jess Barker, here exploring what it means to find direction and fulfillment in a multi-passionate creative life. ✨

I know you were just saying you need a new podcast episode to liven up today’s morning commute / afternoon walk / creative session… Well, I got you!

I recently had the chance to join

Maria Garcia

and

Kelly Van de Vliet

, co-hosts of The Everything Podcast, for an episode all about creative pivots.

Maria (who lives in Portugal and writes The Everything Creative’s) and Kelly (who lives in Belgium and writes The Girl Who Tried Everything) are fellow Substack authors and multifaceted creatives. They’re totally on my wavelength when it comes to juggling various projects, toggling between passions, and savoring the journey no matter how its twists and turns might pan out. Their thoughtful and thought-provoking questions set us up for what I think turned out to be a fascinating – and truly delightful! – conversation.

I invite you to give Episode 4: Changing Projects Isn’t Failing a listen on your favorite platform:

Teasers, Show Notes, Reading Recs

Here are some additional teasers and show notes directly from Maria:

In this episode, Kelly and I have the privilege of speaking with Jess about the guilt that often comes with creative pivots. We unpack the cultural pressure to stick to “one thing,” why changing your mind isn’t failing, and why saying “sorry” for evolving is overrated.

Here are some of the things we talked about in this episode

(featuring some insight from Jess):

• Jess's creative journey and building her creative life: she shares, “All my eggs are not in a basket that somebody else is holding.”

• The pressure that comes with changing direction

• Feeling the need to justify our creative pivots

• How to embrace being a beginner in creativity: Jess’s mantra: “If I’m not learning, I’m not really living.”

• Social media and being multipassionate: “I try to make sure I consume content that’s supporting and validating me, so no niche-oriented hustle culture stuff that makes me feel bad.”

This episode is full of nuggets of wisdom and useful tips to help you on your creative path, especially if it’s still often filled with apologies.

Books mentioned:

• The Renaissance Soul

• How to Not Always Be Working

• Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals

Newsletter posts mentioned:

• The Pivot Party

• Chasing a Dream Job? Why Not a Dream Life?

Thank you again, Kelly and Maria, for having me. 💗

And for anyone who tunes in – I’d love to hear your thoughts, or even how you’d respond to the questions we covered. Let me know in the comments and let’s keep the convo going!