Meet Liam Mysterious Woodard

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Liam Mysterious Woodard a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Liam Mysterious, so glad you were able to set aside some time for us today. We’ve always admired not just your journey and success, but also the seemingly high levels of self-discipline that you seem to have mastered and so maybe we can start by chatting about how you developed it or where it comes from?

So, as someone with ADHD, I want to laugh and simply say a combination of my adhd meds, caffeine and my bullet journal, and there’s definitely a significant grain of truth to that answer! But in a more general sense, I think that self-discipline is an interesting concept, and one that’s sometimes overrated, and sometimes greatly undervalued. I think that it’s invaluable to keep showing up, to move your goals forward a little bit each day. I also think it’s very easy to think that means that you come at each day at 100%, and that’s just not possible. I think discipline can only happen within realistic goals, and if you’re like me, it takes a long time to learn what is actually a realistic expectation for how your time can be used. But if you keep at it, it’s definitely learnable.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

Hi, I’m a clown and circus arts teacher currently working on restoring a hundred year old building to create a creative environment to host students to study clown!
In between the renovation work we’re doing here, I’ve gotten the opportunity to participate in a virtual exhibit/art sale that is a fundraiser for a cause that’s very dear to my heart. An organization called Trans Rescue does exactly what it implies in the name. They help trans refugees flee hostile situations/countries and get set up somewhere safe.
As a trans man myself, who’s just recently fled a state where I saw too many proposed laws that would endanger me, I feel that getting people out of even more dangerous situations and to places where people can live their lives as themselves is an incredibly valuable mission.
I feel very lucky to be able to participate, and I hope that we can make a difference for this amazing organization.
If you want to know more, all the details are available here:
https://rescue-trans-rescue.glitch.me/

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?

Let’s see. I’m going to give you one of each. For a general quality, I’d say curiosity. Being curious about the world is how I’ve found myself in all sorts of interesting situations, meeting interesting people, and developing new skills.
Most impactful skill? Learning to listen. Really listen. Listening and asking questions until you really understand the people around you. Understanding where people are coming from, what they want, and why they want it, goes a long way to helping everyone get what they want out of an interaction. And sometimes all people are really looking for is to be heard.
An area of knowledge is, surprisingly (to me at least), learning how to build things. How things are constructed. I never would have expected how much some basic handyman skills would have impacted my life.
In advice for those early on their journeys, I’d say keep an open mind. Dive into the things you have an interest in, listen to people you interact with, and don’t write off a skill set. You really never know when it might be useful. If it’s interesting to you, go ahead and get that skill under your belt, to whatever degree you want. You’ll find ways to use it later.

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?

I often struggle with feeling overwhelmed. My best advice comes in two pieces.
1.) Give yourself space/time to calm down. This is more easily said than done, but I believe in you.
2.) Figure out what the smallest possible next step is. Decide to take *that step*. Don’t worry about the rest of it. The rest of it will either come today, or tomorrow, or sometime, but first we take that *next step*. And if that next step is “go on *one* errand” that’s ok. If that next step is “put on shoes”, that’s ok too. Sometimes putting on your shoes is all you can handle in this moment, and once you’ve got your shoes on, maybe *then* you can handle walking out to the car. And if you can’t? That’s ok, you’ll do a different next step on another process, probably one where you needed to put your shoes on to do it. ’cause you’ll feel silly taking them back off right away. That’s how I do it, and I’m doing alright!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://circusfreaks.org
• Other: Personal Website: https://socialgaff.whirling.top
  Fediverse: https://cathode.church/@SocialGaff

Image Credits

Russ Sharek

Circus Freaks

John Allen Grant

Wetdryvac