We were lucky to catch up with Sara Gougeon recently and have shared our conversation below.
Sara, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
I love this question. Imposter syndrome is so hard. It used to completely freeze me up. But then I realized that nobody really knows what they are doing until they do it. Discomfort is crucial to growth. It’s a lot about perception and fear of failure. I’ve spent these past three years normalizing failure and the unknown. I’m big on planning, and I’m a bit of a perfectionist – which can be debilitating to action. I’ve learned I need to and continue to to work on jumping into action, learning as I go, and calling it when things are “good enough” because they will never be perfect.
A big part is also reminding yourself that you’re on the right path. I was recently invited to be on the TEDx Nashville Steering Committee. I felt the imposter syndrome come creeping back attending these meetings. Being the youngest person in the room, surrounded by phenomenal individuals with decades of experience on me, feeling like the one who has the most to figure out in life and work… but then I remember the things I’ve done, that time and time again I’ve accomplished what I set out to do. And that I was invited to be in that room and at that table, just like everyone else there.
Also, everyone pays more attention to themselves than to you. I heard a quote last week that was something along the lines of “They are going to judge you aways. Wether you go for your dreams, or sit on the couch, or work a 9-5. Someone will always be judging. So you might as well go for what you want.”
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Hi, if you don’t know me, my name is Sara and I’m a creative entrepreneur. From a young age I knew that I had to be part of the music industry. After a decade of writing songs, and years of studying music, I decided that I wanted to book live entertainment, build communities, and plan events. In 2021, I founded Pineworks Creative, my live entertainment and event planning organization.
One of my main focuses has been building Queerfest, an LGBTQ+ festival and showcase series in Nashville. For years I searched for queer community, events, shows, and I couldn’t find much. I knew this space needed to exist, so I took to creating it. It’s been phonemail to foster a warm community, see the growth, and promote incredible queer talent.
Queerfest 2023 is a two-day, multi-venue festival in East Nashville on August 11 + 12, 2023. This year’s festival features 13 LGBTQ+ identifying acts. The event takes place at three different venues: Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge, The 5 Spot, and The Basement East.
The lineup this year features The Collection, Marielle Kraft, Skout, Madeleine Kelson, Julia Cannon, JB Somers, Sydnee Conley, Gina Venier, Dani-Rae Clark, Justin Hiltner, Olivia Rudeen, Summer Joy, Great Aunt.
Tickets can be purchased here: https://www.ticketweb.com/event/queerfest-2023-the-basement-east-tickets/13359678?pl=basementeast. Or purchased at the door of each venue.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The first would be intentional daily habits and being disciplined with them. Deciding to develop daily habits has completely changed my life. I journal, read, meditate, practice gratitude, and do some sort of movement or workout every day. It’s helping me become more mindful, curious, attentive, present, and strong. I like to visualize who I want to be, identify with that person, what they wear, how they carry themselves, what they eat, how often they work out, and what their habits are. And then it’s not so much about motivating myself to work out every day (for example), but thinking about how each action is a vote towards the person that you become.
The second would be mindfulness. I think a lot about every aspect of my life, how I spend my time, who I allow into my life. I realize that might sound really intense to some people. It’s everything from journaling to spending less time on social media, to deciding not do drink for a few months. I think the drinking is a great example. I used to find myself in spaces where I felt like I “should” drink. But It wasn’t because I genuinely wanted to but because that’s just “what you do” when you go to a show or a bar. I’m coming up on six months without drinking. That’s not to say I’m never going to have a drink again. But It’s made me realize the times I would take part in it because I felt like I should, the spaces that only seemed fun when drinking, and how nice it is to wakeup feeling fresh on a Saturday morning. Now I know that if/when I go back to it, I will be much more intentional. Mindfulness makes you question the intention behind everything. That can be an endless gift.
The third would be exercise and nutrition. It’s hard. I know. It’s SO hard. We live in a society where getting daily moment and eating well is something that you have to go out of your way to do. And there are a lot of mixed messages on what’s actually healthy. I think a lot about the blue zones – locations where it’s normal to live past 100, and the lifestyles that they have. It’s hard when we are constantly receiving all this marketing encouraging us to make poor decisions for our health and when our social spaces are centered around processed foods and alcohol. But trying to eat whole, unprocessed foods, limiting highly processed and fried foods, and moving every day – even if it’s just a small walk. AND I’ve learned that our gut microbiomes change based around the food we eat. I’ve been vegan for almost four years and eating unprocessed foods as much as possible and I actually find myself craving vegetables and whole foods now! If you can make small progress towards nourishing your body through food and movement it is so worth it.
Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
I run, go to yoga, journal, and talk with friends and family.
When I’m super stressed and overwhelmed that’s when I need to run. I channel that energy and release it that way. When I notice that I’m holding my breath, tensing my jaw, or generally overwhelmed, I go to yoga. It’s great to get back to breath, be present in my body, and regulate my nervous system. When I don’t know what to do I call my family or get coffee with a friend. When I feel lost, uncertain, or need to sort my thoughts and feelings, I journal. A lot of it is learning to listen to my body and my needs in that moment.
While I do these things when I’m stressed or overwhelmed, I also practice them every day/week (depending on the thing). I journal, write, and practice gratitude and mindfulness every day. And each week I go to yoga, climb, go to parks, and spend time with incredible people in my life. And I take breaks from screens and I try to be super intentional with my social media usage. I’m now learning not to just figure out what to do I’m stressed/overwhelmed, but how to prevent it. Of course you can’t prevent it all the time. But these habits and practices have helped me a lot!
Contact Info:
- Website: queerfestmusic.com
- Instagram: @queerfestnash
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Queerfestmusic
Image Credits
The outdoorsy photos were taken by Hans Alcindor. The event photos were taken by Andrea Schollnick at Queerfest 2022. The others are iphone photos taken by various friends.
