Story & Lesson Highlights with Sophie Chan-Sady of Manhattan

Sophie Chan-Sady shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Hi Sophie, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
The first 90 minutes of my day are what set the tone for the rest of the day for me. I wake up next to my husband and we start our days together. We begin by praying over our day, and he gets up to make coffee while I might lay in bed a little longer. We each do our morning routines of getting ready, making the bed, and for him it’s sipping his coffee. I’m not a coffee or tea person, even though I’d like to be. I love mornings, especially slow ones. Next on our routine is spending time with Jesus. We each grab our Bibles and journals and spend some time with the Lord before the chaos of the day begins. This is the most crucial part of my day. If I don’t start with my devotional time, I feel like my heart isn’t in the right place. I get to reflect and ponder on the Word of God, journal a bit, pray, and rest in Jesus. Then, I will go ahead and look at my to-do list for the day. Depending on what needs to be done, I typically start with replying to texts/emails. I usually have morning meetings with my supervisor or someone I’m discipling, so that will conclude the first 90 minutes of my day!

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hi! My name is Sophie and I might be known online as:
Youtube: SophieCViolin
Instagram: @jemviolin

I love music. I’m a violinist and I have been for almost my whole life. What I learned when I went to conservatory for my violin performance degree, though, is that though I love music, my deeper passion lies with people. I love music, but what I love most isn’t the music itself. It’s what music can do for others.
That being said, another one of my hobbies is content creation. With every video I create, I hope to inspire others or help them in some way. I hope to share life from my point of view, find beauty in the mundane, and to be a source of joy in this world. On my platforms, I create content related to violin, artistry, life musings, humanity, and snippets of my life.
One thing center to all that I do is my love for Jesus. I believe that because of Him, I can give to others from a place of overflowing. I hope that my channels can be a source of blessing for you.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What relationship most shaped how you see yourself?
My relationship with Jesus most shaped how I see myself.
You see, I’m a person who greatly needs purpose to live and do anything. From the moment I entered college, I started to ask myself “why am I a musician?” I didn’t feel good enough to be a violinist. I felt like I wasn’t as hard working, talented, and musical as the person next to me. Thinking ahead to the years following college, I started to wonder what I was supposed to do once I graduated.
When I met Jesus in a way that transformed my identity and removed it from having my worth tied to my performance, to having it as a beloved daughter of God, I felt complete freedom. I felt overflowing with joy, purpose, love, and eyes to see beauty. I viewed music as a gift and not a means to prove myself to someone else.
This shift in my self-perception is to the glory of God. Nothing I did or have done could have set me free from the thoughts that chained me from reaching my full potential. Now, I am confident in who I am, and can create meaningful art that I pray has a positive impact on others.

What fear has held you back the most in your life?
The fear of disappointing others or valuing others’ opinions more than my own has been the fear that holds me back the most in life. It has been debilitating in many ways, but I am thankful that I am outgrowing this fear daily. It was the fear of others’ opinions that held me back from creating an online platform for years, despite it being a dream of mine. It was the fear of disappointing others that made me think I had to go to graduate school after my undergraduate degree. I would be embarrassed if my post idea I was proud of didn’t do well in terms of numbers. I am so glad to be letting go of this perfectionist mindset and being crippled by my own insecurities in this way.

Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Where are smart people getting it totally wrong today?
Hustle culture. The need to constantly be productive, hustling, working hard, being accomplished, proving yourself. I used to be so into productivity, working hard, and proving myself through my accomplishments. My self worth was so tied to my work. I see so many incredibly smart people fall into this same trap. They’re people I care about and love, but they can’t seem to slow down and rest.
Rest is synonymous to lazy or “not good enough” when you’re in this hustle mindset. It’s hard because as a society, I don’t think we value being well-rested. Even though we may intellectually know that not sleeping and overworking is bad for our health, it’s not enough to stop us or slow us down from the things that need to be done. Deep rest is so underrated. Living an unhurried life is beautiful.

Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. Could you give everything your best, even if no one ever praised you for it?
Yes, because that is currently what I’m doing. I’m currently working on an online series called “Mundane Beauty” which acquires limited views, interactions, and praise. But it’s something that is heavy on my heart to share with the world, even if no one receives it well. If this was at the start of my social media journey, I would surely have quit after the first video. This is content that I don’t think people would really slow down to watch, but those that do may greatly benefit from it. I’m posting for those people, whether they say something or not.

It took me a LONG time to get to this point. It took years of training myself with being okay with rejection and failure. I’m still working on being okay with being a nobody and getting zero recognition. It requires true humility that I may never acquire in my lifetime. But, as I’ve learned to shift my worth in my accomplishments to my identity as a child of God, these things have come easier and more naturally. I feel a freedom I could have never fathomed when I post with little attention/reception. This makes me more confident that I could give my best, even if I received no praise or acknowledgement for it.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jemviolin/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SophieCViolin
• Other: Patreon: SophieCViolin

Image Credits
Larry Canner (headshot credit)