Escaping the Lure of Attention and Approval with Kathleen Smith

#AmWriting

It’s SO SO EASY for creatives to get caught up in chasing after praise and approval to boost their own mood and productivity. How can we spend less energy "borrowing self" from other people's reactions, and more energy pursuing what's important to us? KJ asks Kathleen Smith, author of True to You: A Therapist's Guide to Stop Pleasing Others and Start Being Yourself, to help us find our true writer-selves at all the moments when all the other opinions and demands and pseudo-beliefs beckon. The goal? Hanging up a mental sign that says “currently closed to imaginary commentary.”

Kathleen Smith PhD, LPC is an author, licensed therapist, and expert on relationship systems with degrees from Harvard University and The George Washington University. She is the author of Everything Isn’t Terrible: Conquer Your Insecurities, Interrupt Your Anxiety, and Finally Calm Down, a funny, practical guide that breaks down psychotherapy concepts into accessible stories of change and True to You: A Therapist’s Guide to Stop Pleasing Others and Starting Being Yourself.

She also writes a weekly therapy newsletter, The Anxious Overachiever, —and clearly we all need THAT.

#AmReading

Kathleen: Wild Rituals, Caitlin O'Connell

KJ: The Creative Pragmatist, Amy Smilovic (largely unobtainable, so check out her Substack here.)

Find Kathleen via her website, Facebook, or Instagram

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