the myth of choosing one thing

Maybe you’ve heard this before:

“You should just focus on one thing.”

“If you’re spread too thin, you’ll never get anything done.”

If you’re like me, this is probably a bummer to hear.

When you have multiple passions and creative interests, it can feel paralyzing to have to choose just one thing, and so often you might end up not choosing anything.

Or maybe you’re trying to do it all, but end up feeling exhausted and never fully make headway on one project.

Do either sound familiar?

Even though you might feel torn between multiple interests, I’m sure you have a bigger vision for yourself.

I’m sure somewhere inside of you there is a clear picture of the kind of lifestyle you want to live. The kind of lifestyle that gives you freedom, fulfillment, and creative license. Take a moment and access it now:

Can you see all your interests and passions living harmoniously together?

If you can’t, I assure you it’s there somewhere and only a matter of time before it becomes clear.

Take it from someone who has a long history of multiple interests and chronic indecision:

In kindergarten I wanted to be a ballerina, an astronaut, and a veterinarian.

I started multiple businesses as a kid, selling: homemade bookmarks, rocks that worked like chalk, crocheted scarves, hair wraps, and more.

When I couldn’t decide on a major in college, I transferred to a school of “individualized study” where I could create my own major.

In my adult life I have been a “food & beverage analyst,” holistic health coach, bar mitzvah dancer, bookkeeper, writer, ballet teacher, and more, with many positions overlapping in the same time frame.

I now have found a way to weave my passions together into a fulfilling, successful, and creative career. I’m not selling bookmarks anymore, but I do get to do multiple things I love, create my own schedule, and never feel boxed into “just one thing.”

Some people might argue it’s not efficient or that I could be accomplishing a lot more if I stuck to one thing.

I used to beat myself up with those thoughts all the time. But now I embrace what I’m doing as a part of who I am. And the more I do so, the more aligned opportunities come my way.

(Quick example, just to show the diversity of opportunities: In the past year I’ve won an essay contest, gave a TEDx talk, guided clients into creative projects and performances of their own, danced live on stage and won 3rd place in a talent show competition, and more, all while technically having 3 jobs.)

When I decided to take on a new teaching job over the holidays, I really started to reflect on all of this and realized it was time to stop wishing I had just one thing.  I identified a few key steps that have helped me along my multi-layered career unfoldings and I thought it would be cool to share them with you in a new way.

If you’re reading this email and relate to what I’m saying,

If you know it’s time to unite your passions into a lifestyle that works for you,

Then I have a really special opportunity for you.

I’m so excited to share with you 3 important steps that have changed my life and that have the potential to be a serious game-changer for you in the new year.

Spread too thin?

3 steps to making multiple interests work

[button link="https://soundcloud.com/creativefridays/spread-too-thin-3-steps-to" size="large" color="aqua" window="yes"]Get access now![/button]

 This is your opportunity to own your multiple passions and get them to work for you. I won’t tell you what to choose – or even that you have to choose at all – rather, I’ll provide the structure, support, and mental space necessary to help you tap into your own intuition and creativity. You’ll walk away with a new perspective and effective tools that will help shape your future exactly as you want it to be.

In addition to sharing 3 steps to making multiple interests work for you, I’ll be announcing a special offer that’s only available to those who listen in.

Listen here!

After you sign up, share with me in the comments below:

Do you struggle with multiple interests?

What would be possible if you could make them all work?

As my mom always said: When there’s a will, there’s a way.

I believe in you.

To creating your own way,

Jess

hated what you created?

So you did that thing.  

The thing that terrifies you.

The thing that bares your soul to other human beings. Possibly strangers. Even worse, friends and family.

That thing that is your creative expression: what you made, practiced, wrote, painted, shared.

No matter what people thought or how brilliant it was, you might be thinking:

“After it was finished? I hated it! I couldn’t stand to listen to it. I thought it was the worst piece of garbage I’d ever heard.”

That, my friends, is a quote by none other than Bruce Springsteen in reference to his 1975 hit album Born To Run that launched him into stardom.  According to this awesome article he didn’t even want to release the album.

And he’s not alone.

It’s a common feeling for artists and creators of all kinds to run into a wave of despair and self-doubt and criticism after completing a project.

I certainly did it bigtime after my TEDx talk. And as I’ve been speaking to my clients in the aftermath of the Creative Fridays Showcase, almost everyone felt like they didn’t do their best or would’ve changed something or made it better somehow.

Contrary to their self-criticism, from my perspective they were all brilliant and brought me to tears. Hearing the audience feedback I realized that it wasn’t just my motherly-filter thinking so… People were moved, touched, inspired by these incredible women baring their souls and their stories through their art.

If we all waited until it was perfect to share things, we would be choking the breath of inspiration that is so vital to our health and happiness.

There will always be room for growth and improvement, but you’ll never how far you can get unless you start somewhere.

Start with me at Creative Fridays.

Start at the next open mic you can find.

Start with your own youtube channel.

Just start. Somewhere.

Did you ever hate what you created?

Share with us in the comments below and keep creating anyway!

to tramps like us,

Jess

TEDX recap: a surprise twist to feeling fulfilled

Phew. Talk about nerves. I gave my TEDx talk this past Saturday and was able to get through it with lots of preliminary dancing, coaching from Susan Main, bodywork from Master Jey Park, and the support of knowing all of you were cheering me on. Thank you.

I left the stage feeling a bit sad, though. Was that it? Did I sound like myself and get my point across? The lights were so bright I couldn’t see anyone in the audience, so it was hard to tell how it landed.

What I do know is that it landed somehow. And sometime in January we’ll all be able to see how it went via YouTube.

I learned something important after the fact, which is the whole reason I’m writing today:

On Sunday night, I sat in the audience at a dance performance created by one of my clients. She started her dance company during the time we were working together and this was her company’s first time doing a show.

I was filled with immense love and gratitude watching the whole thing. The kind of fulfillment that brought me to tears. This sense of fulfillment continued as I watched more clients of mine share their work in my living room last night, in rehearsal for the upcoming Showcase.

It felt much different than how I felt after the TEDx event, which was honestly a little empty. Maybe it was the postpartum feeling of having released something I had put so much energy into, or maybe it was because I couldn’t really see the audience or feel the impact I was having. It was easy to just go into self-critical mode and question it all.

I’m not saying I don’t want to continue giving talks or performances of my own - I certainly do! - but I am realizing the important balance of giving and the receiving. It’s why 10 years ago, when I was just dancing, I had such a desire to help people in a more direct way. It’s why when I quit dancing and started just doing health coaching, I missed dancing. It’s like expressing myself is giving, and helping people is receiving. Even though that kind of sounds backwards. Both are necessary to feel complete, for me.

So what's up with your state of balance?

Are you lacking time for your own self-expression?

Or are you ready to receive inspiration or fulfillment in a new way?

Tell me in the comment box below. Wherever you’re at, it’s awesome. And I invite you to get a little of both this Friday at the Creative Fridays Showcase.

It's the culmination of a 6-month adventure I've been leading with 6 amazing women in the Thriving Artist’s Program (TAP) who each have been making their way back into their creativity throughout transitions, love, loss, growth, and more.

Some will dance, some will sing, some will show us artwork, and some will tell a story. Either way, it's guaranteed to spark some inspiration and emotion in YOU.

Brene Brown once said, "What is art if it's not love?"

Come out and share the love!!

Friday, December 13th

7pm-9pm

at BAX 421 5th Ave, Park Slope, Brooklyn

And if that weren't enough to convince you to come out, we'll also have wine and raffle prizes!!

[button link="http://jessgrippo.com/ai1ec_event/creative-fridays-showcase/?instance_id=" color="aqua" window="yes"]RSVP here![/button]

There are limited tickets - really, I'm not just saying that to get you to come - so get your free ticket now if you plan on joining!

I am so excited to experience and share this with you. If you can't make it or aren't located in the NYC area, take time this Friday to fulfill your creative palette. Maybe taking something in - like seeing a performance or going to a museum - would inspire you, or maybe it's time you put something out there - like writing a song, making a dance video, painting a picture, or whatever you are called to make. Get clear on what you need and then do it. Schedule it in your calendar right now. You'll feel better after. I promise. (And I will check up on you later this week to see if you did it ;)

taking it in and letting it out,

Jess

p.s. the TEDx talk has finally been published! Check it out here:

technique vs. expression

Back in my ballet school days, the common criticism I would get from teachers was that I was too technical and didn’t let emotional expression and artistry come through.

I tried so so hard to get everything perfect. I stretched my feet in weird contraptions to force my arches to bend more. I glared at myself sideways in the mirror making sure everything was tucked in as it needed to be. All I wanted was to be good, to be accepted, to not be laughed at, to make my parents proud.

But I couldn’t figure out the artistic and emotional piece.

How to channel that through my body? Beyond the pirouettes, there was something more that my mind could not grasp hold of.

I thought that maybe once I started having sex it would release something in me and make me a more artistic, expressive dancer. A bit of experimentation later, I soon discovered it wasn’t exactly the equation I needed.... (but that could be a topic for a whole separate post ;)

So I moved on to other things. I went to academic school. I let my mind officially do the work, as dance slowly and reluctantly began to disappear from my regular routine.

Don’t get me wrong - I was pretty happy and life wasn’t terrible. I went through a lot of changes in my twenties including a big transition from a corporate job to the holistic health field and was doing work that felt meaningful. But there was this deep inner longing that wasn’t being fulfilled and I couldn’t deny it.

If you would’ve told the ballerina-me back then that someday I’d be improvising movement, recording it on a video camera, and sharing it on a public platform, I would’ve thought you were speaking a different language.

But now that I’m actually doing it regularly, I feel so much more satisfaction from dancing and truly expressing myself through movement. I finally understand what those teachers 10 years ago were trying to tell me.

What I'm learning: Even if something feels impossible to grasp, it can be reached in due time. Usually in a way you least expected.

How about you? Check in with yourself right now:

• Do you rely on the logical, technical parts of yourself to get through the day, rather than letting your own artistry and creativity speak up?

• Is there something you’re longing to express? Even if you’re not quite sure what it is?

• Was dancing once a part of your life but somehow slipped away?

Tell me in the comment box below.

And here's where things come full circle:

 I'm so psyched to announce a brand new and very special workshop series called You Can Dance Again.

This is the kind of dance class you’ve always wished you had (think: all the fun and freedom of dancing, minus the critical eyes and outside pressure), and it’s open to all levels of experience.

It starts on Monday July 8th and all the details can be found here:

[button link="http://jessgrippo.com/ai1ec_event/you-can-dance-again/?instance_id=" size="large" color="aqua" window="yes"]DANCE AGAIN[/button]

It's for you if you want to start dancing again for the pure joy of it, or if you see it as a means to an end.

After all, the benefits of activating your body and freeing up your expressive channels go far beyond just the dance studio.

What would you create, what would you do more of, if you let your body speak?

[button link="http://jessgrippo.com/ai1ec_event/you-can-dance-again/?instance_id=" size="large" color="aqua" window="yes"]Find out with me here. You Can Dance Again.[/button]

Let's start a dance revolution.

to dancing again and again,

Jess

p.s. One benefit of this class over your childhood ballet class is that I totally won’t make you wear a leotard. Unless of course you want to.

The dancing begins soon, so sign up now before the spots get filled!

what I learned from dancing at bar mitzvahs

Some of you know this about me: I used to dance at bar mitzvahs. As a job. The technical term for this kind of work is “motivational party dancer,” and involves getting a dancefloor full of teenagers to fist-pump along to pop-songs with you, alternated with bouts of shushing them up during speeches and ceremonies. (There’s a bit more to it than that, but you get the idea.)

Last fall, I worked almost every Saturday night doing this. It was a way to make money, and was actually the first time I had made a significant amount of money from dancing. Not only that, but it was the first time in years I had put myself into a new field of work and I was terrified going to my first party. Wanting to get things right and make a good impression, I gathered my gusto and approached those 13-year-olds on the dancefloor, who were very likely to roll their eyes and turn their backs, leaving me fist-pumping solo to Katy Perry.

Needless to say, the job got old fast, and the traveling, stress, and late weekend nights became a little too much for what it was worth. I learned something very important from this experience, though, which is why I’m sharing it with you.

The job felt hellish when I was trying to be someone I wasn’t. In that culture, it was easy to feel pressured to put on a particular kind of show, with fake smiles and ass-kissing galore. Often I felt so worried about what the boss would think, that I couldn’t really be present with the kids dancing. In my uptight frenzy one evening, I forgot to pass out the glow sticks which was deemed a “party failure” by the owner of the entertainment company. Ouch.

But here’s what I also discovered: I had the most fun and made the most impact when I let my genuine self come through, in moments like these:

• having a heart-to-heart discussion with the older cousin of a bar mitzvah boy, helping her think about alternative career options and following her passions

• dancing freely with the 5-year-old cousins, and the 85-year-old grandparents

• slow-dancing to Frank Sinatra with one of the shy kids in the group

• chatting with the girls who stood hesitantly on the fringe of the dancefloor

• connecting with the other working dancers who are doing amazing things in life outside the mitzvahs

To sum it up, I think there’s a way to sneak our real selves into even the strictest of situations, and doing so will not only feel great to you, but it will benefit others in ways you might not realize.

I’m curious to know --

What’s your equivalent to the mitzvah dance floor? Where in your life do you want to be more authentically you?

Remember to stay true to yourself in the meantime - on and off the dancefloor.

to fist-pumping your own way, jess