Living Your Truth – Details, episodes & analysis

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“Nothing comes as an accomplishment instantly. Success does not come overnight. Patience is the key! Grow up and be the tree; but remember it takes dry and wet seasons to become a fruit bearer, achiever, and impact maker!” - Israelmore Ayivor

• Work with me: 1:1 coaching and mentoring for creatives
• Group program: Embrace
• Book a free 15-min discovery call with me
• Sign up to the fortnightly letters
• Connect with me on instagram @hirasahmed

Rubeena is the business owner of a creative shop, The Gray Muse, a social worker and a psychotherapist by profession. The Gray Muse was founded in 2019 and it is the first enamel pin shop designed specifically with crafters and artists in mind.

In this episode, we talked about setting up a creative business for yourself, enjoying the process more than the outcome, finding your own version of success and the importance of listening to your own intuition to guide the way.

Here's what we talk about in this episode:

• a little background and intro about Rubeena and her work
• how she started her business
• focusing on academics and never allowing her creativity to flourish before turning 29
• learning to combine the artistic and analytical side
• connecting with the artistic side
• art allows you to let go of control and perfectionism
• the process is way more important than the outcome
• the approach is different if you choose to study design or fine arts
• finding your style
• having a sense of play when it comes to creating is important
• becoming okay with good enough work instead of obsessing over the perfect one
• your work will resonate with some people and it won't resonate with others but it is nothing personal
• taking risks and becoming okay with the results
• how becoming a mother taught her to stretch her comfort zone
• the importance of staying curious
• asking for help when you need it
• listening to your intuition
• trusting yourself along the way
• you are more capable than you give yourself credit for
• you can achieve anything you put your mind to is a mindset
• the need to feel like an expert and why we don't believe in the myth of being an expert
• information overload in this era
• finding your very own version of success
• people-pleasing won't take you much far
• the relation between success and your age
• what her day looks like
• advice for someone who wants to start their own creative business

Find links to the resources we discuss in the full show notes.

Rubeena's website and Instagram

Hira's website and Instagram

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Sarah is a watercolor artist, photographer and nature enthusiast based in Seine et Marne, France. She paints beautiful landscapes and she teaches online on Skillshare.

I have been following her work for a while and it was such an honour to invite her and talk to her about her process. In this episode, we chatted about her love for nature and how it inspires her to paint, why is it important for her to create and how it all began. Sarah creates every day. At least one painting a day. I find it fascinating. I hope you'll enjoy learning about her journey too!

Here's what we talk about in this episode:

• a little background and intro about Sarah and her work
• how she lost touch with her creative side while growing up and why that happened
• when money is involved it impacts the way you show up for your creativity
• how moving to the countryside played a role in her connection back to her creativity
• she paints landscapes in watercolors and how it all began
• her struggles in the beginning
• how everything doesn't turn out how you want it to be in the beginning
• learning to accept the beginner stage
• becoming okay with experimenting
• the medium of watercolors invite experimentation
• how she developed her own unique style with time and what the journey of finding her own artistic voice looked like
• committing to practicing
• doing a 100 day project for painting
• current project: 30 day project of painting forest inspired by the colors of autumn
• why is it important for her to create and celebrate nature through her work
• having the time and space to slow down and be mindful
• stepping outside of your comfort zone
• advice for creatives who are struggling to find their own artistic voice
• how she likes to spend her days
• having a morning ritual and starting your day with doing something for yourself that brings you joy
• making a habit of painting a painting every single day
• teaching online skillshare classes
• speaking and teaching in English when it is not your first language
• learning different languages
• focusing more on the process instead of the outcome
• learning that there are no right or wrong ways of doing things especially in creating art
• having a dream and making living from your art
• finding the motivation to keep going
• to or not to monetize your art

Find links to the resources we discuss in the full show notes.

Sarah's website and Instagram

Sarah's Etsy shop and Skillshare courses

Hira's website and Instagram

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Rebecca is a southwest-based multi-passionate creative; photographer, jeweler, painter, and writer. She likes keeping her hands and mind busy, in the studio and out in nature. She has self-published over 20 artist books. She makes jewelry by hand with recycled gold and silver, conflict-free diamonds and ethically sourced stones. She uses natural light and elements to tell stories with her photography. Her paintings focus on light and highlight climate change.

In this episode, we chatted about what it is like to be a multi-passionate with an interdisciplinary approach towards making art.

This episode is more like a casual conversation where Becca is sharing her story, how she sees the world and what has shaped her approach. If you consider yourself a multi-passionate too, this episode will encourage you to give permission to follow your curiosities in a way that works for you and keep going.

Here's what we talk about in this episode:

• a little intro about Rebecca and her work
• how she juggles and makes time for all these different creative ventures
• what helps her in making time for writing
• figuring out ways to clear the head and making time to do nothing
• her experience of going to art school
• where the interdisciplinary approach comes from
• struggles of being a multi-passionate
• how she manages her focus
• not making everything about working or making money but having a few things to do as a hobby
• building healthy habits: carving more time for reading
• finding goals that have nothing to do with work like training for a marathon so you are not always in the studio
• what following your curiosity looks like
• carving out time where there are no expectations so you are letting yourself to be curious
• the importance of being bored
• managing time and your energies along the way
• reconnecting with your own creativity when you start to feel overwhelmed
• the artists way inspired activities that help: morning pages and artist dates
• importance of asking yourself questions that move you forward
• how to tackle the overwhelm and busy months
• always learning something new and staying engaged
• her collection of paintings on the climate change - in her own words, ''things we don't see, things we can't see and things we won't see because it is all changing so much''
• we create connections by visual artwork and sharing our thoughts in that way
• the different mediums give you different kinds of opportunities and lifestyles
• self-employment and the need for human interaction
• current struggles along the lines of recovering from burnout and too much work and staying inspired
• the struggles with connection, internet, and social media as solace for self-employed creatives but also, it is taking over our lives
• relationship with Instagram - Instagram and connection
• learning to balance the use of social media and putting the phone down
• other sides of small business: accounting, finances and administration tasks
• learning to be more efficient
• the creative process on a day to day basis and how she likes to spend her days
• the role of planning ahead of time and having a bigger picture in her work
• enjoying the flexibility that comes with working for yourself
• staying motivated on a day to day basis
• living close to nature and how it inspires her creative process

Find links to the resources we discuss in the full show notes.

Rebecca's website and Instagram

Hira's website and Instagram

Finding Your Focus as a Multi-passionate ebook

Blog posts for multi-passionate creative humans:

• A letter to multi-passionate creatives
• 28 insights from a multi-passionate creative
• Struggles of a multi-passionate

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Maria is an artist living in Stockholm, Sweden. She paints mostly abstract landscapes in watercolors and acrylics. Her aim is to capture the majestic nature and reserved cultural atmosphere of Scandinavia in her art. Her hope is that her work will bring a sense of calm to the viewer.

This episode is about Maria's story of growing into an artist. She shares her personal struggles and where she is at now in her journey. We talked a lot about making art and what stands in the way and how to approach it. There is a lot of great advice for creatives.

This episode is a treat for visual artists and painters as her approach to art is inspiring and uplifting. I really hope you'll enjoy the conversation as much as I did and take something of value out of it.

Here's what we talk about in this episode:

• a little intro about Maria and her work
• growing up with an artist mother and how she felt afraid of her work being compared to her mother's
• choosing graphic design over painting and making art to follow the structure plus rules and saving herself from getting it wrong
• painting for the sake of the process in private
• moving through the discomfort
• taking a leap and taking two years off to paint and figure out what she would like to be doing next
• how she is managing her time and work online
• managing the company and showing her work online
• the creative freedom that we all long for
• taking the pressure off by allowing yourself to not make money from your art
• finding your style and how to go about it
• putting in the hours in your art practice is important
• how she approaches painting
• ways to keep yourself motivated and not getting disappointed along the way
• creating without focusing on a specific outcome but creating for the sake of creating
• an exercise for perfectionists who would like to paint
• the 100 day project of painting
• how one can take the pressure off your paintings
• growing and developing as an artist
• detaching your self-worth from your work allows you to experiment more
• learning to not think what other people say about your art because it is not for everyone
• advice for someone who is starting out
• investing in fewer good materials instead of having more cheaper ones
• struggles with not wanting to waste the materials and how to go about it
• her struggles with creative blocks

Find links to the resources we discuss in the full show notes.

Maria's website and Instagram

Hira's website and Instagram

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Ruth is a creative business mentor to quietly ambitious women based in the UK. She has been in the online business world for about 11 years. Ruth recognizes herself as a massive introverted shy human.

In this episode, we talked about what is it like to be an introvert who is quietly ambitious in the online business world, how she is managing her energy and building the stamina to keep showing up as her self while honouring her needs and how and where is she finding support. We also talked about noticing the difference between when it is fear that is holding us back and when it is the need to recharge and take some time off.

This episode is full of juicy bits and aha moments for introverts who are trying to put themselves out there and are ambitious. Connecting to Ruth and seeing her taking up space online has been a real joy and confidence booster for me. I hope you'll enjoy the conversation as much as I did.

Here's what we talk about in this episode:

• a little intro about Ruth and her work
• being a quiet, ambitious, shy and introverted human
• working and building a business in a way that works for us
• struggles of showing up as yourself
• her personal story and experience of embracing her introverted side
• business and life being one thing when you build a personal brand
• putting yourself out there as the face of your brand
• starting a business brings up all the insecurities you have about yourself
• starting a business is a vulnerable thing
• there is not just one way to do things
• sharing and showing up as yourself honestly brings in people who resonate with your values and you as a person
• stretching your comfort zone
• putting yourself out there is a practice, the more you do it, the more you become comfortable with putting yourself out there
• showing up on talking to camera stories on Instagram, the struggles and how you can build that confidence
• how to approach that idea that you have nothing interesting or important to say or add to the conversation
• what resonates with people and how you make connections as an introvert
• how to maintain your energy levels as an introvert
• the difference between do I really need to recharge or is there something to work on
• being quiet and introverted is not a bad thing
• owning our introverted selves and maintaining healthy boundaries
• noticing the difference between fear holding us back and our need to recharge as an introverted human

Find links to the resources we discuss in the full show notes.

Ruth's website, Instagram and podcast

Hira's website and Instagram

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Huma is a writer, a journalist and an award-winning author, and she writes about the extraordinary joy and beauty that can be found in ordinary little things, creating a home, navigating motherhood, and living simply and purposefully.

In this episode, we talked about her love for the written word, how her south Asian heritage has influenced her as a person and as a writer as well, learning to say no and navigating writing, life, and motherhood all at the same time.

Huma and I share the same cultural heritage as we are both from Pakistan. I grew up in Pakistan and she didn't but still, our experiences are quite the same in many ways. We also talked about inclusion, why representation matters and why we need to hear, see and read more stories in which we can see ourselves reflected to create space for what's possible for us.

Here's what we talk about in this episode:

• how it all begun and what influenced her desire to write
• journalism and moving on to writing for herself
• motherhood and the struggle with self-doubt
• becoming a freelance writer
• developing reading as a habit
• how having an Asian heritage has influenced her as a person and as a writer while living far from the culture itself
• Inclusion: we need more stories we can relate to because representation matters
• inclusivity in the book publishing world, the media publishing world and also on the micro levels of blogs, Instagram and social media
• why do we need to hear and share those stories really?
• expectations from girls who grow up in Asian culture and how it can feel heavy
• South Asian culture and marriages
• her personal story of looking for examples when she fell in love with an Englishman
• how did Huma allowed herself to not let those societal and cultural pressures decide how she chooses to show up in the world
• the struggles of finding a balance between motherhood and her love for writing
• learning to say no
• how her blog came to be
• the failures along the way
• finding her way back to her writing
• why she writes
• what does her day to day creative process look like
• teaching writing courses online
• not seeing herself as being the expert

Find links to the resources we discuss in the full show notes.

Huma's website and Instagram

Hira's website and Instagram

Here's what we talk about in this episode:

• what does she do and how she started
• moving from a corporate world to the freelancer life
• her struggle with claiming the title, 'writer'
• the traditional expectations of the title, 'writer' and how it stood in her way
• what did her process of finding her truth looked like
• slowing down, yoga and meditation
• the need to have it all figured out
• questioning herself: 'I don't have a dream' so where does that leave me?
• how she struggled with not having a purpose
• learning how to be curious again
• how we are all in the middle of it and figuring it out as we go
• how she likes to spend her days and weeks
• why she became a freelancer in the first place
• filling life and days with joy instead of work, work, and work
• hearing the stories of others inspired her to make space and gave her permission to figure out what she wanted to do with her life
• how stories give her the assurance to see what's possible
• struggling with identity and a title to describe yourself
• the struggle of re-framing your identity after leaving your job
• the importance of going through the process
• struggles with perfectionism and indecision
• figuring out your voice 
• growing up in different cultures as women and having to struggle with being financially dependent on your male counterparts

Find links to the resources we discuss in the full show notes.

Giulia's website, Instagram and Pinterest

Hira's website and Instagram

Jill Dimond Art is an artist, photographer, and transcriber. She likes to draw nature and celebrate wildlife through her art. In this conversation, we talked about her journey of embracing her love for making art, doing the work, finding the courage to share her work online and building creative confidence along the way too.

Here's what we talk about in the episode:

• realizing her creative side
• gathering the courage to share her work online
• struggles with procrastination and perfectionism
• developing the practice of making art
• celebrating wildlife and nature via art
• the importance of creating
• struggles with confidence and a different approach towards feeling confident
• feeling the discomfort in the creative process
• trying something new and feeling unsafe
• not attaching results to the outcome
• going through the process
• struggles with selling
• the creative process on a day to day basis
• the importance of being outside and connecting with nature

Find links to the resources we discuss in the full show notes.

Jill's website and Instagram

Hira's website and Instagram