Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lindsey Mcdermott. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Lindsey, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
For most of my life I arranged myself to become what other people needed me to be. If I needed to be smaller or softer or less sure of myself, I would do that. When I turned 40 most of my self-identifiers started falling away. My 20 marriage was ended, my relationship with religion was changing, I was no longer having babies, my career and friends and most of what I knew about life was changing. In 2020, right as Covid was hitting, my marriage finally broke. With that went the last of the identities I had built up to keep myself safe. After my divorce I experienced a tumultuous two years of additional loss. And then, I started to heal. I instituted new rituals, meditation practices, hiking, grounding, sunshine, and I found that the things that used to hurt me so deeply were softer around the edges. Over time I found I had more flexibility in my thoughts and practices. I found resiliency in my sorrow, in my healing, and in my growth.
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?
I am a branding and creative portrait photographer based out of Salt Lake City, Utah. I’m also a single mother to three children and my life revolves around creativity, mothering, connection and story telling. Most my work is now guided by my healing journey and uncovering my soul purpose. I have found that is deeply related to nature, finding magic in the mundane, stillness and witnessing.
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?
In college I studied Fine Art and received my BFA in photography. I think that was so instrumental in understanding the history of art and photography and it’s place in the art world. I would say be a people person and deeply curious about human stories is key to what I do. I’m a people watcher and endlessly curious about the world around me. Traveling has been incredibly important for getting out of my own world and my own bubble. Being exposed to different ways of navigating the world has been so invaluable to me.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
My number one challenge always is financial scarcity mindset. It can really play with my head, along with imposter syndrome. It feels like a deep story and an old wound and I’m currently meditating and sitting with it, to unpack layers and to help me foster abundance. I think being a single mom has really played into this fear, since I’m responsible for three children on my own. It can be overwhelming navigating life on your own. Fostering a village is slow growing, but it has grown organically.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lindseystewartphotography.com
- Instagram: lindseystewartphotography
Image Credits
Image credit @brookeschultz for the headshot image
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