Meet Allison Barrick

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Allison Barrick. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Allison below.

Allison, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?

There once was a four-year-old little girl who used to be able to trick her two older sisters into doing chores for her (under the guise of playing “princess”, of course). She loved who she was, perhaps a little too much at times, and she never shied away at getting her way when she had the chance. This vibrant girl took even her male playmate to task when he declared that, “girls can’t play with lightsabers”. She was bold, confident, and fearless.

This little girl did not grow up to be a politician, CEO, or some other successful kind of woman, leaving shards of the glass ceiling in her wake. Unfortunately, our heroine encountered a number of dragons that threatened her sense of self-worth, nearly destroying it completely. Instead of ruling the world, I flailed and floundered.

Yes, I was that spunky four-year-old with dreams of ruling the world. As I grew up, so did self-doubt and self-deprecation. By the time I was in my 20s, I believed that I had to be perfect all the time to be liked and loved by others. Insecurity dominated my life.

During the 2020 pandemic, I hit rock bottom. The physical isolation manifested my extreme loneliness. I began to struggle with hints of suicidal ideation, which prompted daily panic attacks. The world was a mess, and I was too.

One morning, I poured my coffee and began my prayer time. As I prayed, I realized that two choices lay ahead of me: I could either surrender, admit that I needed help, or I could continue to traverse down the road of self-destruction. I chose the former path.

Through therapy, a community of friends, and my Catholic faith, I started down the road of healing. I definitely had my ups and downs throughout, and ultimately, I realized the key to my healing was surrender. I had to surrender the selves I could never be: the one that never made mistakes, the one that never slipped up, the one who did everything exactly right. I pulled back the heavy, stifling curtains of anxiety and perfectionism, and I rediscovered that same spunky, fun-loving, creative girl I used to be. In letting go, I found myself again.

Since then, I have I healed and grown by leaps and bounds. I’m trying new things (the current one being a pottery class), going on new adventures, and taking chances. While I’m certainly a work in progress, that’s okay by me. I am learning to love myself, and I am excited to see what parts of me are yet to be discovered.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I work as a marketing specialist for a Catholic publishing company, and outside of work, I am passionate about creating art. Whether that be through writing, painting, making jewelry, or some other hobby, I love exploring my own creativity. Immersing myself in beauty through nature is also one of my favorite ways to recharge and find inspiration.

You can follow me at @allisontheamateur on Instagram and see more of my work at www.allisonnbarrick.com.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

The three qualities I found most impactful in my own healing journey I find integral to my faith in Christ. As cheesy and cliche as it might sound, I do not believe I would be where I am today without his grace in my life.

That said, I believe anyone can benefit from these three qualities, regardless of your beliefs or background. The first is knowledge that you are completely loveable, even if you don’t feel whole. Even when you feel like you’re at your worst, whether it’s personally or professionally or in another area of life, you are still someone who not only deserves to be loved, but you can be loved. Being loveable and broken are not mutually exclusive.

The second piece is that you cannot control how other people feel. Part of my own anxiety is being afraid of what others think of me, which can lead to me trying to make them like me. My sister reminds me all of the time that I am not and cannot be in control of what others think or feel. If someone disagrees with me, criticizes my work, or gets impatient with me at the grocery store, it doesn’t diminish my own worth, nor should it be a reflection on my own identity.

The third piece is that there is always more of you to discover. Just as there is an infinite vast of knowledge in the universe, so do I believe that there is a same richness in each one of us. One of my great inspirations of this is my great-great-great grandmother. At 84, she was a gardener, a singer, a lacemaker (she would even design her own patterns), a connoisseur of books and magazines, and more. Grandma Anastasia’s life taught me that you are never too old to learn something new or uncover a part of you that you never realized was there before.

Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?

A book that has begun to play a huge role in my growth of late is “The Artist’s Way.” It’s a course in book form that lasts for 12 weeks, and I’ve already seen how much is it is helping me grow and empowering me in my confidence as an artist. I’m excited to discover even more golden nuggets in the coming weeks, but here are a few that I have claimed so far:

1) Journaling is excellent for mental health. Julia Cameron, the author, instructs readers to spend time each morning to handwrite three full pages. She’s emphatic that it must be three, no more, no less, and they must be done in the morning. But other than that, the pages are for you to brain dump, to put your stream of consciousness on paper. I struggled with this exercise at first, but once I found my rhythm, I was astonished to see what desires were bubbling up to the surface. In just the past four weeks, I have had breakthroughs, profound realizations, and new creative ideas form. It has provided me an outlet I didn’t have otherwise, and I have found myself thinking more clearly throughout the day. It’s given me more confidence in my decision-making, and more sure about what it is I want.

2) Our dreams are worth pursuing, no matter how big they seem. In one chapter, Julia describes a few personas who have dreams or say, “I could do this or that better.” She poses the question, “What is stopping you?” I am sure that each person has unfulfilled dreams, but I bet even fewer consider why those dreams remain unfulfilled. I wonder how many of those dreams are stalled out of fear – fear of failure, fear of the unknown, even fear of success. (If I succeed, what kind of responsibility will I have?) But those fears shouldn’t stop us from getting started. Writing an award-winning screenplay is massively daunting, but I don’t need to accomplish this goal by tomorrow. I can simply begin by writing an outline. Next week, I can write the first page. A month later, I could finish the first act. Will it be a movie that Netflix will produce? Maybe not, and probably not. But I will surely develop skills of discipline, learn a new form of writing, and tell a story worth sharing, even if it’s only with friends and family. And who knows what skills or other talents I may uncover along the way?

3) Rediscovering our inner child is rejuvenating. Each week, Julia Cameron encourages the reader to take an “Artist’s Date.” This date is meant to be done by yourself and, perhaps most importantly, must delight you. These dates are not an opportunity to get errands done, but to do the frivolous, the whimsical, the magical. As adults, we get bogged down by responsibilities and expectations, and it seems as though we have forgotten how to play. Taking a little time each week to take a walk in nature, try takeout from a new cuisine, spending 15 minutes on a Lego project, or even dancing alone in your room allows us to have fun again. These little moments bring beauty and meaning back into our lives, and prevent us from getting too bogged down by the heaviness life can bring.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.allisonnbarrick.com
• Instagram: @alliebeecreates
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allison-barrick/
• Other: Etsy: www.etsy.com/shop/alliebeecreates