Creative Pep Talk #91: Change Your Perspective

I recently had a chance to get a very different perspective on something I dearly love doing—by not doing it. I thought it would be torture. I was wrong. I tell you what I discovered in this short episode.

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Transcript: Change Your Perspective

Please note: This is an unedited transcript, provided as a courtesy, and reflects the actual conversation as closely as possible. Please forgive any typographical or grammatical errors.

Nancy Norbeck [00:00:06]:
Welcome to Follow Your Curiosity. Ordinary people, extraordinary creativity. Here’s how to get unstuck. I’m your host, creativity coach, Nancy Norbeck. Let’s go. Hey, everybody. This is Nancy Norbeck with this week’s creative pep talk, and I wanna tell you, I just recently went back to my alma mater for a choir reunion. And I know for most people, things like a choir are an extracurricular activity, and, technically, they were an extracurricular activity for me too, though we did get credit for it, academic credit.

Nancy Norbeck [00:00:38]:
But but for me, my relationship with my college choir is a little different because it started, actually, it kind of started before I was born. My dad went to the same school I did and sang in the choir. And when I was in middle school and high school, we would go up for the annual lessons and carols service at Christmas. And I just absolutely fell in love with this amazing choir. So when it came time to apply for colleges, there was really only one place I wanted to go because I really wanted to sing in that amazing choir. Now I hadn’t really thought this through because I applied to exactly one school. When I was teaching, and my kids who were applying for colleges asked me how many schools I applied to, I told them that they should not do what I did and certainly not tell the college admissions people what I had done, because I was not not not a good example, but I applied to one school. I I applied early decision.

Nancy Norbeck [00:01:37]:
Thank god I got in. And then when I actually got there, realized that I still had to pass the audition. If I didn’t, I was gonna be kind of in big trouble. Fortunately, I did pass the audition. I got into the choir, and everything else was kind of, you know, secondary, like majoring. I majored in English. I also suffered from the delusion my freshman year that I was gonna be an engineer. That didn’t last long.

Nancy Norbeck [00:02:06]:
But, anyway, the the choir was always a really, really big thing for me. It was a really important thing. And we’ve had a couple of reunions since then, but this one was a little bit different. Because when the announcement came that there was gonna be a reunion, I I wasn’t sure if I should go or not. And that’s because I realized that I was not gonna be able to sing. And for me to go and listen, just not the same and really kind of painful. There’s a story about my great grandmother sitting in the audience for a performance, and my grandmother, her daughter, saying to her afterwards, now wasn’t it nice just to sit here and listen? And my great grandmother replying, no. I would much rather have been up there.

Nancy Norbeck [00:02:58]:
Well, there’s clearly a lot of her in me. And so when my mother suggested to me that I could go and listen, my first words were just kill me now. And so I really weighed whether I should go or not because it was gonna be painful to just sit and listen. And I finally decided that I would probably really regret it if I didn’t go. So I went. And I’ll tell you what, I’m really glad I did. Not only because I got to see people I haven’t seen for a long time, be in a space that I love and hear a choir that I love, but because it was a lot less painful than I thought it would be. Part of that is because I realized when I was there, when it would be physically painful to do the thing that you love, it’s not as emotionally painful not to be doing it, and you realize that while you’re sitting.

Nancy Norbeck [00:03:49]:
But what really, really blew my mind was I have never actually sat and listened to this choir. Now, obviously, it’s a college choir, so it’s never really the same choir twice. Every year is a little bit different. A reunion choir is different still, and yet it is in a way that I’m not sure that I can explain if you haven’t been there. It’s just it’s this it’s different, but it’s the same. It’s the same sound. It’s the same spirit. It’s the same people conducting.

Nancy Norbeck [00:04:21]:
It’s the same some of the same people in it. Somehow, I don’t know how choral math works, but somehow it all comes out the same way. And I sat there listening to that choir, and it was amazing. I mean, it was amazing in a way that I could not have predicted. And there were moments there there were individual chords that I thought would just destroy me with how incredibly gorgeous they were and whole pieces that were phenomenal. There was a conversation with some of us in the afternoon on the the the Saturday. And one of my friends from when I was in the choir mentioned that there was one piece where she just kind of felt like she had no idea what was what was going on and what it sounded like in it. So it felt sort of disastrous to her.

Nancy Norbeck [00:05:12]:
And I understand that feeling because when you don’t feel like you know what you’re doing, everything feels like chaos. And I said, oh, oh, but I need to tell you how incredibly, incredibly beautiful that piece is. Like, it is unbelievably beautiful, and it was. And through the weekend, as more rehearsal was held and and by the performance on Sunday morning, it was just just soul shatteringly gorgeous. And it really made me think about how how much we can get caught up in that moment of the chaos where we don’t know what’s going on exactly. We feel like we haven’t quite got our footing, and and everything just feels unsettled and, like, nothing is working. And what’s going on? And we don’t often get the opportunity or even stop to think to just pull back and experience it from that other point of view. And I will admit it can be really hard to find that other point of view when you are in the middle of that creative chaos.

Nancy Norbeck [00:06:24]:
I get it. It can be tough. I was in a position where I didn’t have a choice, so it was a little easier for me. I understand. But if you can get outside of it long enough to get a look from some other point of view, from the point of view of someone who’s just walking by, someone who is experiencing it from without the creative process, someone who’s just looking at it for what it is, not trying to solve the puzzle of what it is, but just for what it is in that moment. You might see it very differently. It might give you the perspective that you need. And even if it doesn’t, it might just give you a moment of, hey.

Nancy Norbeck [00:07:13]:
You know what? This isn’t bad. In fact, it’s actually really kinda good. It kinda works. I think maybe I know what I wanna do with it. Still have to figure some things out, but I think this works better than I realized it did. So I offer that up because I think sometimes it’s really, really easy to be caught up in the details, the tiny little levels on the ground floor where all of the pieces are in front of us, and we get caught up in trying to make them all make sense. And what we really need to do is kinda get a bird’s eye view and see what it looks like from there and get the bigger perspective or just kinda sit back and listen and take it all in, which is what I got to do, and it was amazing. It’s really, really amazing.

Nancy Norbeck [00:08:05]:
I mean, I’m planning to be up there singing next time, but for this time, it was really pretty cool to be sitting where I was sitting. So I hope that you find a way to give yourself that little treat in the middle of the creative chaos. I think it’ll change the way you look at what’s going on. Even if it doesn’t make it make more sense, might at least kind of give you a different a different little perspective and maybe a little piece about it. So as always, let me know how that goes for you, and I’ll see you next time. If this episode resonated with you or if you’re feeling a little bit less than confident in your creative process right now, join me at the spark on Substack as we form a community that supports and celebrates each other’s creative courage. It’s free, and it’s also where I’ll be adding programs for subscribers and listeners. The link is in your podcast app, so sign up today.

Nancy Norbeck [00:09:03]:
See you there and see you next week. Follow Your Curiosity is produced by me, Nancy Norbeck, with music by Joseph McDade. If you like Follow Your Curiosity, please subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And don’t forget to tell your friends. It really helps me reach new listeners.