BTT EP 2
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[00:00:00] Hey, hey, hey. Welcome to Between the Tabs. This is my moodboard podcast where creativity, growth, business, and the real life happening between it all goes down. I'm your host Kleidi Jeen, and we are gonna talk about the stuff that lives between work and who we are, and we're gonna do it in four parts. So go grab your matcha and let's hop into it into part one.
Now, I have a master's degree in cultural anthropology with a focus on museum studies, and I often like to look at the work that I do with creatives from an anthropological perspective and anthropologists are simply looking to see how humans work. What is humanity? What does it mean to be human? And so questions anthropologists seek from researching other cultures are questions like, how do people [00:01:00] understand power? Like what is a family? What constitutes a family? This is not the same for everybody. How do people eat?
Not even just what do people eat, but also how do people eat? How does it go from, how do they say it from farm to table basically? Maybe it's not the farm. Maybe it's from foraging or hunting as well. How do people use language? How do people use language? I love these questions and what I love to do with these questions all the time is turn them onto Western culture. Turn them onto the traditional anthropologist, which is the European or just like the white person who's looking at all the people of color in the world to find these answers.
So I like to turn this question in onto western civilization, to western culture, to capitalism, to patriarchy, and answer those [00:02:00] questions, in a meandering way in my own head. But I also like to turn these questions in on ourselves, because even within a society, within a culture, some of these answers are different for each of us individually or at least on a familial level, or on a small community level.
So, something about understanding how power operates for myself or asking one of my clients some questions to help them understand how that operates for them. This is something that can actually be very freeing once you look at questions like these and really determine how you operate underneath it all, when it comes to these things, it can help you loosen or let go of some of these modes of thinking and beliefs that are not really helpful for you, and actually start to develop more of the parts that are really helpful for you as a creative. But one question in particular [00:03:00] like that just really gets me every time is, what does it mean to live a life as a human being in this world?
What does it mean to live a life as a human being? Not as a dog, not as an elephant, not as a piece of grass, not as a flower, not as a tree, but what does it mean to live a life as a human in this world, on this planet? And when I think about that, a lot of times what it comes down to is creativity. , It's about creativity.
That's what. It always comes down to, for me, creating to solve problems, creating to entertain, like if you're bored, creating just for sheer entertainment. Creating to beautify, to creating to self-express, creating, to survive. There's all these things that we do where creating is activated all of to satisfy needs, to satisfy desires. [00:04:00] Creativity is like the way to get there. And yes, of course other animals have different levels of abilities to create.
Absolutely. Especially shout out to our distant cousins, the bonobo chimpanzee, those animals in particular are also very creative, but obviously not to the level of, you know, we have created civilizations whether or not they have been good for us or good for the planet is another thing.
But, obviously our level to create is something that's more human. That's something that is relegated to what it means to be a human being and if this life is about the proliferation of creativity, then what does that mean?
So there's another question that has been lately starting to come to mind, and that's what I wanna share with you. I said all of this to share about this one thing, which is [00:05:00] about creativity in a certain landscape. Okay? So if life is about this proliferation of creating then what does it mean and how does it play out in the digital landscape? Technology in general is the thing that has turned creativity into something that's just like bananas.
And of course, that means apps and databases and complex and individual systems. But, what I'm really talking about is social media. What does it mean to be human and creating, if what it means to be human is is just this proliferation of creating, how does that play out on social media?
What does that mean? In the age of social media. And I think this question is fascinating and I don't wanna bore you or go into the deep end, but I just wanna pose this question: how does social media affect that level of creativity, either positively or negatively?
What does it mean that we [00:06:00] must get on social media like every day for hours a day and listen to or read about other people's thoughts, other people's opinions? What kind of effect does that have on our creativity and our ability to create? What does it mean when we are the person who's out there putting all the information on social media, like how do we shape that information? Is it something that reflects our reality? Is it something that reflects who we want to be? Is it something that reflects what we want people to hear, and how does that kind of take away from or build up what being human actually means?
So this is where I'm going with that. So that's part one. Hit you with a banker for the first part of episode two here. And yeah, pause. Think about that. Come back to part two, whenever you're ready. And let me know, like, send [00:07:00] me an email or drop me a DM on Instagram if you have some thoughts about this, because, especially as a creative who has studied anthropology, like this is something that is fascinating to me.
Moving into part two, and speaking of social media, you might notice one thing about me and social media right now, and that is that I am avoiding posting like the plague, like I am not posting right now. Why is that? Do you ask?
Well, part of it is actually, I'm not avoiding it at all. It's a capacity issue and it's actually just part of my strategic plan, of the different phases that I am moving through from my big project gently reshaping Soft Sundae into how I want it to look and how I want it to move for the future.
So part of that is just, we're not at that phase yet of the project. But another part is it's a capacity issue. I [00:08:00] don't currently have the capacity, again, with the phase that I'm in, in my business and just with everything else going on in my life, I don't have the capacity to post and continue to live a balanced life, and I'm not willing to give up living a balanced life.
So. Anyway, don't worry, I'm not like squirming in a corner, feeling super guilty about not posting and just feeling like, the world is gonna end because of it. But I just wanna point that out. And the other reason that I'm not posting that I wanna bring up is that. Oh my God. Like the way y'all are out here?
Well, I don't wanna say y'all, not you, but the way people out here are stealing content from creatives is bananas and particularly stealing content from black women creatives. Like I, I just, I just can't like, like, I don't [00:09:00] know the statistics about it, but. The way creatives and particularly black women creatives get played on the internet.
On these here Instagrams is definitely worthy of a Harvard study. Take it to MITI don't know, somebody studied this because it's crazy. Oh my goodness. And yes, I have had my own creative ideas stolen before, and I'm not talking about like a threads line or two, but like whole concepts, I mean one project that, if I were not a black woman, I would've gotten an award, a promotion, like all kinds of stuff. I have had serious things stolen from me, serious creative projects stolen. So there's definitely, for me in particular, a visibility wound there. I am not gonna lie. You know, like, it's, it's hard.
But I'm also telling you this though, because I'm gonna post anyway. I'm gonna post anyway. I need to post anyway and not need, [00:10:00] because that's what somebody else says. This is part of my process, part of my healing from those visibility wounds.
And also when we're stolen from and then go silent, like what does that do? It does nothing. If anything, it gives permission, silent permission for people to steal from you more and steal from other creatives more. And also when it comes to having proof, the record is showing nothing, baby, if you're not posting, if you don't have a trail of " this is my idea that somebody stole from me." So anyway, let this be a public service announcement for those of you out there who have visibility wounds just like me, and you're convinced that you should just stop sharing.
Share! The world needs your ideas. The world needs your creativity. Not gonna lie, that's what you're here for. We just talked about that , like being human is being creative, right? And so , we [00:11:00] need you to self-express part of how you get to self-actualization of fulfilling your role here in the world so that you can be part of an ecosystem, part of a collective that is doing something that's freaking good for the world, you know?
And even though there's the evil gremlins out there, like the cretins out there with no morals, show up anyway. And we might need to even show up more so because there's those types of people out there. So anyway, stepping down from my soapbox. Yes, I am a Xennial. So I will say things like stepping down from my soapbox.
I don't know what the new people say. Tell me, send me a dm, tell me what I should have said instead.
And that brings us to part three. Now one thing that I am loving right now loving that I wanna share with you, it is kind of funny to me, but whatever: step aerobics, let me just put it out there. I am loving [00:12:00] step aerobics. Like I will get on my little step and do the little step and sweat it out. Yeah. Yes, absolutely. And yes, also absolutely. This is the same kind of step aerobics that puts you in the mind of the ladies with the leotards and the headbands and the Jane Fonda workouts. Like your grandma, my mom though, used to do, right? Yes, step aerobics, step it out, get everybody in the group class, get the VHS out, get the video, videotape out, put it in, like, let's do this together, but make it modern.
Make it current. So I have been four to five times a week. I'm doing step aerobics at home, and it's been the perfect way for me to get back into exercising because Soft Sundae had me in a choke hold for a while, and for the past maybe year and a half, two years, I wanna say I have been sedentary like a mofo.
I [00:13:00] will literally wake up, sit down, look at the computer, and do my thing the whole day, and then take care of the kids and then go to bed. Nothing else in between. And so I, for the first time in my life, in my 40 something odd years, I have gained weight. And I don't know what to do with that. I don't know how to operate with that. I don't know if I should even want to lose weight or if this is part of aging and accept the process. Like I am so all over the place with that. But the other thing is I'm nearing perimenopause and, I wanna make sure to take care of myself there.
Already have osteoporosis, yay and osteopenia. So I really, really have been in dire need of exercising in order to take care of myself and not put myself in a hole in the ground super early in life, and it's been really hard to find something that works for me. I'm a yoga girl. [00:14:00] I have taught yoga for almost 15 years now. I don't know. Over 10 years for sure. And, somewhere like 12 or 13 years, guys, I don't know. Don't make me do math right now. But I've taught years for over a, uh, taught years. I've taught yoga for over a decade. And what I've been finding in this past, year or two years is that every time I try to go to yoga, so I've tried it at home doing my own sequences. I've tried going to other classes, to a studio to get back into it. I've tried doing other people's videos on YouTube at home and guys like the yoga was not doing it. It was kind of freaky. It was kind of scary for me, like when I tried to do yoga to take care of my body, my body and my mind, my emotions like fully rejected it. Fully rejected it.
I still love yoga. I think sometime next year [00:15:00] I'm going to finally finish my 500 hours certification for yoga. I'm still committed to the practice. I still do like my breath work. I still do gentle yoga stretches and I do my arm balances and things like that. But a full on yoga class start to finish just has not inspired me at all. And I'm not gonna force it 'cause that's part of my Sundae Life Method. That's part of how I operate and how I teach my clients to operate. in life is letting go of what needs to be let go of, to make space for what needs to be there and what you desire to be there. And so some, oh, I know what it was.
I was scrolling on threads, baby I'm at five hours a day right now. Like, can we get this number down? For screen time on the phone, by the way. Anyway, I was scrolling on threads and this one young lady mentioned that she had been doing these step aerobic videos on YouTube, and they had her body [00:16:00] feeling good. She noticed the difference, her legs were toning and things like that. So I was like, okay. And so I checked it out and oh my God, this was the answer. Like, this is what I needed. This was the level and type of activity that my nervous system, my body, my mind, this is what I needed. So I can't even remember who it was that posted that, but I am so thankful to her.
And the person's YouTube step aerobics videos that I use that she recommended is Bow Flex Barbie. She is the goat. She will, oh my God. Lil Wayne. TI the music is popping. It is straight up Southern. Hip hop, Southern rap, like the beats are heavy, Manny fresh is in the beats doing its thing, and you are over here doing her little step aerobics routine.
Look, this is what I needed, this is what I needed. It's cultural for me. Like it resonates [00:17:00] for me, like hip hop artists from, from Louisiana, from where I'm from. Like I get ex, oh, I can't look, the words are not wording how I need them to, to express like how much I'm loving this right now.
All this to say. If you, if there's something you need, like you need exercise or you need rest, if there's something that you need that you know is missing in your daily life. Try going about it in another way, in a, from another angle and see if that works better for your nervous system, for your mental, for your capacity in general, for your desire, for how you wanna show up in the world.
Like for rest, everybody doesn't wanna take a nap. That's not restful to some people. Some people will lay down. If you force them to take a nap, they will lay down with their eyes wide open, like what the heck is going on? A nap is not for everybody, but rest is for everybody. Speaking of what it means to be human rest is biologically part of what we do as a human every day, and it's different [00:18:00] from sleep, from the sleep that you do at night. Rest in the day is different from sleep at night. They're not the same thing, so you're not getting rest if you're getting sleep, you're getting sleep. If you're getting sleep, you're still not getting rest. Anyway.
Side note over there. But yeah, try out a different route and I'll put the link here in the show notes. Try out both, Bow Flex Barbies, step aerobics routines, or she has lots of routines like cardios, strength training. I do strength training with her now, I bought the whole kettlebell situation.
Like she has me like totally back in being healthy by exercising more. So I'm so thankful to Boflex Barbie for that and to the woman whose name I don't know, who posted about it in the first place on Thread.
And that brings us to our last part of today's episode, episode two. It's Wednesday and we are over here living between [00:19:00] these work hours serious. AF work tabs Monday through Friday type work tabs. And what do we do to motivate ourselves through the rest of the week? Right? If things are feeling heavy right now . It is probably why you're even over here in the first place, right? To take a break, to listen to something, to break things up.
But it might also be because of looming deadlines that never end. I know that can be the case for me. It might be about knowing that the kids are about to be home and ooh, there goes the rest of your nervous system for the day. Back into survival mode for the evening.
It might be because of that request that a friend requested of you that you committed to, that you actually have zero spoons to fulfill. So whatever it is that's making things a little bit heavy, what can you let go of right now? To relieve some of that heaviness. Do you need to [00:20:00] cancel that dinner date?
Do you need to take yourself off as that person's emergency contact? Do you need to take a nap or a walk? Do you need to give yourself more of a buffer between meetings or between tasks? Take a moment and notice what feels too heavy, even if it's a simple thing. And then. Try to figure out how you can let it go for now, or if you can't let it go, how to make it smoother or lighter or easier to bear.
So this is some of the work we do in Flowmint, and Flowmint is my one-to-one offer where I work with you for three months to help you create spaciousness in your packed to the brim life and the heaviness of life, and help you further integrate your creative pursuits realistically into the rest of your life.
So we work towards basically designing a day-to-day life [00:21:00] that feels more aligned instead of trying to fit yourself into a pair of jeans two sizes too small. And if you're interested in this, you can get the deets and the link in the show notes. It's called Flow Mint. You can also just go to soft sundae.com/flow mint and it'll take you there.
So that's all I have here for episode two, and I will meet you the next time we're surfing for dopamine between the tabs a k, a next Wednesday bye.
