Creative tension isn't Sexy anymore.

Blurring the lines entrepreneurship, creativity and motherhood.

I don’t see separation when it comes to entrepreneurship and art.

There is an energy that a passionate entrepreneur works with.

It’s beyond themselves.

It’s the same for an artist.

Their journeys mirror one another.

The starving entrepreneur // The starving artist.

The willingness to sacrifice it all for the vision.

The devotion.

Craving the pulse that will wake them in the morning and “Get to work”

(Even if that work looks like working smarter not harder or creating in new ways.)

Let’s start off with a sexy quote.

The ones who create things out of nothing, 
out of just their vision 
- are sculptors, 
or painters or writers, 
who look at a blank canvas and next thing you know, 
there's a starry night,
Or see a blank score sheet and next thing you know, 
there's Beethovens Ninth. 

Founders operate the same way. 
They have a vision of something that might be. 
Much like artists, 
it's the passion to bring that vision to fruition that drives you past all those miserable times. 
The good news is, 
we kind of understand that being an artist is a calling, not a job. 
The same is true for entrepreneurship"

-Steve Blank. 

** Cover photo of this article is by the artist Elia Pelle.

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Devotion, oh so sexy.

The willingness to give it all, to be totally and utterly in service to some godly energy moving through us.

When you become a mother - the romantic devotion of “I’ll give it all of myself” becomes a lot more unrealistic (and a lot less romantic).

And nobody is talking about it.

Mainly because the undernourishment of the self means the vision simply wont come to life.

We prioritise our children and family (as we should).

Though that creative energy keeps on knocking.

The muse at our door.

It cannot be ignored.

This is the creative tension creatives feel - but especially mothers due to not being able to freely act in the moment. The creative tension that has us feeling suffocated, turned on, frustrated, numbed out, and grateful all at once.

Creative tension.

Let’s talk about that for a hot second because it’s unique for the mother makers.

I once experienced creative tension as a flirty energy.

A bit of back and forward. A bit of cat and mouse.

I had lot’s of time and emotional space to play with this.

Learn it. Dance with it. It felt playful and fun. Like a challenge I wanted. A chase I could catch.

Then, I became a mother. I could no longer see creative tension as a lover in my life. Instead… I had to see it as a partnership - and I now, had some boundaries and expectations.

(Sorry

Elizabeth Gilbert

I get that we are not meant to hold our creativity to expectations, but I can vouch for the day where I set up an energetic contract with my ideas, and they showed the fuck up and now - We have an incredibly nourishing relationship and the starving artist is no longer)

The flirty anticipation of creative ideas held tension and I got somewhat turned on by it.

When I became a mother -
The anticipation became uncomfortable, like the surges of labour.

I found that I didn’t have time, energy, resources or emotional energy to bring it all to life anymore. I didn’t have consistent time and space (energy or mental clarity) to dive head first into the abyss.

The discomfort is so much less sexy now.

It’s uncomfortable to not know when I’ll be able to bring something to life.

or how on earth I’ll create a physical thing to match what’s in my minds eye.

It’s uncomfortable to lean into trust or the natural timing of it all.

If you are experiencing some creative tension as a mother, I promise you there are gifts and beauty in the slow reveal.

Many of our ideas do NOT come to life FROM the version of who we are right now.

Our ideas (Or business) are supposed to initiate us through the creative tension, (Aka creative labour) into the woman we are to become in order to hold the vision in it’s fullness. Hold the responsibility of our offering in the world. Hold the leadership that is often required to build something that feels worthwhile.

This requires us to become so damn present with our creative process. To know it intimately, like when we are in those early stages of labour, moving and rocking our hips. Present with the beginning tingles of that oncoming surge. The breath. The acknowledgement of being at the peak of a contraction, and then sinking into the rest of the expansion. Honouring the peace and moment of space before we get closer to meeting our creative baby.

I have a billion ideas. A billion creative little eggs awaiting their conception patiently in my metaphorical creative ovaries where Ideas are held.

It hurts me (so bad) that I cant do them all straight away. I know, obviously, that at the end of the day, my kids and family come first.

I also know, at the end of the day, many of those little eggs will remain that way - or perhaps float away through the cosmos to a creative mother who can prioritise them.

(Also, let’s just check in… I’m not actually interested in birthing a billion idea babies. I am sure that will deplete me more than birthing a billion actual babies.)

But fuck this tension.

So what do I do and what do I encourage you to do?

I call in resources.
I call in support.

I call in mentorship.

I call in companionship.

Resources: Of time, of money, of education - so that I can honour the idea like it needs. This can be in the form of investments, grants, my own savings, borrowing $, putting our a smaller offering to fund a bigger one, angel investors, a nanny or some sort of casual care, pivoting family dynamics so Tully can have the kids more etc.

Support: This goes hand in hand with the above - Care for children, changing schedules, support in the home so there is less mental load, claiming time and space.

This also looks like hiring a team, outsourcing anything that is not your genius so that you can show up and be nourished by the work you do. You can get creative with this, and you’d be surprised at how many others have skills you don’t, who would love a collaboration or swap.

Mentorship: Often we need someone to spot our blind spots while simultaneously believing in our vision. We need the accountability to keep showing up in aligned ways even when it feels hard. Someone to bounce off, learn from and open you up to alternative paths of possibility.

Companionship: There’s nothing worse than feeling like a lone wolf as a mother in business and creative entrepreneurship. We want to know we aren’t the only ones getting after it. We aren’t boss babes. We aren’t “pre kids.” We aren’t only thinking about mothering all day. We need to be connected to the mother creatives who breathe life into possibility and are showing us examples of what could be done. While connected to intuition. While intimate with creativity. While owning that they want to make money, but they aren’t willing to sacrifice core values for it.

Then I also address my own emotional needs, and those of the kids/ family.

Making sure there is support for harmony.

The tension becomes beautiful Medicine

It’s all on purpose. This slow reveal.

In hindsight all the dots join and it makes sense.
You’ll find yourself thanking the creative gods for not rushing you.

Because there is more to the vision than we can see in the moment.

Our vision KNOWS we are mothers and wants it to be a nourishing experience for us.
It doesn’t request for us to burn out. To be undernourished and overcommitted.

Our visions choose US to bring it to life and understand the complexity of motherhood in that.

The slow reveal allows our ideas, our business, our vision to grow and evolve better than had we got it all out fast.

Art of Alchemy came to me two and a half years before I ACTUALLY brought it to life. I mean, I tried. I soft launched. I felt like all the pieces weren’t there but I was so excited. It flopped. It felt wrong. I refunded, and pulled back and it wasn’t until two years later that I had the clarity, experience, and vision to bring it to life. That time, it far from flopped and I’ve worked with 200+ mother makers, with another 70+ about to begin their journey with me.

Similar to in the ways our parenting holds more wisdom over time.

the discomfort stretches us and makes us become comfortable within it.

What an incredible skill set to develop.

We become so good at being in the discomfort during the mundane of our life as mothers sometimes. We know what it’s like to be bored, or have to stretch to find the magic in the small things.

There is always more to be revealed, and we, as women and as mothers, are changing by simply sitting in the tension.

It comes in surges.

We go “all in” on the tension and the limbo of being between worlds.

Then we are all in on creative execution.

Then, we enter a dark night of the soul where we are totally and utterly convinced that we will never create anything cool again.

Then we create and birth, we celebrate and nurture, we refine and pivot.

Then tension.

This is the cycle because we are cyclical as women.

We were NEVER meant to be consistent.

Always on. Always available. Always accessible.

No.

We dance differently and it’s the very reason why we create total magic.

So, an ode to all of you mother makers.

I see you

I am you.

---

To be a creative, to be a founder or whatever your blend of both is - Is like the same blood moving through two different bodies. The essence is the same.

This is what I love to translate to the Mother Makers.

You are a creative, you are an entrepreneur. You do business connected with spirit. You want to make change. You want to create resources out of thin air. You want to bring a vision to LIFE - It keeps you up at night and you are not willing to sacrifice your family, or flirt with hustle culture and remnants of the industrial era of disconnect to get there.

Love Kat.

PS. There are only 10 days left to join me and the other 72+++ mother makers in my LAST intake of Art of Alchemy - my signature 12 week online journey through ceremony, intuition, business energetics, creative culture, deconstructing motherhood, creativity, money, our inner worlds, sabotage, co-creation, how creativity and sexuality are interwoven, how your human design and astrology impact how you sell, market and create, and how to redefine our relationship to social media so it’s social. Plus so much more.

Check out the full module break down that over 200 other mother makers have walked, testimonials, and all the bonus content here: