We recently connected with Joy Donnell and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Joy, thank you so much for making time for us today. Let’s jump right into a question so many in our community are looking for answers to – how to overcome creativity blocks, writer’s block, etc. We’d love to hear your thoughts or any advice you might have.
I used to think perfectionism was noble. That was, until I started realizing that it was slowing me down. It was keeping me from being in flow.
Whenever I find myself spinning creatively, its usually because I’m attached to some fantasy I have about the path or fear I have about the outcome. I’ve gotten it in my head that it needs to sound a certain way or be some kind of way in order to be correct.
I know that trauma taught me this. So I work on soothing that trauma response, which is what the need for perfectionism is — a trauma response. Letting go and allowing yourself to be is the only cure. Self-compassion releases the pressure.
The goal doesn’t have to materialize as-is. Every creative piece has myriad possible futures, and they can’t be controlled. That helps me feel relieved. Perfectionism is a myth that will trick us into abandoning the creative process when all we really needed to do was amend the idea of how the process looks.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Every story has an economy. It has stakeholders and shareholders. It’s capable of growth and entropy. I’m a storyteller who understands growth strategy. I write, produce, and consult on narrative strategy and transformative storytelling.
Five years ago, I published Beyond Brand, my first book. It’s about personal branding through the lens of personal development. Social media encourages folks to become a personal brand, a content creator, and a media distributor. No one was asking how this makes us feel. No one was acknowledging that we’re being expected to play with the media while having very little education on how our media system, branding ideologies, and publicity strategies are rooted in war communications. And people were feeling a way even when they couldn’t fully describe what they were feeling.
I do a lot of public speaking and I had three panels in a row where during the Q&A someone asked, ‘How do I maintain my authenticity while building my personal brand?’ When I asked the audience member, “What would you like your cultural legacy to be?” the authenticity question evaporated. It seems that people think they have to falsify themselves to be a brand, but they know that the legacy they want to leave needs to be real and true. Being pressured to be a brand is fragmenting a lot of people. That fragmentation is dampening their innate joy. It was too much to talk about on panels. So I needed to write it out.
My second book is a collection of poetry and prose that examines self-compassion as our birthright called Show Us Your Fire. That might not sound like an obvious companion to Beyond Brand, but it is. It explores radical self-love as a disruptive gateway to personal healing, restorative narratives, and the co-creation of sacred social space.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
We’re self-made and we’re socially made. Opening myself up to community and allowing myself to be vulnerable has saved me time and again. I feel fortunate to have an amazing core group that I trust. You’ve got to have folks in your life with which you can relax and just be. I have people and places in my life where I experience an effortless sense of belonging. That ease helps me heal and grow.
Rest is also key. Rest is a right, not a reward.
But none of this community, rest, and self-liberation means anything without discipline. Self-compassion is a discipline. The determination to keep going is a discipline. Investing in yourself spiritually, financially, socially, physically, emotionally… all of that requires discipline.
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
Last year, I started thinking heavily about how many dystopian stories exist in our entertainment media. We all know these movies and video games. Something happens, maybe zombies or disaster, and capitalism collapses, so anarchy flourishes. It’s a world overrun with badlands.
But in reality, when natural disasters happen, the data shows us that people help each other. Groups of strangers pull babies from rubble. Someone jumps on a four-wheeler and starts delivered lunches. Folks gather, clean up and take care of one another.
So, I started challenging myself to write fiction that thinks differently about our future. I realized how much my brain has been conditioned to think about our climate and society solely through the lens of disaster, annihilation, distrust, and hopelessness. I’ve been exercising my imagination to stretch into other worlds that could exist if we are willing to do the real work of togetherness. We need media that can engage us while modeling the world we want to create. Not just stories steeped in the fear of the world that might become.
Contact Info:
- Website: doitinpublic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doitinpublic/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doitinpublic/
- Other: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Joy-Donnell/author/B07YYM1CRS
Image Credits
Kai Byrd; Do The Work Podcast with Denise Love Hewett; Superjoy Media
