Meet Christopher Spivery

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Christopher Spivery a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Christopher , we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?

Growing up I was shy, introverted and socially awkward. So I developed a pretty moderate fear of people and social situations. I wasn’t comfortable with things like presentations or being the center of attention. Not knowing how to healthily deal with my anxiety I spent most of my time in my head, judging myself for my shortcomings and others. Despite that I desperately wanted to connect with many people but I thought of myself as too much of a loser to be worthy of that. I blamed myself for my loneliness and I ended up hiding who I was from people to try to form bonds, this is something that was a constant about me until my early 30s.

In 2020 I experienced what I would call a spiritual awakening where I felt a calling or a pull to change. I started to develop an interest in meditating, journaling, practicing self discovery. Through this I started to develop a better relationship with myself. Then I started taking risks that challenged my fear and anxiety about social situations.

This meant speaking my mind in environments where I feared might be judged negatively, posting journal entries about my experiences and words of support to myself onto the internet, jumping into job field that put me in front of people instead of away from people in the form of group fitness coaching, applying for events to vend. Pretty much a focus being myself and getting myself in front people. Challenging the way I saw the world.

Even now I wouldn’t say that I’m totally confident in myself currently still battling with social anxiety, but I can see that I am miles ahead of where I used to be. All it took was a little faith and perseverance and I’m grateful for it.

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

My brand/handle is BMVN, which is an acronym. It means Building My Vocal Nation.
It started in 2020, it’s about empowerment and honoring the value of our voice. I want to encourage people to speak up and embody their truth, especially in the face of adversity because I know how first hand how hard it can be. If it can help someone move through similar struggles then my brand is doing its job.

I have a passion for comics and character creation. I’m currently working on a comic called “Korina Trials of the Shadow”. The story is centered around a girl named Korina who is learning how to be herself in the world, confronted by the inner being that she rejects in her shadow. Currently it is hosted on a website called KanmeStudios. I plan on having physical copies of the first trial by Dec 15 2024.

In the comic series I explore themes like shame, anxiety, rejection and more. These themes also show up on my Instagram in monologues on reels, as interactive sections at my table at events and in my print/sticker series.

These themes are currently the central focus of my brand, art and both at events. In 2023 I had a focus on shame. I started with a series built around shame with 6 prints total.
Some of these prints came with hand drawn artwork done by me on the back of the print, there are 250 total of these in the first series. It is a thank you for my first supporters and it’s a trend I plan on continuing with every new series I roll out. The next series will be about Fear and it will have about 75 limited prints versions this time. The fear series will be fully rolled out in the Fall/Winter season. So be on the look out for that.

If anyone wants to know what events I’ll be at, listen to my monologues about life and our emotions or even just keep up to date on what I have going on artwise. My Instagram @Bmvn88 is the best place for it.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Looking back

Knowledge about the shadow self has been the most impactful piece for my in my journey of life. Until I explored this concept I didn’t really know who I was, just who I thought I was. It wasn’t until I started to challenge my ego (I was an inadequate loser) and thought process by digging deep into why I looked at myself the way, that I started to break free of the wall that I built up around me and society. So if you haven’t heard of “shadow work” look it up. It can literally change your life.

Another piece that has been very impactful for me is the understanding that how people think about me or respond to me isn’t a reflection of me. It isn’t my burden or responsibility to carry other people’s emotions. It also isn’t my responsibility to help people become more comfortable with my presence. It is my responsibility to manage my emotions and I do not need to manage the world around me. Trying to manage people and their emotions or making myself small in order to fit into places that doesn’t have the capacity to see me fully is manipulative and exhausting. Our time could be better used elsewhere.

The final piece pretty much piggybacking on the point is about authenticity. Authenticity inspires. Authenticity moves. Authenticity connects. Authenticity can be difficult but it doesn’t have to be hard. With a bit of work and understanding of ourselves it can be done. We as humans have more in common than we sometimes think we do and likely the whatever it is that we are struggling with someone is or has. You could be the reason that someone picks up art, cooking, music, stops hiding their dorkiness or whatever it may be. Share what you’re passionate about. Take up space. already overcome. Don’t sell yourself short. Be bold enough to be authentic and vulnerable because you never know what type of impact that it will have on those around you. Be yourself I know it sounds cliche but you never push away what is meant for you by doing that.

We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?

Ahh the age old question. Get stronger at what I’m weak at? or Improve what I’m already good at? Personally I believe it’s better to go deeper into our strengths.

I want to lead with I don’t think improving at what were weak at is a bad thing and improving on that can make us fundamentally stronger but I am a believer that we can go much further with that already comes natural to us. We are all unique. How we think is unique, our experiences are unique, how we see is unique and there’s a richness in that. There are some things that come naturally to us I believe that’s where we find our purpose, our style, our place and where we can have the most impact.

The way I see it is I could spend 20 years on something that is against my nature and only end up decent at it because I’m fighting myself. On the other hand I could spend 20 years leaning into my nature refining it and be a master at it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bio.site/Bmvn
• Instagram: Bmvn88