We were lucky to catch up with Malory Wride recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Malory, 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?
I come from two long lines of artists. Each of their own craft, but artists none the less. If I had to credit me resilience to once source, I would say it’s from my ancestors. When I feel uninspired or unimportant, I’ll talk to them and ask them for the motivation to do something. Whether it’s showing up for an art piece, or sweeping my house. I ask, they help. Sometimes it’s an unseen energy, sometimes it’s calling my mom for a pep talk. I’ve also read many artistic inspiration books over the years like The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron or Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. An idea that has stuck with me and motivated me is that I am not where the work comes from, I’m where it comes through. The art is a living entity of its own that wants to be created. By showing up on the canvas every day, even when my inner critic says I suck or it doesn’t matter, I am showing art that I am a reliable source, through which it can be brought to life. By removing myself from the greatness, I remove the pressure to be great. I hold myself responsible for the time I put into things, not for the quality of the idea. This removes my ego from my work, and gives me power in the areas that are within my control and thus, the resilience to show up and know that that alone is enough.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am an empath, and I base my career choices around this. Sometimes it’s seen as a curse, but in choosing to work with it instead of against it, I’ve found my purpose. My artwork is a reflection of my inner softness, of the inner softness we. All have. I want to speak to the parts of people that they forget about, or feelings they may suppress. There can be something so comforting about knowing that whatever it is you’re going through, you’re not alone in it. Yoga came to me in a time of need. I was living in a tiny box of an apartment in Chelsea, New York and working from home once covid hit. Being an extrovert and a Sagittarius, I needed to explore something. I deleted social medias and found myself experimenting with meditation and yoga. All that curious and expansive energy was being directed inwards, and I was discovering my inner world. I was finally able to go to outdoor yoga classes and I’ve had some of the most profound experiences. All of which was reflected in my artwork. I found so much healing in the yogic world, and I wanted to help people find their own healing. The need to create space for self discovery was born.
Massage Therapy is a new journey that I’m on, and it’s an even more literal approach to providing healing to the world. I just started schooling for this, so I”m not officially a massage therapist but it feels like the next step in my path. I’ve already loved to see the impact this has had on my artwork.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
One of the most important skills/qualities you can have, is to trust yourself. Trusting yourself leads to belief in yourself and belief in the fact that the universe is supporting you. Trusting in the process is another by product of this. Trust in your charisma to sell your art. Trust that the seed you are watering will one day sprout, when the time is right. Know that it’s ok to have fear, and that you can hear it out, but never let it make the decisions. Fear is a survival emotion that wants to keep you alive, it loves you and wants to keep you safe, how sweet! Sometimes you just need to remind it that if you fail at this thing you’re doing, it literally won’t be the end of the world. Fear likes to dramatize like that.
The final thing that might be the most important thing would be to have real heart to hearts with yourself. Is this what you want for your life? How is what I’m doing aligning with my goals? How can I better show up? How can I find a way to be proud of myself and celebrate the wins I’ve had so far? Celebrating past successes can be a great way to find emotional support for yourself moving forward.
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
I used be quite good at making myself feel overwhelmed. I would write a long, often unrealistic list of goals for myself every month as well as a large weekly to do list. Often I would only be able to achieve about ½ of them. Then I would feel bad about myself and debate if I should take time out of my 8 hour sleep schedule in order to have more time to do all of these things and that would lead to overwhelm. Then I listened to a few podcasts that spoke about the importance of setting realistic goals for yourself. That idea had never occurred to me! Don’t take on more than you can handle. If I’m trying to finish one thing while worry about multiple others, that can affect the quality of my work. I started with just a few goals each month and I am able to give each my all, guilt and overwhelm free.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @malorywride
- Facebook: Malory Wride
Image Credits
@rxannephotography
