Mental Health for Creative Souls.

This week’s Wake-Up Call is a fun experiment.

I spend much of my time writing or behind a mic. By the time you interact with anything I create, it’s almost always heavily edited.

Today, we break that pattern…

My friend,

Sarah Fay

asked if I’d join her and

Laura McKowen

for a live conversation on mental health for creatives.

Of course, I said yes.

Sarah writes Substack Writers at Work with Sarah Fay, and is what my grandma would’ve called in Yiddish a “macher” on the platform. She gets things done in a big way, and helps others do the same. She’s also the author of the Cured and Pathological, and a Northwestern University faculty member.

Laura writes the

Love Story

Substack, and is the bestselling author of We Are The Luckiest and Push Off From Here. She’s also the founder of The Luckiest Club sobriety support community. She came out of a self-imposed book writing exile to join us in conversation, and I’m so glad she did.

More important, both are good humans with big hearts and a whole lot of wisdom and curiosity.

This is a conversation we co-created live on

Substack

earlier in the week, so no editing, it’s just the three of us jamming about a topic that is near and dear to all of us: mental health for creative humans.

You need not call yourself “a creative,” in order to find alignment or value in this conversation.

I believe we are all creatives. We are all embedded in the collective quest to create lives of meaning, joy, and connection. It’s about a willingness to step into the void, trust a certain aesthetic sensibility, and make something from nothing. Not too infrequently, that something is a life.

In this conversation, we explore:

• How we define mental health

• Why mental health can sometimes be challenged when we strive to make new things

• Strategies and practices that help us be okay in the space of uncertainty, do the work we’re here to do, and live the lives we aspire to live

I loved learning from these wise friends, and hope you do, too.

With a whole lotta love & gratitude,

Jonathan

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Wake-Up Call #49 | Mental Health for Creative Beings.

Watch the video.

Being in, as I call it, “creation mode,” can be both exhilarating, and challenging. Laden with possibility and potential, yet also uncertainty and a certain baseline discontent that, if we’re not vigilant, can tip into suffering.

That doesn’t mean anything’s wrong, it just means your human. And there are things you can do, things we talk about, that can help sustain a healthier mental state along the way.

This week, maybe explore some of the ideas we shared in conversation—the tools, practices, and strategies—for finding greater peace and ease as you navigate the creative abyss.

Which resonate? Which do you already do? Which might you try?

As always, think on it. Walk with it.

And, if you’re inclined, share YOUR take on what mental health is FOR YOU, and what practices keep you connected to it in the comments.