11. Trust your instincts & embrace your weird! Halloween, magic, authenticity, and connection with illustrator Matt Woods
Cue the music, Magic Makers because 🎶 It's the most wonderful time of the year 🎶! It's HALLOWEEN SEASON - aka my absolute favorite holiday, and consequently, time of year.
First of all, I love autumn in general because things start to slow the eff down after all the hubub of summer. The weather cools and we start to spend more time inside with family, friends, loved ones, and with ourselves. And of course, autumn also contains my favorite holiday; Halloween! I actually spent some time unpacking WHY I gravitate towards Halloween so much (and have since childhood) and I think it's because Halloween gives us permission to lean into the darker, more mysterious and curious parts of ourselves without any fear of judgment or ridicule. It’s a time for fun and play and exploration and acceptance.
I purposefully saved this guest for the first Monday in October because there's no better human I know to ring in Spooky Season than my friend, Matt Woods. Matt is a visual artist and illustrator working and living in New York City who creates macabre and charming artwork that celebrates the strange and unusual year-round. Halloween is also *his* favorite day of the year and he tries to bring a bit of that spooky weirdness to everything he does.
I first met Matt through his wonderful husband many moons ago and since then we've connected on the front of magic, authenticity, activism, and celebrating what makes us all unique. We're covering a LOT of beautiful and inspiring ideas in this episode; the importance of honoring all the parts of ourselves, advice for people who want to make more time for creativity and play, and making room for the people and things that truly make us happy.
If I had to pick a theme for this episode it would be AUTHENTICITY, specifically, how choosing to be authentic pays off every single time. Because here's the biggest life secret of all: when you stop worrying about "fitting in", that's when the real magic happens and you start attracting amazing people and opportunities into your life that are aligned with who you are and what you value.
The best way to support Matt is to follow him on Instagram and follow along with (and even participate in) "Inktober"! Every day in October, he draws something that inspires him from an "Inktober" prompt, and shares it with the world. Observe it, support it, bid on a piece, or take it as a nudge to practice your own creativity; it's purely for fun!
You can see more of Matt's work here:
Matt’s Website: matthewwoodsart.com
Matt’s Instagram: instagram.com/hallowwoods
Every day in October Matt will be auctioning 4x4 inch original illustrations on his Instagram @hallowwoods in conjunction with Inktober. https://inktober.com/
Connect with Kelsey:
Kelsey’s Website: http://www.kelseyformost.com
Kelsey’s Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/keformost
Kelsey’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kelsey.writes/
Kelsey’s Courses: https://kelseyformost.com/courses
Original Themesong composed by Jules Grant https://www.instagram.com/j.u.l.e.s.g.r.a.n.t/
Produced by Hayleigh Hayhurst https://www.espressopodcastproduction.com/
Learn more about our sponsor Kajabi & get a 30 day free trial of their platform (the best deal you’ll find ANYwhere on the internet!) at http://www.kelseyformost.com/kajabi
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