Trigger Warning!
We’re talking about sexual trauma as a result of religious abuse and purity culture. If that sounds like too much, feel free to skip this episode. Take care of yourself, Dear Listener.

This week on Honestly, Dear Listener, we’re talking about how we grew up and, in particular, the real downer we’ve come to know as purity culture. As so many listeners were, we were raised in Evangelical Christian fundamentalism which valued a women’s sexual purity above all else. As a result, we didn’t understand our bodies and how they worked and we were presented with purity rings from our parents that contractually bound us to abstinence until marriage. As you can imagine, it was smooth sailing from there—psyche!—quite the opposite!

Stay tuned for part 2 next week!

References:

• Qveen Herby - American rapper and singer
• “Surfbort” - lyric from “Drunk in Love” by Beyonce
• “Soulmate” - song by Lizzo
• “How Purity Culture Harms Mental & Sexual Health” - online article by choosingtherapy.com
• Vaginismus - Wikipedia page

Check out our other episodes about spiritual deconstruction/fundamentalism:
- 21: How Fundamentalism STILL Affects How We Create PART 1 02.09.24
- 22: How Fundamentalism STILL Affects How We Create PART 2 02.16.24
- 59: Fundamentalism, Mental Health, and Creativity 11.15.24

TIMECODES:
0:00 - Intro
2:30 - The Qveen Herby show!
3:38 - Writing about more than romantic love/self-care
7:16 - “Pussy” as feminist energy
9:33 - We grew up as Christian Evangelical fundamentalists
21:20 - Lack of sex education/body awareness in purity culture
24:03 - “If you have sex, no one will want you.”
26:25 - Purity/promise rings!
37:17 - How purity culture has affected how we create

Hosts: Emily Hatch and Carrie Schaeffer
Instagram: @honestlydearlistener
Youtube: youtube.com/@honestlydearlistener

This week on Honestly, Dear Listener, we’re circling back around to how the way we were raised (in fundamentalist, Evangelical, Pentecostal Christians) has influenced the way we create now. We also dive into how the beliefs we inherited when we were kids continues to contribute to our mental health struggles.

On a lighter note, we also discuss the holes in our pop music upbringing, exploring what the rules were for what kind of music we were allowed and not allowed to listen to. We also discuss Carman—yes, that Carman.

References:
- Women Who Podcast Magazine wrote an article about us! Buy the #15 October/Fall 2024 online issue HERE
- The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church by Sarah McCammon - book
- The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, book by Julia Cameron
- A Thief in the Night - 1973 rapture film
- “Who’s in the House” - Christian rap song by Carman

Check out our other episodes about spiritual deconstruction/fundamentalism:
- 21: How Fundamentalism STILL Affects How We Create PART 1 02.09.24
- 22: How Fundamentalism STILL Affects How We Create PART 2 02.16.24

TIMECODES:
0:00 - Intro
0:34 - Do we have slipper friends?
3:46 - Ugly Dinner Party
6:40 - Everything is a lot harder in “Nork”
8:48 - Go buy Women Who Podcast Magazine! We’re in it!
10:17 - How religion affects creativity
22:06 - Conscience vs. anxiety?
25:21 - Scrupulosity/OCD
40:07 - Creating in survival mode
43:35 - When Carrie first saw Emily

Hosts: Emily Hatch and Carrie Schaeffer
Instagram: @honestlydearlistener
Youtube: youtube.com/@honestlydearlistener

Note: We recorded this episode the day after Election Day 2024, and we gave it all we had--which wasn't much. We feel empathy and compassion didn't win this time, but we're not giving up hope. We talk about where we're going from here, what we plan on doing, and what we're going to be pushing into even more now.

Please take care of yourselves and be kind. Hope is not lost, Dear Listener.

Hosts: Emily Hatch and Carrie Schaeffer
Instagram: @honestlydearlistener
Youtube: youtube.com/@honestlydearlistener

🎃 This week on Honestly, Dear Listener, we're getting scary. REAL scary. 🎃

We discuss what scares us most about the entire creative process and how we're actually more scared of success than of failure. We dive into the fears and insecurities that plague us and other artists, the daunting process of starting new personal projects, not resting on our laurels, and the long road to creative success.

Carrie also reads her creepy new short story, "The Inheritance."

Happy Halloween, Dear Listener!

References:

• The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, book by Julia Cameron
• Harper Lee - American writer

TIMECODES
0:00 - Intro
2:08 - We’ve been doing scary things.
3:38 - We don’t have to like what we do all the time.
6:26 - Emily’s scary things
7:06 - Carrie’ scary things
10:19 - What is the scariest part of the process of art for Emily
17:38 - Creating our own production structure—terrifying!
19:27 - Success is more scary than failure??? Shocking!
24:50 - We get a lil too precious with what we make
29:45 - Carrie’s Halloween-inspired short story - “The Inheritance”

Hosts: Emily Hatch and Carrie Schaeffer
Instagram: @honestlydearlistener
Youtube: youtube.com/@honestlydearlistener

This week on Honestly, Dear Listener, we discuss validation--what it is and whether we need it or not. We also compare and contrast validation with encouragement. All this and more after a discussion about how Emily should have been a hand model!

References:

• The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, book by Julia Cameron
• Opal app

TIMECODES
0:00 - Intro
0:29 - Emily shoulda been a hand model
4:06 - Discussing beautiful products
6:18 - Validation - do we need it?
7:23 - Definitions of “validation” and “encouragement”
39:48 - Opal app

Hosts: Emily Hatch and Carrie Schaeffer
Instagram: @honestlydearlistener
Youtube: youtube.com/@honestlydearlistener

Welcome back to Honestly, Dear Listener! In today’s episode, we discuss Week 7 of Julia Cameron’s classic The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. We talk specifically about how accessing our creativity is like letting ourselves fall down the well to join the river of inspiration underneath our everyday lives. Often, creating can feel like we’re straining to make something happen. Instead, we posit it can actually be a lot easier than that: unleashing or letting ourselves get lost in what we’re making. Letting go is hard for all of us control freaks, but the minute we can uncurl our fists and allow ourselves to fall back into that well, that’s when we can start to let it flow.

We also discuss the role perfectionism and ego play in our lives.

References:

• “51: How to Find Your Creative Identity with Gemma Sugrue 09.20.24” - podcast episode from Honestly, Dear Listener
• The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, book by Julia Cameron
• The Moth - storytelling events
• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - book by C.S. Lewis
• On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft - book by Stephen King
• “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” from Fantasia by Disney
  
  

TIMECODES:
0:00 - Intro
0:29 - Emily’s breakthrough
6:29 - Carrie’s horror class & permission to be a weirdo
14:25 - The Artist’s Way Week 7 - Recovering a Sense of Connection
21:27 - Dropping down the well
28:36 - Ego and perfectionism
35:10 - Stephen King’s On Writing

Hosts: Emily Hatch and Carrie Schaeffer
Instagram: @honestlydearlistener
Youtube: youtube.com/@honestlydearlistener

Welcome back to Honestly, Dear Listener! In today's episode, we dive into the tantalizing prospect of sudden wealth, its complex implications, and how it would change our lives as creators. Emily shares her dream expenditures, from hiring personal trainers to collaborating with top-tier scenic designers, all while navigating the high costs of New York living. Carrie, on the other hand, advocates for a more conservative investment strategy following advice from a financial planner.

But does money equal happiness? Does it help us create? Can it buy us more creativity? What are we waiting around to make until we have more money? We tackle all these questions and more on this week's episode.

References:

• “Every Musician Needs a Vision Board” - Instagram post by onemoretimepod and yudugrayjr
• “Lottery winners and accident victims: Is happiness relative?” - webpage by APA PsychNet
• The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom - book by Jonathan Haidt
• The Bloomsbury Group - Wikipedia page

TIMECODES:
0:00 - Intro
1:07 - On Vienna sausages…
3:14 - Fall break is killing Carrie & crushing MOM GUILT
11:13 - Emily’s new show!
12:12 - What would you do with 10 million dollars
15:52 - What Emily would do with 10 million dollars
18:35 - What Carrie would do with 10 million dollars
25:55 - Creative community
31:57 - Money and happiness

Hosts: Emily Hatch and Carrie Schaeffer
Instagram: @honestlydearlistener
Youtube: youtube.com/@honestlydearlistener

It’s our first episode of Season 4!

This week on Honestly, Dear Listener, we welcome vocalist, voice coach, friend, and frequent contributor to the show Amber Mogg Cathey back to the podcast. We discuss our strategies for how to positively motivate ourselves instead of what comes naturally to us: kicking our own butts into submission. We talk about positive versus negative motivations and how effective each is at motivating us. We also discuss what it’s like being the kid who stuck out and how we felt like, in order to escape the scrutiny of others, we took our own selves down a peg or two which only ended up hurting our self-esteem.

Where to Find Amber:

Website: evolvevocalstudio.com
Instagram: @EvolveVocalStudio
YouTube: @EvolveVocalStudio
Facebook: @EvolveVocalStudio
TikTok: @EvolveVocalStudio

Listen to our past episode with Amber HERE!

References:

• The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, book by Julia Cameron
• “51: Finding Our Creative Identity with Gemma Sugrue 09.20.24” - Honestly, Dear Listener episode Season 3, Episode 51

TIMECODES:
0:00 - Intro
0:34 - Amber intro & WE’RE NOW IN SEASON 4!
2:04 - Motivating ourselves while not kicking our own butts
10:47 - Filled up with ourselves/self-centering
20:12 - Toward and away motivations
27:27 - Steps to catching and changing negative motivations

Hosts: Emily Hatch and Carrie Schaeffer
Instagram: @honestlydearlistener
Youtube: youtube.com/@honestlydearlistener