We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lauren Osselton a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Lauren, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?
Creativity cycles like the seasons. Spring, summer, autumn and winter. In the spring, we come alive with the ideas gathered during our winter’s dormant rest. In summer, we bask in the glories and creative riches of the roots we planted in the spring. Come autumn, we harvest and reap all we sow, preparing for our inevitable returning winter. When you’re uninspired creatively, how can you HONOUR that creative winter, rather than vilianizing or fighting against it? Keeping creativity ALIVE is about honouring ALL stages of the cycle, not just the vibrancy of the spring.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Hey, I’m Lauri! I started my business back in 2019 as a copywriter after burning out HARD from my demanding corporate marketing role. I started working freelance originally to be able to fully honour my mental health as I healed burnout and years of pent-up unhealed anxiety and depression.
After finding my niche in website copywriting and booking out my copywriting business, I began mentoring other copywriters and absolutely fell in LOVE with coaching. This inspired me to begin apprenticeship and supervision as a coach, as I began building the coaching side of my business.
The big shakeup/ catalyst moment came in 2022 when I survived a fatal fire, losing almost everything. This led me to undergo deeper healing than ever before and expand the coaching side of my business to support creative souls more deeply as they navigated all cycles of life and creativity. What followed was about 18 months of major life changes, leading me to expand my creativity and soul’s work.
I began to show my paintings (something I’d previously kept quite secret) to the public, being featured in two group art shows. This led to other opportunities like creating a commission piece for an international client! As I continue to bloom and expand into all sides of my creative being, I really feel that it’s part of my purpose to SHINE my light proudly so that other creative souls can find safe haven in my community. To feel SEEN and HEARD.
Work With Me:
1. Soul’s Purpose: 1-1 coaching sessions – available anytime https://laurenosselton.com/discover-your-souls-purpose
2. Messaging Magic: group coaching program – for creative entrepreneurs https://laurenosselton.com/messaging-magic
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I think if I had to narrow down 3 skills (that I have intentionally worked hard on) that are the greatest asset to my life it’s these: 1. Resiliency: So it gets easier and quicker to ‘bounce back’ from setbacks or ‘failures’
2. Emotional Intelligence: It’s severely under-credited when it’s SO beneficial to being an effective leader, creative, friend, and more!
3. Communication: clarity in communication will serve you far.
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
1. I let myself feel what I need to feel (I’m a big fan of crying it out when needed – release it!) 2. I avoid ‘scrolling’ or opening up other distracting external influences
3. I take a walk or a shower – something to shake out the energy
4. I dump out everything that’s in my mind (overwhelming me) onto a blank sheet of paper
5. I highlight or circle the things that are the most urgent, and otherwise begin to prioritize the list
6. I add all of these to my project management system (I use and love Asana!), making sure that everything on my list is now in that system.
7. I begin to triage these tasks, assigning dates to each.
8. I remind myself that I can handle this, and that now all these tasks are accounted for so I can let them leave my valuable brainspace.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.laurenosselton.com/coaching
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauren.osselton/?hl=en
