The Couragemakers Podcast | Encouragement, Inspiration & Rebel Rousing for Mission Driven Doers, Makers & Shakers | - 113: Living A Courageous + Creative Life with Roanne van Voorst

113: Living A Courageous + Creative Life with Roanne van Voorst

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02/11/19 • 87 min

The Couragemakers Podcast | Encouragement, Inspiration & Rebel Rousing for Mission Driven Doers, Makers & Shakers |

Hello Couragemakers and welcome to episode 113 of The Couragemakers Podcast!

Today I am SO excited to share with you my conversation with Roanna van Voorst. I’ve been buzzing ever since we had our conversation and let me tell you, you are in for a treat.

Roanne van Voorst is an internationally published writer, a social scientist, a podcaster and public speaker. She has conducted research all around the world on courage and successful personal leadership and now teaches people through her online trainings how to overcome fears and become more courageous, and how to create your best work and be’ productive – without stress or overwhelm. Roanne is also the host of the Writers Mastermind, through which she helps writers write and publish their books in 1 year. She is currently working on her new book: Once we ate animals.

During our conversation, Roanne shares her journey, from training as a journalist, to re-training as an anthropologist and living in some of the most dangerous parts of the world with some of the bravest people in the world.

Roanne has been researching fear and courage for over a decade, and she shares a really refreshing view that courage is something we can actually learn. She shares three ridiculously practical, gentle and compassionate strategies to help deal with your fears and really debunks the myth that some people are simply born brave and others aren’t.

We dive into the links between procrastination and fear, how as a society we’re addicted to being busy and how that can really limit us as creative people, developing a relationship with our creativity, and why it’s absolutely essential when you work with your brain to find time to rest and find inspiration.

This is the perfect episode if you’re struggling to make time for creativity, if you ever find yourself paralysed by fear, if you’ve ever thought that people are either born courageous or not, or if you’re someone who loves to use their creativity and would love to put more creative stuff in the world.

I can’t even begin to tell you how happy I am to be sharing this episode with you. I could honestly listen to everything Roanne says on repeat. Roanne shares so many much-needed reminders for creatives, and she shares so many compassionate strategies which you can start using straight away.

I know you’re going to absolutely love this episode, so enjoy the show!

About Roanne

Roanne van Voorst (Ph.D.) is an internationally published writer, a social scientist, a podcaster and public speaker. She has conducted research all around the world on courage and successful personal leadership and now teaches people through her online trainings how to overcome fears and become more courageous, and how to create your best work and be friggin’ productive – without stress or overwhelm. Roanne is also the host of the Writers Mastermind, through which she helps writers write and publish their books in 1 year. She is currently working on her new book: Once we ate animals.

Things We Talked About

Roanne’s journey from training as journalist, re-training as an anthropologist and her deep research
Debunking the myth of naturally courageous people
How courage is something you can learn
3 practical strategies to become more courageous and deal with fear
The link between procrastination and fear
The importance of having time to rest and refill your creative cup when creativity is your job
The importance of energy over hours

Resources

About Meg + That Hummingbird Life

I’m Meg and I’m the host of Couragemakers and founder of That Hummingbird Life. I’m an INFJ creative and multi-passionate who has a bit of a notebook and post-it note obsession, loves foot-stomping country music and likes her hot chocolate with way to...

Hello Couragemakers and welcome to episode 113 of The Couragemakers Podcast!

Today I am SO excited to share with you my conversation with Roanna van Voorst. I’ve been buzzing ever since we had our conversation and let me tell you, you are in for a treat.

I know you’re going to absolutely love this episode, so enjoy the show!

About Roanne

Things We Talked About

Roanne’s journey from training as journalist, re-training as an anthropologist and her deep research
Debunking the myth of naturally courageous people
How courage is something you can learn
3 practical strategies to become more courageous and deal with fear
The link between procrastination and fear
The importance of having time to rest and refill your creative cup when creativity is your job
The importance of energy over hours

Resources

About Meg + That Hummingbird Life

Previous Episode

112: Shining Bright + Being Unapologetically You with Connie Pollock

Hello Couragemakers and welcome to episode 112 of The Couragemakers Podcast!

This week I’m speaking to Connie Pollock. Connie describes herself as an unapologetic wild soul adventuring across the globe to figure out what this shit is all about. Last August Connie moved to New Zealand, alone at 18, to begin adventuring our beautiful planet in all is glory and has not had time to look back since. Now 19, with a few grazed limbs and a brain full of lessons, she endeavours to document her exploration in its rawest, realest most brutal and blissful form. When Connie isn’t adventuring or trying to make a meal out of half a microwaveable rice packet, she spends her time working on the 60000 ideas and dreams she has for this life and is probably photographing something awesome, Skyping her dog or designing your soon to be favourite sustainable cloth.

In this week’s episode, Connie shares all about her decision to move to New Zealand, the importance of finding your people when you’re blazing your own trail and taking a different path than society lays down for us and what has got her through some really hard times. She shares the shares about the not so glamorous side of travelling, and we have a great discussion about not sacrificing your path for other people and the importance of having people around you who not only accept you but appreciate you for who you are and lift you up. We also dive into how Connie keeps her own light lit and what Connie describes as a yellow state of mind.

This episode is the perfect reminder to keep shining bright, to not dull your shine for anyone, and that it’s okay to break away from the people in your life who make you feel shitty for who you are. And it’s also a breath of fresh air for those of us who have ever been described as too much or intimidating because we dare to shine bright and be ourselves.

I love Connie’s honesty and her open-ness in sharing all of the highs and lows of her adventure, and her bright, vibrant adventurous spirit is simply contagious.

I just want to give you a heads up that we do discuss sexual assault in this episode, so look after you and if you feel you need to skip this episode right now, please do.

Look after you, keep shining bright and enjoy today’s show.

About Connie

Connie Pollock describes herself as an unapologetic wild soul adventuring across the globe to figure out what this shit is all about. Last August Connie moved to New Zealand, alone at 18, to begin adventuring our beautiful planet in all is glory and has not had time to look back since. Now 19, with a few grazed limbs and a brain full of lessons, she endeavours to document her exploration in its rawest, realest most brutal and blissful form. When Connie isn’t adventuring or trying to make a meal out of half a microwaveable rice packet, she spends her time working on the 60000 ideas and dreams she has for this life and is probably photographing something awesome, Skyping her dog or designing your soon to be favourite sustainable cloth.

Things We Talked About

Connie’s decision to move to New Zealand
Connie’s journey in becoming unapologetic and her journey to getting there
The not so glamorous and hard side of travelling
The importance of finding your people when you’re blazing your own trail and taking a different path than society lays down for us
Not sacrificing your path for other people
How Connie keeps her own light lit and what Connie describes as a yellow state of mind.

About Meg + That Hummingbird Life

I started Couragemakers because I wanted to create a platform for passionate and unconventional women to have honest conversations and to share their stories, struggles and dreams. The intention behind this podcast is to inspire and encourage creative and mission-driven women to live a wholehearted life and follow the beat of their drum.

When I'm not recording episodes, writing bullshit-free Sunday pep Talks to my wonderful Couragemakers community or working 1:1 with clients, I'm usually covered in paint and getting really excited about my soon-to-come-home cockapoo Merlin.

Next Episode

084: Listening Deeply + Building Community with Jessie Harrold

Hello Couragemakers!

This week on The Couragemakers Podcast, I’m thrilled to be chatting to previous guest Jessie Harrold!

Jessie is an author, women’s mentor, coach and doula. She does what she likes to call “women’s work,” which means she helps women bring their babies earthside, creates community and holds brave spaces for women to find themselves in, helps women reconnect with their bodies and the earth, and offers up a dose of word medicine wherever she can. The thread that weaves all of this work together is Jessie’s unwavering commitment to helping women and mothers unearth and reclaim their connection to themselves, their power, and their sovereignty. Jessie lives in an oceanside cottage with her little family, and is currently celebrating the release of her first book, Project Body Love: my quest to love my body and the surprising truth I found instead.

It would be easier to share with you what we didn’t talk about during our conversation, as we covered so much ground.

We dive into changing identities and rites of passage and the grief that can often accompany it, finding spaces online and offline to support you, why group wisdom is so important, the importance and scarcity of deep listening and building communities. Jessie shares the story behind her book and her own creative process and Jessie’s answer to the one thing she would share with the world sends a shiver down my spine.

I love Jessie’s philosophy and I have so much admiration for the work she does. If you’re in the mood for honest talk, creative inspiration and want a big reminder that you’re doing just fine, I know you’re going to love this episode!

So settle in and enjoy the show!

About Jessie

Jessie Harrold is an author, women’s mentor, coach and doula. She does what she likes to call “women’s work,” which means she helps women bring their babies earthside, creates community and holds brave spaces for women to find themselves in, helps women reconnect with their bodies and the earth, and offers up a dose of word medicine wherever she can. The thread that weaves all of this work together is Jessie’s unwavering commitment to helping women and mothers unearth and reclaim their connection to themselves, their power, and their sovereignty. Jessie lives in an oceanside cottage with her little family, and is currently celebrating the release of her first book, Project Body Love: my quest to love my body and the surprising truth I found instead.

Website | Facebook | Instagram |

Things We Talked About