Finding Your Creative Shoreline: How I Use Authentic Expression To Drive My Creativity
Episode 15: Finding Your Creative Shoreline
This episode continues the conversation about visibility, creativity, and social media. I explore how discomfort is part of growth and how you know when something is misaligned versus new. Listen to this when you’re feeling exhausted from the online noise and are ready for a fresh perspective.
Episode Details
Summary
In this episode, I’m continuing the reflection from last week and sharing what has unfolded as I sat with questions around visibility, creativity, and social media.
I talk about a realization that came up for me while trying to grow my online presence. Discomfort is often part of growth, but not all discomfort leads us in the right direction. Sometimes we end up pushing ourselves toward things that feel misaligned simply because we believe they are what we are supposed to do.
As I reflected on this, I began to notice that the pressure I felt around social media was pulling me away from the ways I naturally like to create and connect. For me, writing has always been the most authentic form of expression. While the act of writing feels natural, sharing that writing publicly still holds a vulnerable edge, and that is where the real growing edge seems to live.
I also share a perspective that helped me reframe how I think about online spaces. Instead of imagining the internet as one large environment, I began to see social media as open water, while the quieter corners of the internet, personal writing, blogs, and intimate creative spaces feel more like the shoreline.
This episode is an invitation to consider where your own energy feels most aligned. Growth does not always mean pushing harder into spaces that drain you. Sometimes it means returning to the places where your voice feels most natural and allowing your creativity to meet people there.
This episode is for you if…
You’re feeling exhausted by social media and are ready to shift your perspective about online spaces
You’re ready to let go of what feels misaligned and allow yourself to do what feels most true
You’re in a phase of growth and are moving through the discomfort
You’re an artist or writer who feels compelled to freely express and share your work
You’re contemplating what it means to be visible and creative as it pertains to being a leader online
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Welcome to The Shoreline, where we explore the tender in-between seasons of the human experience. My name is Kim, and I'm here to support you as you navigate your next becoming. Here, we don't fix, we listen. We don't rush, we allow. Hello, and welcome to today's episode. If you're new here, welcome, I'm so glad you're here. And if you're returning, I'm so glad that you came back. Today, I kind of want to build on what I talked about last week. So if you haven't listened to that episode yet, I would recommend going and listening to that. But I shared kind of my thoughts and feelings on being visible while also living a creative life and being someone who is creating an online business, but also is someone who doesn't necessarily want to be on social media as it's kind of shifted over the years. And today, I really want to just build on that and kind of share what's been going on for me. So last week, we kind of left things. I just wasn't sure what my relationship with social media was meant to be. And I'm like craving really just like these authentic connections online. And this was coming from a place of really trying to push myself to grow and to build some momentum. And where I kind of landed was a really interesting place of like choosing the wrong ways to grow, and that it's important to find the right kind of discomfort, right? I think that in general, when we're in a phase of growth, of new self-discovery, it feels uncomfortable. I always like to think of it as like putting on like a sweater, and then all of a sudden, it just feels really itchy. And I've been in that place before, where I'm just kind of like uncomfortable in my life, in my skin, like it's time to shed and shift into something new. And in general, I don't see discomfort as being a bad thing or wrong. Like it's a really important signal to kind of nudge you in the direction that you're meant to be going in. However, I do think that we can kind of get off track sometimes when we're choosing discomfort for the sake of discomfort or when it's coming from pressure or obligation or kind of external advice. And last week, I kind of just felt like I was like a pinball in a pinball machine, just being kind of shot all over, bouncing off of other people's advice and opinions and shoulds and what I thought that an online business was supposed to look like. And I just found it to be really exhausting. And the discomfort felt just, I don't know, it just felt wrong or just like it wasn't quite aligned, right? And I was taking action just for action's sake, just throwing pasta at the wall and seeing what sticks. And while that method might be great for some, that's really not how I like to operate and how I meant to operate. And in those moments, I took that as like, okay, I don't like to operate this way. So maybe the growing edge and the discomfort is that I meant to just be taking action for action's sake and like throwing pasta at the wall and seeing what sticks, and that's like the area in which I meant to grow. And what I realized was that, that actually, one, it didn't feel good. It didn't feel like I was moving in the direction I wanted to. And I was kind of starting to veer off course a little bit. And that wasn't the way in which I was supposed to be getting uncomfortable. And so, I think it's really important to find kind of the right kind of discomfort or the most aligned ways to be uncomfortable, and to always come back to, to like your, your why, or like kind of the bigger goal or dream that you have in mind. And that's why I love intention setting so much, is because I can come back to those values of like overall, like what is this serving in my life? Maybe disorganized action could serve a certain area, and I would feel like it's more purposeful. In this case, it didn't, it didn't really feel that purposeful, because I don't really aspire to have like a social media presence. And I never want what I'm creating to feel loud in that way. And I think that I kind of misconstrued visibility with like that kind of loud exclamation point energy. And that's just not who I am. And I don't think that's how I meant to kind of show up for others and be of service. And once I started to notice that I could feel something shifting in me, and I found some deeper clarity about where I want to go. And I came back to my desire to write and share my writing. And my intuition always says, like, whenever I ask, like, how should I mark it? How are people meant to find me? I always hear, use your words, use your voice. And I've been using my voice here and sometimes using my words, but I really have kind of dropped the ball on sending out newsletters and sharing my writing and blogging. I think I published a blog recently, and it was the first time in months. And I got really distracted by this idea of like needing to be visible. I need to be visible and like show up on social media and create reels and post and be on stories and whatever else. And that was really like a distraction from what I think would really help me grow, which is sharing more personal essays, writing and sharing on my blog more and continuing to show up to this space. And there's discomfort in that. As much as writing is such a comfort for me personally, like when I'm journaling and processing, and the act itself of writing is something that is really joyful and most of the time comfortable, the act of sharing my writing is still quite uncomfortable. So there's the growing edge. I'm doing something that's true to myself, and it's the act of sharing that thing that is the discomfort and the place I can grow. And I'm not sure that I'll ever feel fully comfortable sharing my creations. I think that it's very normal as a creative to feel self-conscious about your work and to feel that discomfort when you're hitting publish or when you're reading something for the first time, because it's a signal that it's a sign that you're being vulnerable. And that's what makes creativity and what you're creating, your creative works, so beautiful. It's that vulnerability. And so I think that's where I really want to focus. My energy is like using my words, using my voice, and creating really tender, kind of intimate spaces, and meeting people there. I'm not someone who really is into AI. I've used it very minimally. But in this moment, I was really curious just to get some reflections back. And so I asked ChatGPT, just like, where are those, you know, tender spaces? What do you think the shoreline means in terms of online space? And what I got back was actually a really beautiful sentiment, which is why I'm sharing this. ChatGPT called social media kind of the open waters, or being in the middle of the ocean, and it's not really a shoreline space. And that gave me so much clarity of like, oh my gosh, I've been trying to put myself in a place that just really goes against like what I value and what I'm creating. Like the shoreline came from this place of wanting to kind of meet you in this in-between space, in a transitional space. And I think that is why I really love podcasting, because it is like something that you kind of can listen to in transition, in the car, on a walk, doing chores. But it's still a very gentle, kind of intimate, one-to-one kind of space when you're listening. And so I really love that comparison of like social media being the open waters. And it gave me that clarity of like, oh my gosh, like I'm going to the wrong place to meet people for what I'm trying to create. And then it also talked about where the shoreline is in the online space. And it shared this term with me called like the 2 a.m. internet. And that is something that like just really resonated with me on such a deep level. My whole life, I've really struggled to sleep well. I'm just like kind of a chronically bad sleeper. I have a hard time falling asleep. I wake up a lot. I go through periods of time where I just have like really intense insomnia. And so I've found myself up at like 2 a.m., 3 a.m. and just like looking up random things on the internet. And this idea of like being able to meet someone there, of like someone not being able to sleep, and then somehow in the middle of the night discovering something I've written or reading an experience I've had, it just really like excited me, and it really piqued my interest. And so I've been sitting with that of like, okay, like I've gotten the clarity. Social media is open water, and I don't really want to be like trudging through like open water in the middle of the ocean. And like The Shoreline is this beautiful kind of 2 a.m. internet space, and it reminded me of like the times in life where I really did enjoy the being online, and it goes back to kind of, blogs were really popular back when Instagram was first starting and things were being posted in real time, and the space felt just like really cozy, like you're in this sweet little corner of space. And that's kind of the energy that I want to bring forward. Yeah, I really just want to use, use the online space as like a useful tool, a way to connect, because there are so many beautiful things about it. I've made really wonderful, like soul level friends through the internet, where we met online first, and then we got to meet in person, or I have some friends that I've never met in person. And there's just so much good that has come from it, that I was really kind of feeling down about my disinterest in social media and posting. And I think, acknowledging that, like, yes, it has changed. And two, I've also changed, I think, is our two really important factors. Maybe, you know, in the past, I was like more in a mind space of being able to kind of be in that open water environment. And as I've grown and shifted and changed, like, that's not where I'm at right now. And that's beautiful, too. And I think, like, being able to acknowledge that is really important. And to accept that I am a different version of myself than I was maybe five years, definitely ten years ago. And that's the beautiful thing about this experience of being human, is you always get to grow and change and shift. And being able to accept that and adapt is a really important and useful skill to have. And I think being able to align yourself to what you're creating is also really important. When I had a jewelry company, and I was like the founder and building a team, and I had stores and I was doing markets and whatnot, like that was more of like this open water space, and that was really necessary to support those creations and to support that business. And now that my business is different, it needs something different from me. And that's the beautiful thing about being creative, is that you get to be flexible in that way, and everything that you create requires you to show up differently, and it requires a little something different from you. So all that being said, I would invite you to maybe take some time to kind of reflect on where you're at in your life, and creatively, and where are you finding growth and discomfort, and is it something that's benefiting you, and your higher purpose, and where you want to go, or is it just growth and discomfort for the sake of growth and discomfort? And finding that distinction and getting that clarity, I think, is going to be the thing that will build momentum and really propel you forward. I know for myself, I'm really excited about the idea of writing more personally, I think, for my blog on my website. I want to create resources that are really helpful, but I think adding more of myself is a really good growing edge for me, and I'm really like delighting, I'm finding so much delight in this idea of like, how can I craft an essay or an interesting blog post that might pique someone's interest when they're up at 2 a.m. searching random things on the Internet? I don't know why, but that's just like really, really interesting and exciting to me, and that excitement is where the momentum is. And at the same time, there is growth happening because to be honest, it's really, it's a little uncomfortable to be sharing this at something that's kind of vulnerable. And I don't know, there's like a voice in my head that's like, maybe people will think you're super weird for being excited about others being up on the Internet, searching at 2 a.m. But here we are. That is, that's my truth. And I'm someone who does that as well. So it makes sense that, you know, I would find an interest in that. And I'm just going to trust that I'm being guided in the right direction. And I'm curious where you find yourself. Are you ready to explore the open waters? Are you feeling drawn to the shore? Maybe you're not sure. Maybe you're really stuck in that kind of foggy middle. And if you find yourself in that space and you're really trying to figure things out and you want some support, you might explore the Shoreline private coaching sessions. You can find more information on my website or schedule a time to chat with me. We can do a tarot reading. I would really love to just help and support you on your journey in whatever way feels good for you. So that's what I have for you today. I hope that you take good care while the waves carry you closer and know that your next version is already waiting on the shore.
If you’re feeling stuck in the foggy middle and exhausted from having to always “figure it out” alone, I want to invite you to…
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Read this blog for my favorite books to inspire a creative life
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Kim Kogane is a writer and intuitive guide helping you navigate the tender in-between seasons. She lives in Seattle, Washington with her dog, Cauchy, and three cats. Learn more about Kim.
