July 9 – How To Be Creative When You Have Depression or Anxiety

Many creative people live with depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions. Despite common misperceptions, these conditions do not have to prevent artists from engaging in their artforms, producing work for the public, or “put themselves out there.” Award-winning author Nita Sweeney and best-selling author Karen C.L. Anderson, both live with the challenges these conditions present. Join them in this lunch n’ learn where they share tips for creating your work regardless of the story your mind may tell you. 

In this program participants will learn:

• The role your nervous system plays (because it’s not just a mindset issue)
• Simple practices for calming and/or moving energy
• Different ways to think about your mental health condition (this is the mindset piece)
• A surprising reframe that will help you see yourself and your mental health differently

Your guides for this journey:

  Nita Sweeney is the award-winning wellness author of the running and mental health memoir, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running with My Dog Brought Me Back from the Brink, co-creator with Brenda Knight of the writing journal, You Should Be Writing: A Journal of Inspiration & Instruction to Keep Your Pen Moving, and of the free ebook Three Ways to Heal Your Mind. A long-time meditator, three-time marathoner, and former assistant to writing practice originator Natalie Goldberg, Nita founded the group Mind, Mood, and Movement to support mental well-being through meditation, exercise, and writing practice, and The Writer’s Mind, to share how to use writing practice to produce publishable work. Nita also publishes the writing resource newsletter, Write Now Columbus. She lives in central Ohio with her husband, Ed, and their yellow Labrador retriever, Scarlet.

 

Nita Sweeney is the award-winning wellness author of the running and mental health memoir, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running with My Dog Brought Me Back from the Brink and co-creator with Brenda Knight of the writing journal, You Should Be Writing. and of the free ebook  Three Ways to Heal Your Mind. A long-time meditator, three-time marathoner, and former assistant to writing practice originator Natalie Goldberg, Nita founded the group Mind, Mood, and Movement to support mental well-being through meditation, exercise, and writing practice, and The Writer’s Mind, to share how to use writing practice to produce publishable work. Nita also publishes the writing resource newsletter, Write Now Columbus. She lives in central Ohio with her husband, Ed, and their yellow Labrador retriever, Scarlet.

Karen C.L. Anderson serves smart, creative women in using the difficult relationships they have with their mothers as a catalyst for growth. Author of Difficult Mothers, Adult Daughters: A Guide For Separation, Liberation & Inspiration (March 2018); The Difficult Mother-Daughter Relationship Journal (January 2020); and Overcoming Creative Anxiety: Journal Prompts & Practices For Disarming Your Inner Critic (June 2020), Karen incorporates story-telling, journaling, awareness tools, shadow work, and simple energy and somatic practices in her Mother Lode 1:1 mentorship program. Her approach is safe, fun, and effective. Karen recognizes that what is possible personally is what is possible collectively, and that “the Mother Wound” is not actually about mothers, but about systems that oppress all women. She understands the adage, “hurt people, hurt people,” while also acknowledging that cultivating compassion and empathy does not have to equal access, and that healthy boundaries (up to and including going “no contact”) are at the heart of healing. She lives on the Southeastern Connecticut shoreline.