Long time no see!
It’s good to be back and worth acknowledging that it’s been a minute (ahem, a couple years) since I’ve posted a podcast. There are plenty of reasons why that is the case—if you follow me on Instagram you have an idea—but to go through them all would be to monopolize this interview and, quite frankly, it’s too good for that. I will address the silence and all your questions in my next episode.
In case you’ve forgotten (and I don’t blame you if you did) Well Aware is an audio project that explores personal and collective well-being. I started it 2014 with a focus on fitness, mindfulness, and “wellness,” and intentionally included folks of all stripes: yoga teachers, artists, farmers, florists. The concept of what Well Aware is and what it will become has been evolving behind the scenes—admittedly almost completely inside my mind. Perhaps while Well Aware was gone, what you’re looking for has shifted too.
Well Aware has expanded. It’s now an audio project dedicated to the exploration of the inner spaces of creative people. The Internet and Instagram are home to many, many aspirational lifestyle websites: one can find recommendations for personal style, home decor, food and cooking, wellness, and more to learn about all the objects and clothing and physical things you need to lead a life well-lived. Well Aware purports that you are the expert on you, and the conversations are meant to be used as tools in the healing and self-discovery process. In the new season and in interviews moving forward, you’ll get a sense of creative process, the way people think, their mental furniture, and the personal practices that keep them grounded as they move through life.
Marlee Grace. Photo by Anna Powell Teeter and Jacki Warren
Today’s guest is Marlee Grace. Marlee has been an inspiration ever since I started following her @havecompany Instagram account six years ago, back in 2013. She’s an artist, a dancer, and she’s well-known for her @personalpractice Instagram. Recently New York Magazine’s The Cut estimated she started the dancing trend and I have to agree. What you may not know about Marlee is that she’s a fellow podcaster, she has a 1:1 counseling practice, and, since we recorded this episode her book, How to Not Always Be Working was published, she started working on another one, her online course Creativity and Permission launched (took it, loved it—she’s hosting the very last session July 1 – 27 and I recommend it), and she’s now hosting an artist residency out of a co-living and co-working space in Michigan. Most recently she’s finding joy in skateboarding.
As we were wrapping up, Marlee said: “This conversation has been amazing because it’s one of the truest peeks into how my brain works.” I hope that in seeing her process, you’re able to uncover bits and pieces of your own that bring you closer to yourself.
I’m so honored and grateful to Marlee for taking the time to share her knowledge, and for being so real about life.
Our chat includes, but is not limited to:
- her degree in dance
- what being a sober person looks like (and how she got there)
- the relationship between art and money and self-worth
- anxiety and how she copes with it
- how balance is an illusion, and how Marlee looks to pacing her days instead
- how to find yourself when you’re constantly in relationship — romantically, work-wise, etc.
- her 71 (and counting) mostly small tattoos (loved this moment)
- her first book, How to Not Always Be Working
- how to be anti-capitalist in a capitalistic society
- her hosting practice through center
Remember when you listen that we had this chat in early October 2018—a little blast from the past—right before her book came out. Keep an eye on her Instagram @marleegrace to see the artists in residency and their art, and tag us both to let us know what you think of the conversation.
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