How Does the Online Idea Party Work?
You have a dream or a wish, and an obstacle to getting there. (If you don’t think you know your wish, work through my kick-starter and read this post. To learn why you must put logic aside to find your dream, read the following.)
The online Idea Party is here to help you – and the other fellow party goers – with your wishes and obstacles.
Voices from Success Teams and Idea Parties:
Having a team to report to and hearing what everybody did each week is very exciting. It’s kept me moving all year. In the past I made some good starts on my own, but found, every time, when the energy ran out, I ran out. Now it doesn’t run out.
Jade G.
Children’s Playroom Therapist, New York Hospital
I would do a painting a year, a sketch a year. If it was only me I know I would never do it. Having to tell you makes all the difference. It’s crazy why I didn’t do this years ago, it’s so easy all of a sudden.
Caroline R. Personnel Executive, Macy’s Dept Store
Post Your Wish and Your Obstacle Here!
And help your team mates out when you can. Use the Reply link to help, the form below the comments to add your own Wish and Obstacle.
(Your first comment below has to be approved, so it may not display instantly depending on the time of the day. Once your email address is approved you can post instantly. If you want your own profile photo to show up beside your comments, instead of the cute little design, upload your photo on Gravatar.com and give them an hour or so to make it happen.)
Hi, I’m Maureen Joy of Maureen Joy Healing Journey
I’m a Lifecoach/ Grief Recovery Coach ( work all states virtual sessions) and Speaker/ Presenter:Healing Journey..From Grief to Growth
I’m as well an Amazon Best Selling Author, ‘ I Had To Laugh To Live ‘( How Humor Saved My Life)
I have 25 years of Grief Therapy Training and Integrative Healing Modalities Training as well as CBT, NLP, Mindfulness, Hypnotherapy, Humor Therapy, Tapping…
My goal is to as well be the Lifecoach to the Stars/ Rockstars
They especially need someone to validate their challenges and help them transition from ‘Grief To Growth ‘ with Empowering Tools
My Obstacle: I don’t have the connections…yet
Hi!
I’m a psychotherapist and life coach from Washington State. I notice that in your post, you don’t mention the training it takes to become a psychotherapist, which is a behavioral science master’s degree.
Be careful where you step, with this. No matter which state you are practicing in, or what training you’ve had, you can’t practice psychotherapy without a license, anywhere, and to be licensed, the first step is that master’s degree. There’s no getting around this.
As far as getting in touch with stars goes, I have connections to one of them, and the “ways in” are usually through their fan bases or through their agents, if they have any. Some major screenwriters also may know of ways, and if you can meet one of these people, you may find ways in.
As a life coach and a therapist, I know that I can give a client life coaching services, if there is a perceived need and the client’s consent. The life coaching would have to be done in separate sessions from the psychotherapy. When you’re delivering CBT, you’re practicing psychotherapy. Grief therapy is usually considered as psychotherapy as well. I don’t happen to know if Tapping is empirical or not. However, if I take on a life coaching client, and start from there, I could not offer him or her psychotherapy, even though I am trained and there is a perceived need. It is unethical to do so. I would have to refer that client out.
Psychotherapy sessions have to be documented, and careful records, involving treatment goals and progress notes of each session have to be kept. You can’t mix this, in the same session, with life coaching. It is both unethical and illegal. In most states, the first two years a therapist practices, they must practice under supervision.
So the life coaching sessions can be done for therapy clients, but need to be done separately. A licensed therapist cannot practice across state lines for the state in which they are licensed. This means that if someone from Kalamazoo, Michigan wanted therapy from me, I couldn’t take them on. I couldn’t even refer them. Likewise, if I were counseling a young client, and she went away to some other state to go to college, I couldn’t continue to work with her, even if I was delivering therapy v ia telehealth. Even that can only be done within state lines.
Of course, it’s different with life coaching. With that, you can work anywhere, nationally or internationally.
Another sound warning: As a therapist, and only as a therapist, be careful that the modalities you use to treat clients are empirical. I’m not certain that all that you mention above is. Until now, I haven’t heard of humor therapy. Of course, there are many documented cases of people who have literally saved their own lives through the application of humor. But there’s a very big difference between documented cases and empirical evidence.
In any practice like this, it’s vital to know and follow the ethical and legal guidelines.
My life coaching business card says this:
“Life Coaching
A Pathway into
Finding your purpose, developing your desires, activating your dreams, healing whatever is standing in the way.” That’s the essence of life coaching, as I understand it. It doesn’t and cannot involve therapy.
I have written and am getting ready to publish one of the few statistical research papers in the field of Ecopsychology. It helps to give that field legitimacy, which it really needs. Unfortunately, in Behavioral Health, things are not legitimately recognized unless they are empirically based. This galls and even disgusts us more creative types, but this is, unfortunately, what goes.
So, just make sure that you aren’t practicing psychotherapy without a license. This way, you avoid all kinds of legal great godawful legal trouble. By law, I have to report anyone who is practicing psychotherapy without a license, and there are penalties for me if I don’t. And keep the boundaries between therapy and life coaching crystal clear. And, if you really want to do psychotherapy, which it seems that you want to do, then go after the master’s degree. Hopefully, you had the grades (3.0 or better) in undergraduate school to get into grad school. This is what it takes. There are no exceptions and no “get arounds.” It is not just a matter of appearances, or of legitimacy. It is the law. So the clarity here, is vital.
Connections to stars and rockstars?
Do you live in an area where stars live? Are there fundraisers you might attend to meet them? Do all of the funeral directors and psychologists in the area know you are available for referrals?
Do you have a reputation for absolute secrecy about your clients? Would you be willing to live with no one else knowing you work with stars, unless those stars refer you to their friends and colleagues or choose to make themselves vulnerable by mentioning you publicly? One step to take is to collect anonymous kudos from past and current clients affirming your zipped lips.
Do other people who work with stars know about your services? You might try focusing your promotional events and advertising on New York and Los Angeles, where these folks are likely to notice them. And you might want to time a book promotion to get your book’s ranking back up in the top ten as you do this.
Personal, word-of-mouth referrals (from people other than clients) are easiest to get when you narrowly specify the time of client you are looking for. An example: women with big successes whose confidence recently has been shaken by a personal loss or setback. Or singers whose voice isn’t what it used to be. Or musicians trying to deal with grief as they keep up with busy schedules. We humans are always looking for ways to help our friends, and sharing information about a service designed just for them is one way we do it. At this point, “I heard about a life coach” isn’t specific enough to get that treatment.
Are you doing lots of TV appearances? I doubt most of your desired clients are watching, but the people producing the shows are in frequent contact with many stars. And they move from show to show. Be nice to all of them and leave them with something that has your contact info on it. If you attend rock concerts, be sure to do the same for the roadies, audio engineers, security guards, etc.
Hello beautiful people!
I’m looking to hire a creative and organized assistant to help me with some paperwork – do you have recommendations? 🙂
Location: Argentina or Spain. A big plus if you are a scanner!!
Hello, what kind of paperwork do you need help with. By the way I live in Canada in Montreal so we may be on the same time zone.
Organization of writing papers, structuring of the material, brainstorming, etc. In terms of location it’s only Argentina or Spain (where I’d be able to give physical paper material as well) ❤️
I understand. It’s not really my expertise anyways. Thanks all the same.
You can advertise on platforms where VA’s are. You might be able to find someone there. Good luck.
Hello Ana,
Just new here, your request sounds appealing to me. I have a strong love for organizing and analyzing, might be able to help you out, depending on the kind of paperwork and what you want exactly. I’m Experienced author of complex educational and technical material. And data analist/ developer in IT. (And lots lots more!!)
Live in the Netherlands.
Hi everyone!
I love to travel and adore animals. The path I followed was elementary teaching with a postgrad in psychology but I wish I could be doing something hands on in nature. I also love designing and making things and am really into photography and telling stories and connecting people through nature. I wish I was David Attenborough’s protege, or on his team! My obstacle is that I have no qualifications in conservation or wildlife biology (and think it might be too long a road to retrain in my mid 30s) and no obvious link to this world.
All suggestions are very gratefully received!
Hi
I really like your text! I would suggest do volonteering in an conservation organisation of which he is president or patron. Or any other opportunity to volonteering. Search at Google “sir david attenborough volunteering 2022” there are several opportunities for volonteering and most of them require specific knowledge in biology or nature
(Like this one: https://volunteer.rspb.org.uk/opportunities/29545-specialist-expert-volunteer-twitch-presenter-2022-03-11)
Also at his website https://attenboroughfilm.com/
There are some suggestions
If you are courageous you could also just take this text and send it via the Website, I am sure they will help you (or ask a friend to ask on your behalf)
Hope, this was helpful, feel being encouraged, good luck!
Hi Ulrike,
Thank you so much for your helpful suggestions- the volunteer position in the link sounds so interesting! And thank you so much for your encouragement, I really appreciate it!
Dee
Glad that I could help. And sorry, there is a mistake in my text- of course I wanted to say, that most of the volonteering opportunities do NOT require specific knowledge in biology or nature. Sorry for that mistake. Feel encouraged to try others if one does not work.
Hi Dee,
As to the travel and love of animals, the website “Trusted Housesitters” is a way you could care for peoples’ pets while staying a their place for free…not sure if that’s what you’re into.
Dear D. Marion,
Connecting people With nature is the very essence of Ecopsychology. Putting people out upon the Earth to get in touch with their own healing power through the healing power of the Earth. See Dr. Michael Cohen’s work on his String Theory. He has been a pioneer in Ecopsychology. It is a growing field. Back in 2011, I wrote one of the very few statistical research papers in the field of Ecopsychology. I have found an academic journal to publish it in, and am working the steps to getting it published. The organization is ICE, the International Community of Ecopsychologists. I was a teacher too at first, and a school librarian, and then got a master’s degree in Clinical Social Work. But for my research paper, which was written in lieu of a master’s thesis, I produced a paper in Ecopsychology, and I love the stuff!
I am not a wildlife biologist either–I started out as a music major, and then became an English major, with the teaching credentials and library science stuff tacked on. My mother was the quintessential conservationist, and even though I have a strong conservation ethic in all that I do, I am not the Conservationist (big C) like she was.
My calling and purpose is to put people out upon the Earth to get in touch with their own healing power through the healing power of the Earth. Among other things, I am a performing storyteller. And a wilderness and wildflower photographer. And I have a love of nature that is profound and life long.
I grew up going to the mountains constantly with my parents who were Forest Service employees. They simply knew that having a baby wasn’t going to keep them out of the woods, so I made my first backpack trip, potty chair and all, 8 miles into a mountain lake when I was 11 months old. When I was 2, I was on top of the lookout that my mom had served on. I must’ve got bit real good by the mountain bug, because I have been going to the mountains, and even living in them, ever since.
When I wrote my research paper, my professor said it was the best one he’d ever read in his career as a research professor. He encouraged me to publish it, and he also highly encouraged me to go for a PhD in Ecopsychology at Pacifica in California. He said, “They would love you down there, and they would hire you just as soon as you were through!” The trouble is, they have a written policy, or at least did at that time, that they never hire their own. And the program takes five years, and back then, cost $100,000. (Yikes!)
Without a PhD, it is still possible to apply Ecopsychology by being an ecotherapist. (Yes, I spelled it right! The computer is just acting dumb.)
Provided that you are a psychotherapist already. I know a few therapists who blend the two, or incorporate ecotherapy into their practices.
Besides the program at Pacifica, Dr. Cohen has had a PhD program in Ecopsychology that is mostly on line. And therefore way cheaper. If you really dig into his works, you will find the details about it. If not, see if Patty will set up a way to connect with me via this channel.
A note of clarity: You cannot call yourself an Ecopsychologist without having a PhD. But you can be an Ecotherapist, if you are a therapist.
That’s what I know so far.
I hope this has been helpful.
Dear Mary Ann,
It was so interesting to read your story- what a wonderful combination of interests! I’m not a qualified psychotherapist but coincidentally,, I’m also really fascinated with ecopsychology and had found the Pacifica course…and was scared off by the cost! I am really looking forward to diving into Dr Cohen’s work now. Thank you so much for all of the helpful information you took the time to share- I really appreciate it.
Dee
Hello, came across your comment and have an idea for you. We are a worldschooling family and came across a group who is traveling together with a teacher.(search “The Traveling Circus”) Many people get into this to teach their kids through experience in nature. This model seemed like a great idea for the right people. Someone with your background would be in high demand if you were interested.
I will look into this. Thanks for the comment.
Well, I went to look up “The Traveling Circus,” and all I could locate was a children’s book by this title. I have heard of families who get the school district’s permission to pull their kids out of school for a year so that they can travel around the world with their parents, or go on some very amazing trip or other. And that happened, years ago, back in the public school system, before the homeschooling movement began, and before the “No Child Left Behind” federal mandates for education were developed, with their rigorous and constant testing. Educators agree that this model is a failure–and certainly, rote learning is the worst, lowest form of education. I agree that it is a failure, but it is still the law of the land in the public school system.
I am a Board Certified educator, certified by the Washington State Board of Education. Most teachers’ credentials expire 5 years after they have taught. But Board Certified credentials never expire.
I have taught the language portion of the STEM program, and I have spent several years at a community college, tutoring writing in all subjects–science, philosophy, history, and English. I had many students coming to me who were in their 30’s, and who had struggled in school when they were young, now coming to the community college to straighten out their lives. On the average, their reading and writing skills were at about the 3rd to the 4th grade level, and they were in their 30’s!
I have tutored through a national tutor/student matching program for a few years, before COVID. We would meet weekly, in person, usually in libraries. I have certain methods I use to develop reading and writing skills in students. I can tutor anyone, K-12. I am Board Certified in English, and because I was a school librarian, in library science.
I have had only two experiences with tutoring in the homeschooling field, and both of them were disasters. Homeschooling is not for everyone. There was a dyslexic mother who couldn’t spell or write grammatically correct sentences. And yet, she was attempting to homeschool her children. The results were predictably disastrous. The children were the ones whom I was supposed to tutor, not the mother. They were 4 grade levels behind in school.
The next case was a student with a couple of very serious and handicapping learning disorders. His mother had been attempting to home school him. She had shopping carts–no kidding!–of curriculum materials that she had been attempting to use. He was 8th grade, going into 9th. We were working during spring into summer. He was 3 grade levels behind; reading at the 5th grade level, and barely able to write at all! The only honest recommendation I could make is that the schools are mandated, by law, to make individual education plans, called IEP’s, for each student, to educate the person to the greatest extent that their abilities allow. At 3 years behind, there was no way in the world that homeschooling or tutoring was going to catch him up. I seriously recommended that they get him enrolled in public school, special education, pronto. It was the only honest and ethical recommendation that I could make.
Of course, I was fired right away!
But so be it! I did the right thing!
Homeschooling is not for everyone.
I had a friend who traveled around the world, just after graduating college. Her rich daddy was a realtor, so for her, this was an option. She had a blast, and it very much broadened her mind. It took her a year. While in Australia, she met an Australian whom she fell in love with, and married. He had bilateral citizenship in the U.S., and was in high demand as a highly paid computer wizard.
Just now, when I went to look up “The traveling circus,” and came up with a children’s book by that title, only, in the search, I also looked up worldschooling, and there was some mention of it, but I did not find any organizations, specifically, including anything called “The traveling circus,” which had anything to do with hiring teachers to go along on trips or anything of the nature.
From babyhood on, I went to the mountains every weekend with my parents. Eighteen years later or so, I became a member of the Mountaineers, and then shortly after that, began leading hikes and coordinated a wilderness expedition into the Olympics for them one time. Nine days of glorious wilderness backpacking and climbing in some of the most spectacular mountains in the world. I took their mountaineering and cross-country skiing and winter travel courses, and for a time, continued to hike, backpack, and climb and lead trips. This continued throughout my 40’s.
I still camp and hike to this day. Outdoor experiences, including campcraft, MOFA, (Mountaineering oriented first aid, when the doctor is days distant)–equivalencies are Wilderness First Responder training–plus a thorough grounding in Pacific Northwest Ethnobotany, are what I offer, and, even though I grew up this way, being out in nature all the time was not enough to prepare me, educationally, for the world. It just gave me lots of experience in the outdoors and lots of Extra, that’s all.
If you can name an organization or two or three that are involved with the world schooling movement, who would have the means to pay a Board Certified educator, I would be interested.
I want to work with a production company that does professional documentaries. I work in film & TV as a producer, editor and location scout but for Hollywood shows and fictional & commercial work. I really want to work on National Geographic shows or in that documentary-reality realm. My ultimate dream is to work on a travel adventure show, or educational explorer realm. I am an experienced Producer, Editor, Coordinator/Researcher, and Director but having trouble finding work in the documentary realm and “in the field”. I enjoy filming and participating in scuba diving, wild life safaris, international travel, and photography. Also interested in possibly doing documentaries about mediumship/ psychics/ Metaphysics/ healers etc. Any connections would be much appreciated.
What’s your obstacle, Shannon Lechner? 🙂
I want to work with a production company that does professional documentaries. I work in film & TV as a producer, editor and location scout but for Hollywood shows and fictional & commercial work. I really want to work on National Geographic shows or in that docu-reality realm. My ultimate dream is to work on a travel adventure show, or educational explorer realm. I am an experienced Producer, Editor, Coordinator/Researcher, and Director but having trouble finding work in the documentary realm and “in the field”. I enjoy filming and participating in scuba diving, wild life safaris, international travel, and photography. Also interested in possibly doing documentaries about mediumship/ psychics/ Metaphysics/ healers etc. Any connections would be much appreciated.
I want to work with a production company that does professional documentaries. I work in film & TV as a producer, editor and location scout but for Hollywood shows and fictional & commercial work. I really want to work on National Geographic shows or in that docu-reality realm. My ultimate dream is to work on a travel adventure show, or educational explorer realm. I am an experienced Producer, Editor, Coordinator/Researcher, and Director but having trouble finding work in the documentary realm and “in the field”.
I enjoy filming and participating in scuba diving, wild life safaris, international travel, and photography. Also interested in possibly doing documentaries about mediumship/ psychics/ Metaphysics/ healers etc. Any connections would be much appreciated.
Shannon, I immediately thought of a beautiful soul I received a Jyotish reading from (who was previously director of Discovery Channel Europe). It sounds like you two have MUCH in common. As she’s a very busy woman, I’d encourage you to put together a very short, direct email with your exact questions/desires, and I hope she can be of assistance in your journey. Best of luck!
https://lauraplumb.com/about/
Dear Shannon,
I am a psychic and I have connections in Western Washington and in the Greater Seattle area to other people who are psychics. I’m an amateur photographer with similar dreams, but I haven’t had all the professional filming experience that you’ve had. I once met a young woman up here who had been to UCLA film school and had studied documentary filmmaking there. That’s about all I know about that! I have been a mountaineer, cross-country skiier, hiker, and backpacker, and I still camp and hike, at the age of 75. My photography has been wilderness scenic photography and close-ups of wildflowers. We have some of the most gorgeous mountains in the world around here in the Cascades and Olympics. My mother was a charter member of REI and worked very hard, along with other leading conservationists, including Justice William O. Douglas, to get the Wilderness Act passed through Congress in 1964. The first Wilderness Area was the Glacier Peak Wilderness Area, and then there came the rest of them, and the additions to the Olympic National Park, and Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area, and then North Cascades National Park. She and 11 other conservationists, some of them regionally famous, worked on this legislation and pushed it through for decades. There is a mountain peak in the Cascades named after my parents and a waterfall up there named after my mom. She also has a plaque placed near a trailhead honoring her. She was a phenomenon–climbing everything in sight in the 1930’s, and dedicating her later years to conservation, and doing volunteer trail work for the Forest Service until she was 80!
So there’s this history in my family. I’m not the illustrious climber or conservationist that she was, but a lot got accomplished around here in the ’60’s and beyond that changed the maps for this part of the country and for the rest of the U.S. as well. For everywhere there’s a Wilderness Area, in the country, it came from these efforts.
Just thought I’d share this bit of family history.
I don’t know what you want to know about metaphysics or psychics, or what, but I am a psychic who has been doing distance readings and in-person readings privately and at metaphysical fairs since 1987, professionally. COVID shut the big fairs around here down until recently, for the past two years, but things are starting to open back up again. I don’t know just what you mean by healers. There are all types. I know a few.
Hi patty, thank you so much for your ideas!! I also live down the shore, maybe we can meet up one day.it would be nice to speak with a like minded person. Have a wonderful night love & kindness always
Very cool. And you have lots of nearby folks to look to for assistance. Isolation is the dream killer!
Hello mary, sorry to write again so soon. I was trying to sign up for the newsletter and it stated that there was an error and to contact the organization. If you can kindly either sign me up or send me another link to use. Thank you, love & kindness always
Dear Donnamarie,
I’m not quite sure what newsletter you mean, but while Barbara was alive, she published a newsletter, and it’s still being published now. It comes in my email periodically.
When she was alive, she started this thing called Barbara’s Club, and also HO, which is short for Hanging Out with Barbara. I joined HO and Barbara’s Club, and Barbara’s Club is still very much a part of the ongoing work of Barbara Sher. Patty Newbold was Barbara’s webmaster, and is now pretty much in charge of everything. Including the newsletter.
All this is a way of coming further up and further in than you can with the Idea Party. And all of Barbara’s work is such a delight, and such a healing balm for so many people. She really dedicated her life to helping others to reach their dreams.
So to get involved, shoot Patty an email. And here’s the email address: webmaster@barbarasclub.com. Patty Newbold. Just tell her what you are wanting. She knows me. You can say that I sent you, if you like. And I’m sure she will be happy to walk you through any steps it takes to get in, and get the newsletter. There just was one, a little bit ago, last week or so. I’ve been so busy lately that life is going by in a blur. But Patty knows. She manages everything now. And other people help her. There are so many good things.
Barbara has an extensive website. Just googling her name will bring that up. She was so creative, so the website has many parts to it.
Happy Searching!
You are now signed up.
– Patty, the newsletter writer
I want to work in costume construction for a professional theatre. This was my goal in college, and I made it to senior year with only 32 hours/about 13 courses left, before a very rough depression hit and money ran out. That was around 2012, and since then, I’ve been working whatever job pays the bills, mostly clerical things. It’s just surviving, feels so empty, and is becoming more and more difficult to push myself through. Recently, I started volunteering at a local community theatre a few evenings a week, and that’s been so rewarding, but reminds me I gave up on my dream.
Thankfully, you can get work in theatre tech/design based on experience alone, but it’s been a decade since I had that, and it’s mostly all university based (with 1 wardrobe internship at the Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago years ago, plus some community theatre), so that’s not great for a resume. I can’t afford to go back to college to finish the degree, nor do I have the time, since I have to work full-time to keep the bills paid and my remaining classes are only offered during the day. I’m planning to move to the Minneapolis area later this year, and I’m dreading getting another job that just pays the bills. My dream is to be a costume shop staff member for a professional theatre – not even to design, just pattern and construct. I’ve been sewing for 17 years, I can flat pattern, drape, do upholstery and some leatherworking, I’ve been on wardrobe and run crews, worked on wigs, helped build sets, run sound, manage props, and dabbled in stage management. I worked as costume shop staff while at my university for 2 years, and I know it’s what I want to do with my life, but it feels impossible to reach presently. I’m 33 now and I’m worried my window of opportunity has passed.
My obstacles are:
1) Money – entry level theatre positions don’t pay much and are often freelance, not a steady paycheck, so I couldn’t afford to skip a regular full-time position to keep bills and a mortgage paid.
2) Connections – there’s several professional theatres in the Minneapolis area, but I don’t know anyone involved in them, and they don’t appear to be hiring for regular shop staff, as far as what’s posted to their websites.
3) Degree/experience – No completed degree, no professional experience (only university, an internship, and community theatre volunteering)
If anyone has advice or resources to offer, I’d love to hear from you. Thanks for your time!
Dear Jay Ayala,
I’m kinda stumped on this one. Near where I live, there’s a theater that is legendary. It’s an outdoor theater in an amazingly beautiful setting. They’ve been producing plays there since the 1920’s. When I say “They,” I mean the Mountaineers. The place is the Mountaineers’ Forest Theater.
That they have top talent is undisputable. They produce two plays a year–one in spring and one in summer. This year, they’re producing Beauty and the Beast and Bend in the Road–The Anne of Green Gables Musical.
By googling Kitsap Forest Theater, you’ll see what they’re up to.
This place is an institution in these parts. Now the thing is, the reason I feel stumped is that this is probably the same old same old for you. It is essentially a community theater. Yeah, But. . . . in the programs we get, there are bios of the top performers. And when you read those, you are reading about people with considerable acting experience, or those who are studying theater and about to graduate, etc. And here’s the catch. When you do google the Kitsap Forest Theater and look them up, pay particular attention to the producer. See who that is and see about making an effort to contact her. The theater produces musicals, and does it very well, year after year. COVID prevented them from performing two years ago, and last year, they re-opened very cautiously, but this year they’re at it again. The reason for contacting the producer is to see who she might know and might be able to recommend. It’s a long shot–we here in Western Washington are about as far from the New York Broadway scene as you can get and still be on the planet. But in a situation like this, my first inclination is to say, “leave no stone unturned!” I know that they do recruit top notch singers and dancers, and actors. So she may know of people and have connections that I have no inkling of that run beyond the moss and ferns and forest of the Northwest. They are in rehearsal for Beauty and the Beast (the Disney version) right now. So, getting in touch with the producer could be interesting, and at the very least, I hope she can provide you with some important insights. And hopefully some connections.
I know nothing about theater jobs, I just like coming up with ideas, so use these or toss them as appropriate:
Apply for this job, where your clerical skills are a plus on top of design skills, no degree is required, and you get ten weeks a year to make extra money somewhere else: https://jobs.minnesotanonprofits.org/job/costume-administrator-minneapolis-minnesota-63748
Maybe check to see what shows those professional theaters in Minneapolis have lined up for the future (if they haven’t posted yet, search for audition notices like https://minnesotaplaylist.com/classified/auditions) and create a costume that would be suitable for one of them. Video yourself doing the steps you like doing. Don’t tell them it’s for any particular play, just let them watch you in action at the very time that they need that sort of costume.
To learn the names of the key players, consider volunteering for these folks now, in case they pull off their June conference this year and can put you to work: https://mntheateralliance.org/minnesota-theaters/
Maybe take a volunteer costume design job, like https://www.theatreintheround.org/new-homepage/opportunities/design-tech/tech-positions/ while working a low-stress day job, and use it to meet people in theater in the area and to rack up new experience for when you see a paid position open up. Your day job might even be as bookkeeper for a costume designer: https://www.productionhub.com/directory/profiles/costume-designers/us/minnesota
Hi Jay,
It would just be occasional work I suppose but have you heard of the Society for Creative Anachonism? You could offer to make medieval costumes for them. Also places like Comicon and others where people wear costumes. For some reason this is big with a lot of tech people. I’m just brainstorming here…:-).
What great ideas, Louise!
Hello, I was hoping someone can help explain the process of shirt printing. I have a heat press machine but I don’t know how to make designs or words for my clothes. I know that it sounds silly to people but I truly need help. I have always had a comprehension problem and since I’ve been isolated for years with no family or friends around I really feel lonely and horrible about myself. I have great ideas in my head for a business but I feel so insecure I’m stuck in limbo. Barbara was absolutely right ” Isolation is a dream killer ” I want so badly for my grown children and for myself to see me as victorious in my life. I would be so grateful if someone can please explain it. Love & kindness always
Dear Donnamarie,
I can’t explain shirt printing, but I bet you that there’s someone around here who can.
My heart goes out to you about this loneliness problem, and about feeling horrible about yourself. That problem is remediable several ways, believe it or not. I used to struggle with those issues all the time. I would just cry and cry and cry, because of how bad I felt about myself. The work of Barbara Sher has helped to heal a lot of that. And work that I’ve done outside of Barbara Sher, too.
I am very glad you are interested in shirt printing. I know someone can show you how. One step out of loneliness can be to get engaged in some activity that you like doing. But that’s not all.
Here are some ways:
1. Allies: In Barbara’s book, “I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was,” on page 160, she has an exercise which is extremely powerful and a wonderful comfort for loneliness. It has to do with creating your imaginary family. These can be people who are real or imaginary, alive or dead, historical or in the present time, and who have the deepest respect for you and for your thoughts, goals, and dreams. You can dream up anyone you want. After I dreamed mine up, I went to the library and into resources that I have here at home, and I got pictures of all of them, and I pinned them up on my bedroom wall. You can decide anything you want about them. A woman warrior from historic long-ago times is my sister. Because I said so. A famous music composer, born in 1700, is my uncle. Because I said so. A famous environmentalist and author, who is now dead, is my mom, because I said so. And so on. These are going to be your allies. And I have a whole bunch of stuffed animals. They are most definitely my allies, too. I can talk to them, and I pretend that they can always talk to me, with wisdom and understanding.
Anytime you feel like a raggedy orphan, and your loneliness has really got you, it’s time to declare a meeting of the allies. You stop everything else and go be with the allies whose pictures you’ve found and put up on your hero wall. Along with your stuffed allies. And tell them what’s wrong. Speak your heart.
Barbara expands on this idea greatly in her book, “Live the Life You Love” about creating allies, and has you, the reader, carrying around a card deck, which is a support system with respectful, kind, encouraging messages they say to you that you write on 4×6 cards and keep with you, and lots more. The “Live the Life You Love” book has a huge section on allies. And although this may sound silly, and I sincerely hope it doesn’t, it’s a radical loneliness buster and a wonderful way to heal.
2. Besides this, there is a book, available on Amazon, that was published in Great Britain. It is called “The Way Out Of Loneliness,” and is the best book on the subject of getting out of loneliness that I have ever found. Because it is British, it will seem a little bit odd here and there, but it very strongly addresses getting out of the “feeling horrible” factor. With what it has you doing, you get out of that right away and start doing other stuff instead, right away. It’s healing, and it’s great.
3. Go get one of those 3-subject spiral notebooks from the drug store.
There will be many things you’ll want to write in there once you get going, but to start with, write down a list of 10 things that you like to do.
My list includes “going to the beach,” because I live near salt water beaches, lots of them; making music, walking in the woods (and I live near woods too), baking homemade bread, and talking to friends on the phone. Include outdoor activities. And go do them. You’ll be digging your way out of loneliness.
4. Go join some organization or other in which you can meet like-minded people who have joined the group because of the activity.
Photography groups and hiking groups come readily to mind. Have it be a group in which people interact, not a Bridge club, where all they do is say what they’re bidding in the next hand of cards. Tonight, for instance, I’m heading out the door for a women’s church function.
5. Go volunteer somewhere, particularly where there are kids. They can be a joy and a delight to be around. There are many groups that want volunteer help of all sorts, and this can be very rewarding, as well as being a supreme loneliness blaster. In my experience, doing this can be like cross-country skiing. When you learn cross-country skiing, you don’t start out by bombing down a logging road at 40 miles an hour!
Heck, no! You’d kill yourself! You start out in a very safe, snowy flat place. Without the poles, you slowly slide one ski forward, then the other. One foot forward, then the other foot. And then, someone who is with you says, encouragingly, “Look! You’re skiing! Now let’s try the poles!” So, volunteering is like that. I have found that if I help someone else, it helps me, and then I go and help them again, and it helps me, and so forth. It really works. It’s not corny at all. It really works!
I think you’ll find that if you try these things, you’ll really be well on your way to healing from the horrible self-hate that comes from loneliness.
The printing of shirts is only part of it, but it’ll help. And all this other will help too.
God Bless!
Hello Mary, thank you for responding back so fast and giving me so many ideas to help with my loneliness. im in the process of looking at Barbara’s books and I’ll be ordering them soon. Also I hope someone else had seen my text and has knowledge about shirt printing. That can have me on my way to creating shirts. thank you , love & kindness always
I live near the Jersey Shore, where I would tell you to go visit any open shops on the boardwalk for help before Memorial Day gets here. If you live elsewhere, you might try these helpful people online:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zglHEuKahAk
https://cutecutter.com/make-a-custom-htv-iron-on/
https://justcraftingaround.com/best-printer-for-heat-transfers/
If you already know how to do the heat transfer part, you might also try a sign shop in your area. They need to create their designs on the computer first, too, then cut them in vinyl. They’ll know what software works and how to pick a great font for a tee shirt sized “sign.”
DonnaMarie,
I make shirts as a hobby using a Cricut Machine, heat press and sometimes screen printing. I’d love to walk you through any of my processes. I’m no pro, but I could at least get you started in the right direction. Youtube is a great place to start as well. If you want to practice designing you can download Cricut Design Space for free, even if you do not own and Cricut machine.
https://design.cricut.com/#/
Silhouette has a similar program for free, and more features for a monthly fee.
https://www.silhouetteamerica.com/software
Maybe one day we will see each other on Etsy 😉