What connection do you have with creativity? Do you apply out of the box thinking to social situations and your interactions with the world?
Welcome to Authentic On Air with Bruce Alexander. I am your host Bruce Alexander. It might get a little weird in the Authentic On Air studio today… At least I hope so, because animator and installation Artist Dan Moyer is here today. I am looking forward to getting a peek into the mind of an artist.
Creativity and authenticity are natural bedfellows is far as I am concerned. Creativity b...
What connection do you have with creativity? Do you apply out of the box thinking to social situations and your interactions with the world?
Welcome to Authentic On Air with Bruce Alexander. I am your host Bruce Alexander. It might get a little weird in the Authentic On Air studio today… At least I hope so, because animator and installation Artist Dan Moyer is here today. I am looking forward to getting a peek into the mind of an artist.
Creativity and authenticity are natural bedfellows is far as I am concerned. Creativity boils down to being able to find ways to solve problems. Authenticity boils down to honoring yourself through what ever problems you face. What connection do you have with creativity? Do you apply out of the box thinking to social situations and your interactions with the world? I wouldn’t have always considered applying creative solutions to the “fitting problem”. But as I have accepted the uniqueness of my authentic self I have learned that I have a special ability to look at things from an uncommon perspective. Why wouldn’t I leverage my unique skills to make my own life better?
I was initially introduced to Dan through the homeschool group created by my guest from episode 21 Lori Ann Wild. I don’t remember seeing him at the group often but I knew that we shared at least some common ground when it came to parenting our children guided by love first.
We became Facebook friends and eventually I remember attending one of his children’s birthday parties IRL. This was early in my journey of self acceptance. I had started to embrace my Authentic self but only around the people who had already seen and accepted the unfiltered version of myself I had only showed when I was too exhausted from shift work to deal with any sort of pretense.
Dan existed at the time as a free spirit if I had ever seen one and so did a large majority of the people in attendance at this party. I always tried to tough out anything that could provide my kids a good time but this was hard.
I remember a lot of tie die and leg hair. Bra-less chest and the smell of essential oils. I also noticed a lack of brown skin.
Every wall I had shot up and I shut down. I am still not to the place where I am comfortable enough with my authentic self to be open immediately to every experience but I will sit in my discomfort until I put myself out there. Back then I was nowhere close to that point.
In a space filled with people who had no desire to conform to what society told them to be or to hide they’re weird. I felt so out of place. Magnify that by being the only black man in a space and you have a recipe for not having a good time.
I am embarrassed at all the snap judgments I made that day and I shudder to think how small I let others uniqueness make me feel in comparison.
I left that party, what felt like an eternity later having made almost no meaningful connections. But I remained Facebook friends with Dan despite what had been shockingly disparate social circles.
In the ensuing years I loved watching Dan on social media because he was like an open book. It felt like he almost made a point to put the ugliest parts of his life online for me to experience them with him. He was so open about the pain his was feeling throughout his divorce that I cried for him. When he became unemployed and was floundering like so many other were in secret he shared it.
He would occasionally post on days that he was feeling low that he needed encouragement and he wouldn’t vague-book about it either. He would lay out how he was hurting and what kind of support he needed.
Do you know how brave that is? I did and I reached out on one of his post and told him how much his honesty impacted me. We had probably the most vulnerable masculine exchange of emotions I had ever had as an adult to that point. That conversation laid a heavy part of the foundation that my acceptance of self sits on today.
I want to thank Dan for unknowingly leading the way for me. For being a guiding light of vulnerability that eventually guided me to the safe harbor that is authenticity. Thank you Dan for being your Authentic self and thank you for being here on my show today.
Discover more about LoriAnn:
- You can find Lori Ann on IG @wildernedge
- More information about her nature school programs can be found here: wwww.stfrancisofthewoods.org
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