The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
One of my biggest challenges has been overcoming my limiting self-beliefs at being a boss lady. My mother ran her own business successfully, so while it’s in my DNA, I didn’t envisage myself on this path. My decision to create my own path was out of necessity, a need for outstretched wings of self-expression and an insane drive for my work to be meaningful. Self-care, self-inquiry and finding my unique support tribe have been how I have worked with this challenge.
Also, finding words and clarity to communicate the broad applications and the benefits of art therapy has been challenging, especially since the work privileges non-verbal communication.
Instead, I can show you with the way my hands and pelvis are moving, or by showing you the colour of the one shiny purple feather on our black chicken and how this brings a sense of awe and reminds me to slow down, or by circling with chalk pastels on paper to regulate my breathing…
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
At the foundation of my work sits my need to be of service in a meaningful way. Having autonomy means I can define what this looks like.
Other pros are that no one judges if I have a nap in the day to reset.
The cons are mainly getting my midlife brain around all the tech. But I’m learning that’s what a VA is for! Plus, it can feel isolating running your own business. I make a considered effort to reach out to my networks for support, connection and ongoing robust professional feedback.
There is a creative freedom involved in carving out a service which is aligned with my values and where I feel called to serve. I don’t need to try and fit my curves into square peg holes but being in business demands me to connect with my authenticity and this can be challenging. It is a way of being visible that can feel vulnerable. Being my own boss means digging to find courage to stay connected to my authenticity, even when it’s scary.
Carving out my own path has meant leaning into the end-of-life space because I am continually humbled by the magnitude of this mighty threshold. Death, dying…the things that bookend the life’s cycle at the other end of birth and motherhood. But not always. Sometimes the thinnest veil sits between birth and death.
My Master’s placement was with an end-of-life doula and holistic funeral directors. Over the course of a year, I was invited into the most intimate and sacred of places. I made art to process my experience and to reflect back to these women how I saw them. I saw women walking beside raw and unbridled grief, holding deep sacred space sometimes in the most sterile and cold places, but holding it, nevertheless. I watched them cradle broken hearts and offer options of ceremonies of goodbye that could hold the deepest cracking. They showed me the untapped power of ritual and ceremony; a place for your spiritual world to catch up with the physical world. A landing pad, resting post, acknowledgement that what has been is no longer, preparation ground for integration.
Hopes and dreams: What next?
My hope is that I continue to learn and grow myself through my business. This reciprocal flow feeds me.
I hope to expand the reach of the Birthing The Mother series so it can impact more women to glean their treasure from this potent and important threshold space. I don’t think modern society places enough value on the role of mother. Life birthers. Life shapers. Life growers. Modern society seems to expect mothers to navigate and integrate the initiation as best they can on their own and keep moving. What just happened? Never mind, gotta keep moving, get back to work, get my body back, get a sleep routine.
What if we were to accept the hallowed ground of this threshold space. A place of shifting but deepening ground that breaks us and holds us at the same time. When Mothers recognise their wisdom and power, they give permission for their children to do the same.
Visit the Jess Lovell Art Therapy website to find out more about what she does and the services she offers. You can also connect with her on Facebook and Instagram.
