On Creative Depression + Facing Your Fears with Artist Delia Brown

Welcome to the WANTcast: the Women Against Negative Talk Podcast - lessons in moving forward fearlessly and spreading the good word. I cant even tell you how stoked I am to be sharing this very first podcast with you. Today’s guest is – she’s more than inspirational, she’s electric.

I first met Delia Brown a couple years ago when she became an indoor cycling teacher at Equinox, and was instantly drawn to her down to earth, inclusive, sassy but soulful personality. As I got to know her, these little pieces of information started to surface. Like that she rapped. Or that she swam in the ocean every morning. Or that she was literally a famous artist - like art-history-books-famous. Big time fame.

And earlier this year, something else surfaced: that she had been diagnosed with, in her words, a pretty gnarly strain of cancer. So just so you know, she is in remission as of last month – and it’s not the cancer I wanted to talk to her about per se, but her perspective on life that could have only been achieved with the solid base of self-awareness she’d cultivated her entire life. In this episode she talks about falling into a creative depression that lasted years, doing things because they’re scary, finding role models that reflect who you know you can be, and - of course - her rap career (she opened for Wu Tang Clan once, btw) as well as her appearance on Daytime TV (which I had zero clue about before I recorded this). If you are into living life to the fullest – yes, I‘m going to be that general – this episode is for you. I love her and I know you will too. Little disclaimer: I’m still figuring this whole podcasting thing out, so if there’s some sound wonkiness, vocal ticks and habits that just won't quit, etc, please go easy on me. I'm only human, and only figuring this out as I go along. To go along with the theme of today’s episode, making this honestly scared the living bejeesus out of me. Good –scary, not my-intuition-is-screaming-to-stop scary. But my life philosophy is that anything new that’s really worth doing is always a little scary at first, and moveover that fear is a sign youre on to something big. So my hope is that today is the start of what is something huge, not just for me and not just for the guests, and not just you as an individual, but for all of us as a community – because in order to make a positive change in ourselves and in the world, we need to work together to set the example.   I honestly cannot say enough about this amazing woman, so I’ll just let you listen to the episode. Enjoy.tags: self-help, wellness, art, career, cancer, health, fitness, fame, personal stories, interviews, women, women in podcasting