Latest / Crafted Connections / EP 16: The Importance of Play with Amber Robinson

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EP 16: The Importance of Play with Amber Robinson · Crafted Connections

0:03
SPEAKER_00: Hello! Welcome to Crafted Connections.
0:07
SPEAKER_00: I'm Kayla Calhoun, and this is a podcast all about storytelling and building genuine community.
0:13
SPEAKER_00: Here we'll dive into the art of storytelling, unpack strategies for making meaningful connections, and hear from incredible humans who are using their story to create impact.
0:23
SPEAKER_00: So grab your favorite beverage, settle in, and let's craft some connections.
0:29
SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome back to another episode of Crafted Connections.
0:33
SPEAKER_00: It's really nice to have you, to be speaking into your ears and sharing this next conversation.
0:40
SPEAKER_00: I'm so grateful for your listenership and I'm really grateful for this podcast as well.
0:45
SPEAKER_00: We have crossed the three-month threshold and I'm really proud of it.
0:50
SPEAKER_00: So many conversations.
0:52
SPEAKER_00: I was a little bit worried because I had essentially marathoned this first three months of interviews, if you will, through like a month-long period.
1:00
SPEAKER_00: So it was just like episode interview after episode interview after episode interview, to the point where I was like, am I even doing a good job interviewing these people?
1:08
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm marathoning it so hard, and it all becomes very blurry, right?
1:12
SPEAKER_00: But alas, today's interview still knocked it out of the park.
1:16
SPEAKER_00: Uh, not because of me, but more because of my guest, Amber Robinson.
1:20
SPEAKER_00: She and I have been friends for a few years now, and I just love hearing her take on things.
1:26
SPEAKER_00: She is a creative person that kind of is a bit of a science nerd behind what our brain does in creativity.
1:32
SPEAKER_00: She's a pianist and lives in the marketing space, so she's a multifaceted human.
1:37
SPEAKER_00: Uh, there's really no other way to be, if you ask me.
1:39
SPEAKER_00: I really enjoyed our conversation, and I honestly kind of enjoyed it the second time.
1:45
SPEAKER_00: The first time I was a little bit spent and don't know how present I actually was, but then to be able to enjoy it, what is a month and a half later, and sift through and you know, edit it for you all, has been really, really lovely.
1:59
SPEAKER_00: So super excited to share that with you.
2:01
SPEAKER_00: But before we do, let's do a little check-in, shall we?
2:04
SPEAKER_00: Uh a few weeks ago I had a solo episode about Slow Girl Summer, and it's like I put it onto the universe, and immediately the universe is like, cool, you want that?
2:16
SPEAKER_00: Let's test her.
2:17
SPEAKER_00: And I've I've just found myself busier than I expected in the last three to four weeks, doing my best to tap into going a bit slower, whether it be, you know, getting up an hour earlier to give myself the time for my brain in the morning to have the me time that I want, or, you know, Phil and I just got a little dingy boat, which is uh basically a little floating boat that we can take around with oars so we don't have to try and take our big behemoth of a homeboat out.
2:43
SPEAKER_00: And so that's been really nice and enjoying that.
2:46
SPEAKER_00: You know, sipping some some yummy treats.
2:49
SPEAKER_00: There's these um like magnesium drinks that I've been really into this summer, and sometimes I just grab those at the end of the night to kind of slow down and hopefully get some good sleep.
3:00
SPEAKER_00: So we're trying out here.
3:02
SPEAKER_00: We are trying, and I'm really grateful for conversations like the one I had with Amber to remind myself to play, to have fun with it all, because we only really have one life, right?
3:12
SPEAKER_00: So I hope that the conversation gives you the same kind of resolve and that you enjoy what we talk about.
3:18
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I will say the second half we do talk a lot about a knee injury that she experienced when she was a teenager.
3:23
SPEAKER_00: So if you're not interested in listening to those details, feel free to just cut us off at the middle and just enjoy the first half.
3:29
SPEAKER_00: But if you're down to clown, enjoy the whole episode.
3:34
SPEAKER_00: Amber, Amber, Amber, thank you for being on Crafted Connections.
3:38
SPEAKER_00: How are you today?
3:40
SPEAKER_00: I am amazing.
3:41
SPEAKER_01: How are you?
3:42
SPEAKER_00: Well, amazing because I get to talk to you and I get to just be with you.
3:46
SPEAKER_00: Can we kick it off?
3:47
SPEAKER_01: Let's kick it off.
3:48
SPEAKER_00: First off, can we kick it off?
3:50
SPEAKER_00: Check.
3:50
SPEAKER_00: Yes, we can.
3:51
SPEAKER_00: Second, can you share with the good people a little bit about yourself?
3:55
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
3:56
SPEAKER_01: I live in Indianapolis, Indiana, which is how I met Caitlin because once upon a time she lived there as well.
4:02
SPEAKER_01: I live here with my husband Aaron.
4:05
SPEAKER_01: I enjoy the sun, and I equally enjoy the snow.
4:10
SPEAKER_01: So I definitely like to get out in the snow.
4:11
SPEAKER_01: So I enjoy the sun and the snow here.
4:13
SPEAKER_01: I'm a pianist, a composer, and a marketer.
4:17
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, let's just dive right into it.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: The pianist, you've got a long history with that, but you pivoted into marketing in the last like four or five years.
4:27
SPEAKER_00: Is that correct?
4:27
SPEAKER_00: Was it about five years ago?
4:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm double, I'm double dipping.
4:30
SPEAKER_01: The piano business is still going strong, but I'm also doing marketing because I found that I really love business owners.
4:36
SPEAKER_01: I enjoy them so much and I enjoy helping them with their businesses.
4:39
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
4:40
SPEAKER_01: And I have some crossover clients actually.
4:42
SPEAKER_01: I have some clients in the business world that have jumped into piano lessons.
4:45
SPEAKER_01: So double dipping, creative multitasking.
4:48
SPEAKER_01: Part of the reason why I double-dipped into those two areas is you and I had a conversation the other day about being a manager versus creating.
4:56
SPEAKER_01: And so as I switched over, I have more time to actually do my own piano music, my own composing.
5:02
SPEAKER_01: My husband and I compose for some film scores.
5:05
SPEAKER_01: I feel like I'm creating all day long, whether I'm creating client content or my own piano music.
5:11
SPEAKER_01: I just feel like I'm creating now and getting to stay in that creative mode and flow.
5:16
SPEAKER_01: And it feels really, really good.
5:17
SPEAKER_01: I have less meetings constantly throughout the day.
5:20
SPEAKER_00: Can you explain?
5:22
SPEAKER_00: I think the general public would be like, that's interesting.
5:25
SPEAKER_01: What does she mean by that?
5:26
SPEAKER_01: My day before, I was having meeting after meeting after meeting with client after client after client after client after client.
5:33
SPEAKER_01: And although I love piano coaching and I still do a lot of that live, it was that manager show up for meetings versus having this extended amount of time to create piano music, to create compositions, to create really cool business things for business clients.
5:52
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like most of my week now is creation, and there are some admin days of the week.
5:58
SPEAKER_01: I'm loving my life.
6:00
SPEAKER_00: So let's dive into creativity then.
6:03
SPEAKER_00: Since you're living in that space more and more, you know, I think before you would say that you identified like as a piano teacher.
6:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was like, I would have said I was an adult piano coach, and now I say I'm a pianist.
6:16
SPEAKER_01: And that feels very good.
6:17
SPEAKER_00: Got it.
6:18
SPEAKER_00: When did you start calling yourself an adult piano coach?
6:21
SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to like get the full picture of like Amber's transition because you didn't always identify as a piano coach.
6:29
SPEAKER_00: And I love that phrasing, but before that, you did identify as a piano teacher, right?
6:33
SPEAKER_00: So I'm just trying to like get that background.
6:35
SPEAKER_01: I think I did because that was the best language I had for that.
6:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
6:38
SPEAKER_01: Pretty soon I identified as a piano coach because I really feel that the client or student, whichever way you want to call it, is the person in the driver's seat.
6:48
SPEAKER_01: And I'm there to see what's happening and to coach them more like a tennis coach or a sports coach versus a teacher.
6:57
SPEAKER_01: I feel that a teacher stands up in front of a classroom and presents concepts like a math teacher and then says, Go work on it.
7:04
SPEAKER_01: So the client was bringing me what they wanted to work on.
7:08
SPEAKER_01: And I was improving a lot of technique, like the way that a swing would like happen in a tennis, improving how they're sitting, how they're playing, and it gets intense.
7:17
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
7:18
SPEAKER_01: It's much more like a sport and less like me standing up with concepts.
7:22
SPEAKER_01: I did have a lot of slides and a lot of content to present, but it was as it came up.
7:26
SPEAKER_00: Well, and then that that gives, I think, a little bit more context to the creator versus manager space that you're talking about, right?
7:33
SPEAKER_00: The having regular coaching sessions is like you're you aren't creating in that space.
7:39
SPEAKER_00: You know, you're not in the driver's seat.
7:40
SPEAKER_00: It's very interesting.
7:41
SPEAKER_01: A lot of them, because we do playing by ear, composing, and reading music.
7:46
SPEAKER_01: And so when they were composing, a lot of my creative composing energy went to them to help them.
7:52
SPEAKER_01: I mean, sometimes that would help co-write songs.
7:55
SPEAKER_01: So when it came down to doing my, I'm on this planet earth to create.
7:59
SPEAKER_01: And I still have a few adult piano clients and I love them, but because there's a few of them, I can give them more of myself and it doesn't feel draining.
8:07
SPEAKER_01: And we get so much more done.
8:09
SPEAKER_01: The quality of what happens in those sessions is off the charts because there's a few of them.
8:14
SPEAKER_01: There's no longer 50 of them a week.
8:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're not like a coaching factory anymore.
8:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but it's so life-giving what is happening in those sessions.
8:24
SPEAKER_01: I want to do a few of them.
8:25
SPEAKER_01: Giving life and creativity to me, I'm giving life and creativity to them.
8:29
SPEAKER_01: They're put they're bringing songs.
8:30
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I don't know what that is.
8:31
SPEAKER_01: Let's learn it.
8:32
SPEAKER_01: That'll be fun.
8:34
SPEAKER_01: It's a good old fun time.
8:36
SPEAKER_01: So it's really just adjusting for my own personality, saying, How can I continue to be the most creative person that I can be?
8:44
SPEAKER_01: And I want to stretch myself.
8:45
SPEAKER_01: Like writing the music for film ad TV is stretching myself.
8:48
SPEAKER_01: I want to be in these professional environments where I don't know if I can do it, but let's do it.
8:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
8:55
SPEAKER_00: I love what you said a second ago about how much you love your life right now.
9:00
SPEAKER_00: I do.
9:01
SPEAKER_00: Can you answer why?
9:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I've always loved my life.
9:05
SPEAKER_01: I think as you get older, you make little tweaks and pivots.
9:08
SPEAKER_01: And so I loved my life as much as I could at the time, and then you hit this like obstacle where the person you're becoming has outgrown that situation.
9:16
SPEAKER_01: But I equally loved my life all the way through.
9:18
SPEAKER_01: And a long time ago, I taught littles, like I taught little kids, and I equally loved that.
9:23
SPEAKER_01: That was fascinating.
9:24
SPEAKER_01: But there comes to be a moment where I've challenged myself as much as I can in that situation, and I don't feel like I'm bringing anything new.
9:31
SPEAKER_01: And I want to bring something new, and I want to challenge me, I want to challenge them.
9:35
SPEAKER_01: So I love have loved my life all the way through.
9:38
SPEAKER_01: My favorite moment was when I told these people, like, I'm like, I only teach adults now, like it's just strangers, and they're like, you must not like kids.
9:45
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, that's not what I said.
9:48
SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
9:49
SPEAKER_01: I'm not changing because I don't like something.
9:52
SPEAKER_01: I'm changing because I want to challenge myself.
9:54
SPEAKER_01: I want to be more creative.
9:55
SPEAKER_01: And I feel the flow of frequency is expanding me to a new direction.
10:00
SPEAKER_01: Because can you imagine if we just did the same thing for 40 years on this planet?
10:04
SPEAKER_01: It would be so boring.
10:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
10:05
SPEAKER_01: I'm flowing.
10:06
SPEAKER_00: I have a tendency to go black and white thinking about that was before, this is now, everything was terrible before, everything's great now.
10:12
SPEAKER_00: You know, like and it wasn't, yeah.
10:14
SPEAKER_00: You know, I think in story, right?
10:16
SPEAKER_00: And in story, it's get your character from A to B.
10:18
SPEAKER_00: So sometimes I'm the character of my story and I'm like, I was at A and now I'm at B.
10:23
SPEAKER_00: Yay.
10:23
SPEAKER_00: Or like, or if I'm striving for something, you know, I'm at A and I want to get to B.
10:27
SPEAKER_00: But I do think it's a very like switch on or off kind of thing.
10:32
SPEAKER_00: I love how much grace you're giving the different stages of your life and the different moments and the different versions of yourself versus like I think I've been very that was me then, this is me now.
10:42
SPEAKER_01: And everything feeds a thing.
10:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
10:45
SPEAKER_01: Like the stuff that I learned training to teach littles, I still use some of that to teach the older ones.
10:52
SPEAKER_01: They have different obstacles.
10:54
SPEAKER_01: So I'm not everything that I learned, if I'm the little character in the little story.
11:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
11:00
SPEAKER_00: Piano coaching is not your primary thing.
11:03
SPEAKER_00: And and you said that there was the transition of like identity from like piano coach to pianist, and then you were sharing about the marketing piece and how you love those clients just as well.
11:15
SPEAKER_00: You love business owners.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: And and where is like the kind of the thread between people who are like excited to learn the piano and people who are excited to build and tinker and grow something?
11:25
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm so excited that we were talking about this.
11:28
SPEAKER_01: I saw in COVID, pre and post-COVID, that adults had this heavy lift.
11:34
SPEAKER_01: Whether you had children or not, and those with children had a very heavy lift because they were taking their kids through COVID, right?
11:41
SPEAKER_01: There became this level of life burnout that people were experiencing.
11:47
SPEAKER_01: So I had more and more adults asking me for lessons, and that's part of why I shifted.
11:54
SPEAKER_01: I was realizing that there were things that I encountered with adults and that were teenagers were different.
11:59
SPEAKER_01: Like the teenagers were saying, I've got soccer practice, I have this and this and this.
12:02
SPEAKER_01: Can we rearrange our lessons?
12:03
SPEAKER_01: Because they were learning all day long at school and all afternoon with tennis and piano and all this.
12:09
SPEAKER_01: And adults had stopped they might not be in a class, they might not be in tennis, and they were they were needing some creative kind of play and expansion because they were at a soul level of burnout.
12:25
SPEAKER_01: And they were trying to switch jobs, switch careers, get divorced, send their kids to camp, and like things were not working.
12:32
SPEAKER_01: And so they were entering something like maybe like the artist way book that you and I both have, and trying to become like more creative, more alive, and more fulfilled.
12:43
SPEAKER_01: So when they went back to work or spouse or boyfriend or girlfriend or kids, that they had something creative and something alive in them, something human in them to give.
12:55
SPEAKER_01: So let's fast forward to this year, 2025, with the height of AI.
12:59
SPEAKER_01: And you and I know that we love an good AI hack.
13:02
SPEAKER_01: Like Caitlin and I own a business, we love a good AI hack.
13:05
SPEAKER_01: So we have that COVID layer, political upheaval and AI, which is making everything feel very uncertain.
13:13
SPEAKER_01: It's even more and more important that adults don't lose that element of play, they don't lose that element of creativity, and this element that makes us human.
13:24
SPEAKER_01: And that could be anything, that could be dance, that could be pottery, that could be whatever.
13:27
SPEAKER_01: But I'm just super biased because I have all the science behind why piano is better.
13:33
SPEAKER_00: Got it.
13:33
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
13:34
SPEAKER_01: Steven Kidding, not kidding.
13:37
SPEAKER_01: But there's like things that happen in our brain because we're using both sides of our body, both sides of our arms.
13:43
SPEAKER_01: That's just a little different.
13:44
SPEAKER_01: And you have the harmonic resonant frequencies of a real acoustic piano that mimic like sound bowls and those different frequencies and harmonics.
13:52
SPEAKER_01: So so that's why I'm obsessed and I love it.
13:54
SPEAKER_01: Because it's the stuff that I do as a pianist.
13:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
13:58
SPEAKER_01: And I get to feed into that as a piano coach where I'm becoming more human, I'm becoming more creative.
14:03
SPEAKER_01: It's helping my emotions, my physical body, and I get to like be excited that that's helping someone else.
14:09
SPEAKER_01: It's very fun.
14:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
14:11
SPEAKER_01: I've gone off.
14:12
SPEAKER_00: No, there's so many, but there's so many layers.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: I I want to go back a little bit.
14:16
SPEAKER_00: You introduced me to the artist way.
14:18
SPEAKER_00: It took me a few years to actually get at it.
14:21
SPEAKER_00: I would love a little bit of a, and you're a big artist way fan.
14:24
SPEAKER_00: I I would love a little bit of context for those listening.
14:27
SPEAKER_00: What is the artist way?
14:28
SPEAKER_00: What goes into it?
14:30
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, I have my own things because I've literally just finished the program like a month or two ago, and it's been a wonderful experience.
14:37
SPEAKER_00: But you are the one who was like, not even you weren't in any way, shape, or form like pushing me to do it.
14:42
SPEAKER_01: You literally were just- But I was off the level charts excited for myself.
14:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
14:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
14:46
SPEAKER_00: You literally were leaving by example.
14:47
SPEAKER_00: Like every time we would get lunch, you were like on your way to an artist state, and you're very good about doing it regularly and keeping your morning pages up.
14:54
SPEAKER_01: And so if you wouldn't mind explaining it to folks listening, well, I think it's funny that you said you took you a while because the person that like recommended it to me was like an online influencer that I was sus about.
15:09
SPEAKER_01: But people kind of talking about it, oh like so many people everywhere.
15:13
SPEAKER_01: And I was at like a huge feeling that burnout.
15:16
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what year it was.
15:17
SPEAKER_01: It was probably around COVID.
15:19
SPEAKER_01: Just feeling that burnout that I was talking about.
15:21
SPEAKER_01: And no amount of like taking a month off, sleeping, exercising.
15:27
SPEAKER_01: Like I just was going down the self-help checklist.
15:31
SPEAKER_01: Like, what am I missing here?
15:33
SPEAKER_01: So I was like, I texted two friends and said, Have you done this?
15:36
SPEAKER_01: Because I don't want to do this if this isn't gonna help my burnout.
15:39
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, We don't know, we haven't done it.
15:41
SPEAKER_01: You don't want to like put the effort into do something.
15:43
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you don't want to do more and then be like, Well, now I'm more tired than I was.
15:47
SPEAKER_01: So I was like, they haven't done it, but I just had this niggling feeling.
15:51
SPEAKER_01: So there's morning pages involved, which is just a brain drain.
15:54
SPEAKER_01: And I hate journaling, so I was very against it.
15:57
SPEAKER_01: Oh I'm like the was the worst artist by student.
16:01
SPEAKER_01: And then they have an artist date.
16:03
SPEAKER_01: So I finally got to be like, okay, this brain drain is helping me pull the sludge out.
16:08
SPEAKER_01: And it's not like I don't ever read them later.
16:10
SPEAKER_01: I I literally tear them up and throw them away unless a poem's coming out and I'll keep the poem.
16:14
SPEAKER_01: Because for me, poems turn into piano songs.
16:16
SPEAKER_02: Oh wow, cool.
16:17
SPEAKER_01: That's how I use that.
16:18
SPEAKER_01: So I finally was okay with that.
16:20
SPEAKER_01: And then we had to do the artist day.
16:21
SPEAKER_01: And the artist date is just going by yourself, which I do things by myself.
16:24
SPEAKER_01: That wasn't the problem.
16:25
SPEAKER_01: You go by yourself and do something that is not for piano.
16:30
SPEAKER_01: Like it wasn't piano related, it wasn't business related, which always what the things I did.
16:35
SPEAKER_01: It was just for fun.
16:36
SPEAKER_01: There was something so calcified, if I can use that word, in my soul.
16:41
SPEAKER_01: I was like offended and thought it was stupid and didn't want to do it.
16:44
SPEAKER_01: And it was difficult and painful for me to do it.
16:47
SPEAKER_01: Cause I had shut down that child play center, even though I'm doing piano, even though I'm creating songs, like it was for a thing.
16:55
SPEAKER_01: I'm doing this for a thing.
16:57
SPEAKER_01: So I remember being at the art museum in town, and there's a room that has like light streaming in.
17:04
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if Caitlin, if you know this, but they're like different color windows, like purple, blue, green.
17:09
SPEAKER_01: It's just the windows are just multicolored.
17:11
SPEAKER_01: And so the light streams in, and you see those collars on the ground, and that exhibit never changes because they're literally part of the windows.
17:19
SPEAKER_01: Feeling something in my like crustified inner child play center, being like, Oh, I might want this and need this, and maybe your resistance is because you need this, and it just kind of felt like and so some of the artists' wait dates are disasters and some of them are amazing, but you have to put yourself in the flow of creativity for that creative thing to spark.
17:45
SPEAKER_01: And I would find myself in these situations and have ideas for songs, ideas for business, ideas for that, and sometimes not.
17:53
SPEAKER_01: But lots of times those moments were moments where I would get the aha, the creative ideas I needed to solve a problem that I couldn't have solved with pen and paper.
18:04
SPEAKER_01: So, yes.
18:05
SPEAKER_01: And what I love about the artist way is like you don't have to be a professional writer, teacher, musician, painter.
18:13
SPEAKER_01: Like the premise is everyone needs creativity in their life, even if you're like a lawyer or business person, it's the thing that's keeping us alive and not burnt out.
18:22
SPEAKER_01: So that's why I mentioned artist way.
18:24
SPEAKER_01: No, I love it.
18:24
SPEAKER_01: And that's why you do it, right?
18:26
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you're still quite active with the practice.
18:28
SPEAKER_01: I do.
18:29
SPEAKER_01: I don't think I would be.
18:30
SPEAKER_01: I do a weekly meeting with a few other people in the program and we report back on like what we're creating.
18:37
SPEAKER_01: And that really helps.
18:39
SPEAKER_01: Because the point, even though I do love the morning pages in the artist date, the point is it leads you to create something.
18:44
SPEAKER_01: So I'll report back.
18:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
18:45
SPEAKER_01: Like I'm in a piano cello duo, we're on a little hiatus, but I'll either report back about that or a song I'm creating.
18:52
SPEAKER_01: And just hearing what they're creating helps me keep creating.
18:55
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
18:56
SPEAKER_01: And there's so much grace if there's a week where we're like, it was just a hard week.
19:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
19:00
SPEAKER_01: Did nothing on the creation scale this week.
19:03
SPEAKER_00: Well, it, yeah, sometimes that's the case.
19:05
SPEAKER_00: And I share it an aha with you.
19:07
SPEAKER_00: I'm in a moment right now where just taking on more clients, you know, it it's it's a burnout moment, right?
19:13
SPEAKER_00: It's taking on more clients sounds like just kind of a drag and this, that, and the other.
19:17
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, while it's something I want, and it's almost feels a little raw to be sharing it like on a podcast, but it's like it's true.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: Like I'm in this place where I'm just like taking something on means growth.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: Growth means crashing and burning.
19:32
SPEAKER_00: Like that's what my brain is experiencing.
19:34
SPEAKER_00: So it's like relearning a bit.
19:36
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I'm excited about this.
19:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
19:38
SPEAKER_00: No, and I think it's good for us to talk about it because one, people need to have these conversations because I think business owners, creators, whatever, humans were told more, more, more produce, produce, produce.
19:48
SPEAKER_00: That actually, that aha, that thing I just shared with you came out of one of the Artist Way meetings I had with my Artist Way group, where like a bunch of people were celebrating, oh, I got this gig.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I just quit my full-time job so I could go freelance.
20:02
SPEAKER_00: And my body was just like, I don't want clients right now.
20:05
SPEAKER_00: I feel you.
20:06
SPEAKER_00: Which is kind of bonkers considering I own a consulting firm, right?
20:10
SPEAKER_01: But I feel you, yes.
20:12
SPEAKER_01: Cause I what I what's what's pulling up for me is I didn't have quite the same thing with the client thing.
20:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
20:17
SPEAKER_01: But I remember we did two albums, like full-length albums.
20:21
SPEAKER_01: I did two or three books at that point.
20:23
SPEAKER_01: And I would, we would gear up for this big thing and this big launch and this big thing, and the amount of soul sucking, yeah, that was coming out of me to think about doing another like single, another album, another Kickstarter, another it for me.
20:37
SPEAKER_01: I have the same, I had the same feeling back in the day, but it was about a creative project, like the amount of what it took out of me.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
20:45
SPEAKER_01: If this is what creating is, I never want to create again.
20:48
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
20:49
SPEAKER_01: How you were feeling in business, I don't exactly relate, but I'd relate with creating because it just took so much out of me.
20:57
SPEAKER_01: And the artist way to me was the way back of like, how can something be put in and filling me up to work let myself get to this level of like trauma almost?
21:08
SPEAKER_00: Right, right, right.
21:10
SPEAKER_00: It's I feel you.
21:11
SPEAKER_00: Right.
21:11
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, I don't necessarily have the answer other than like I'm really enjoying this podcast, I'm really enjoying creating in other ways.
21:18
SPEAKER_00: You know, the artist way isn't the only thing that has like led me to like heal a little bit around this stuff, but it played a big part, and you are one of the people who highly recommended it to me.
21:27
SPEAKER_00: So it's been it's been really fun to reflect that back to you.
21:30
SPEAKER_00: And and you won't always be in that place.
21:32
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
21:32
SPEAKER_00: And it's that's the thing, is like you can't be tired forever unless you keep pushing yourself beyond your boundaries.
21:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I feel like I'm in the place where I'm creating now and I don't have that level of burnout anymore.
21:43
SPEAKER_01: And I feel like it's a miracle.
21:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
21:46
SPEAKER_01: Like I can create and it can be fun again.
21:49
SPEAKER_01: What?
21:50
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
21:51
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I love that.
21:52
SPEAKER_01: I have a lot of grace for your vulnerability, and I think you sharing that, Caitlin, is gonna help a lot of people.
21:58
SPEAKER_01: This is where I am, yeah, and that's okay.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Right.
22:01
SPEAKER_00: And because there is a world where like I also am like using this podcast as a marketing tool.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
22:07
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know who I can help tell their story?
22:10
SPEAKER_00: People who are really tired from all their work and business.
22:13
SPEAKER_00: It's almost counterintuitive, but it felt I felt compelled to say it, even though it doesn't make any sense.
22:21
SPEAKER_01: And there is an intersection of creativity and business.
22:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
22:24
SPEAKER_01: That business owners need to be creative and creative people, if they're wanting to be full-time whatever's, they need to understand the business.
22:31
SPEAKER_01: So there is that like Venn diagram of overlap that I think is fun and amazing.
22:36
SPEAKER_00: Me too.
22:36
SPEAKER_00: Me too.
22:39
SPEAKER_00: Hey y'all.
22:40
SPEAKER_00: You know I love telling stories, gathering stories, and finding a way to help people connect their story with the people that will get it.
22:49
SPEAKER_00: And that's what my story strategy sessions are all about.
22:51
SPEAKER_00: So over at Calhoun Creative Consulting, my strategic storytelling firm, we do one-on-one and or facilitated workshops in relation to really honing in the strategy around your story.
23:04
SPEAKER_00: It's a bit of messaging, meets content creation, meets storytelling.
23:08
SPEAKER_00: And then how do we put that out in the world?
23:10
SPEAKER_00: How do we show up regularly?
23:11
SPEAKER_00: There's a bit of mindset work around it, right?
23:13
SPEAKER_00: To actually tell your story, whether you're launching something new or trying to rework your brand or just feeling a little foggy on how to communicate with your people, this is how to get clear.
23:21
SPEAKER_00: We'll dig into things like your narrative, how to uncover what matters most, maybe map out a few content pillars while we're at it.
23:27
SPEAKER_00: You'll also get a recording of our session so you can revisit the conversation anytime you like.
23:31
SPEAKER_00: Let's shape a story that actually feels like you.
23:34
SPEAKER_00: So book yours today.
23:35
SPEAKER_00: There is a link in the show notes.
23:36
SPEAKER_00: And hey, while you're at it, use the code podcast, all caps, podcast for 25% off your session.
23:44
SPEAKER_00: I would be honored to spend time with you and suss out your story.
23:48
SPEAKER_00: Let's dive back into the episode, shall we?
23:53
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I want to go into more of Amber's background.
23:57
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
23:58
SPEAKER_00: We talked a bit about how you got into like the marketing space, but like Amber is the whole human, right?
24:03
SPEAKER_00: I that's something I'm really trying to make sure that in each episode I bring out with everyone.
24:09
SPEAKER_00: It's like, yes, the work you do, great.
24:12
SPEAKER_00: And I love the marketing model of podcast towards this then the other.
24:15
SPEAKER_00: I think it's a beautiful thing.
24:16
SPEAKER_00: And also I think it can be overdone if we don't actually like recognize the human that we're having a conversation with.
24:21
SPEAKER_00: It needs to be like we're exchanging stories and we're connecting, even though we're already connected, but we got here because we kept doing this.
24:27
SPEAKER_00: We kept have stories, we kept exchanging.
24:30
SPEAKER_00: So is it tell some stories?
24:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, tell some stories.
24:33
SPEAKER_00: Is there anything on your heart in particular today that like a story that you'd love to share or challenges that you've experienced?
24:40
SPEAKER_00: I'm with you.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: Cool.
24:40
SPEAKER_01: What pops to mind first?
24:42
SPEAKER_01: I think what pops into my mind, which I think it's because people have commented about it recently.
24:48
SPEAKER_01: So sometimes you need people to be mirrors.
24:51
SPEAKER_01: You're like, to me, that's not that interesting, but apparently it was interesting.
24:55
SPEAKER_01: So it came out, I think it's because it's almost it's like Schwartz weather again.
24:59
SPEAKER_01: I have a huge scar on my knee left and right, and people are like, whoa, what is that?
25:05
SPEAKER_01: Because it looks crazy.
25:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
25:06
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, I don't think about it because like it's been on me since I was 16.
25:12
SPEAKER_01: So I would say a big turning point in my life was when I was 16.
25:16
SPEAKER_01: And I think this might not even be a story that Caitlin knows, which is why I'm excited.
25:20
SPEAKER_01: I know it's fun.
25:21
SPEAKER_00: I think I saw it on your intake form, and I was like, excuse me.
25:25
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm not out here being like, what's that scar on your leg?
25:28
SPEAKER_01: You know, but I love that for people.
25:30
SPEAKER_01: I actually don't mind it.
25:31
SPEAKER_01: I think some people are offended if someone would say that, but yeah, it's the inner child and people coming out.
25:36
SPEAKER_01: I love that pointing and like what's going on.
25:38
SPEAKER_00: Gosh, you were such a healing friend for me to have because I'm like, there's that like closed up Midwestern energy that is Caitlin's, you know, and and she's just like, don't say things to people.
25:47
SPEAKER_00: But I love that.
25:47
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
25:48
SPEAKER_01: I think the people who were asking were friend people.
25:50
SPEAKER_01: And so at that point, it wasn't a stranger in the store.
25:53
SPEAKER_01: And I honestly would have answered the stranger in the store.
25:55
SPEAKER_01: I'll tell you.
25:55
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter.
25:56
SPEAKER_01: So I was 16, right around the time I got my license, and it was a big party at the end of the year in May, and there was one of those huge trampolines.
26:05
SPEAKER_01: So it's getting dark.
26:06
SPEAKER_01: We're all bouncing, bouncing, bouncing, and I'm loving it because I don't have a trampoline in my house.
26:10
SPEAKER_01: Right.
26:11
SPEAKER_01: Safety conscious parents would like never let this happen.
26:14
SPEAKER_00: And the story is about to tell you why you don't have a trampoline in your house.
26:19
SPEAKER_01: So I can probably hear all the safety training from my mom that's drilled into me.
26:23
SPEAKER_01: Because like the sun is setting over the fields and the corn, and you're like, we're all like bouncing, bouncing, bouncing, and it's getting dark.
26:30
SPEAKER_01: My safety training is like, this is not safe.
26:34
SPEAKER_01: So I said, Hey everyone, I'm getting off.
26:37
SPEAKER_01: And everything pauses because I think they heard me.
26:41
SPEAKER_01: They didn't hear me.
26:43
SPEAKER_01: It was the pause before the jump, and my kneecam like backwards.
26:47
SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, like your knees on a hinge.
26:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I know.
26:49
SPEAKER_01: It's backwards, like kneecap goes to the side.
26:52
SPEAKER_01: My leg starts swelling.
26:54
SPEAKER_01: This is not just for the gory story thing.
26:56
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, luckily, I don't know if luck's the right word, synchronisatively spirit-wise.
27:01
SPEAKER_01: There's a kid there who is taking some kind of pre-med, he's like on a pre-med track.
27:05
SPEAKER_01: They all want to pop my knee back in place, and he's like, Don't do it.
27:09
SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm passed out.
27:10
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if he's Oh, you're like unconscious.
27:13
SPEAKER_01: I didn't fall off.
27:13
SPEAKER_01: I didn't get caught in the springs.
27:14
SPEAKER_01: No, it just my knee went back.
27:16
SPEAKER_00: Oh, so like the jumping, like you were standing still while everyone kept jumping.
27:21
SPEAKER_01: And the jumping pushed it back.
27:23
SPEAKER_01: Their jumping pushed my knee back.
27:25
SPEAKER_01: So these kids pull me off the trampoline.
27:29
SPEAKER_01: I'm going into shock.
27:30
SPEAKER_01: Luckily, this pre-med kid keeps them from like pushing my knee back into place.
27:35
SPEAKER_01: Shout out to Jeff.
27:36
SPEAKER_01: Like, wherever you are, you're not listening to me, but thank God for Jeff.
27:39
SPEAKER_01: They need to helicopter me to Indianapolis.
27:42
SPEAKER_01: There's no helicopter, so they end up just putting me into like fast ambulance on the interstate, and they do this cutting edge for you know the that old timey time, like 20, how many years ago that was?
27:54
SPEAKER_01: It was way more than 20, but whatever.
27:55
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna say my age.
27:57
SPEAKER_01: You're about to say the year, and you're like, people will do math.
28:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, people will do math.
28:02
SPEAKER_01: So it was cutting edge and the cutting edge doctor who came back from his Memorial Day trip to do surgery on me, so my leg was not amputated.
28:10
SPEAKER_01: So, anyway, I think it's a cool story.
28:12
SPEAKER_00: Can you explain the technology a little bit?
28:14
SPEAKER_00: Like, or would that be too gory?
28:16
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if I know because I was so out of it.
28:18
SPEAKER_00: But like at the time, that was like your lot your leg's gonna be lost.
28:23
SPEAKER_01: It was a cutting edge surgery technique.
28:25
SPEAKER_01: So my my leg, my knee would not lose like blood flow.
28:28
SPEAKER_01: Uh-and it was to keep the blood flow into my like leg and knee.
28:32
SPEAKER_01: So whatever the surgery was, yeah, the new kind of surgery.
28:35
SPEAKER_01: And the doctor came back from his like vacation to do it, and I felt like so much synchronous need.
28:42
SPEAKER_01: I had to do a lot of really, really painful physical therapy.
28:45
SPEAKER_01: Like they pull you up basically out of surgery a few hours later, and they're like, Okay, we're gonna like have you walk on this thing, and then we're gonna put a thing around your waist and we're gonna hold you up and you're just gonna go.
28:54
SPEAKER_01: I had done sports before where you're just like, oh, this sucks.
28:58
SPEAKER_01: But to have that much grit to be like, if I don't do this, they actually said even with the physical therapy, I'd never be able to run again.
29:05
SPEAKER_01: And I was a 16-year-old kid and I was like, No, I will.
29:08
SPEAKER_01: Sorry.
29:09
SPEAKER_01: But I knew that I wasn't gonna be walking well if I didn't do it, and it was so crazy painful, and it was like every day.
29:16
SPEAKER_01: And my safety conscious mom, well, shout out to mom, really made me do it.
29:21
SPEAKER_01: Like, because you're a kid at a house, there's no just like skipping a day.
29:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
29:26
SPEAKER_01: So the reason I'm telling you the story is like, even though it seemed like a really terrible traumatic event, I point back to that moment as like that was the moment where I got grit and I saw some synchronicity that the universe and God was watching out for me.
29:40
SPEAKER_01: So that was very impactful.
29:41
SPEAKER_01: Plus, I can push a little harder than I think I can.
29:45
SPEAKER_01: So I think I've used that in business, and you know I've had injuries and health issues after that.
29:50
SPEAKER_01: And I'm using that grit and that whatever to this day.
29:54
SPEAKER_01: So I think creativity is awesome, but creativity also needs some grit where you put your butt in the seat and you write the poem, you write the song, you show up.
30:02
SPEAKER_01: And that I can just push a little more, not like in a hustle culture kind of way.
30:06
SPEAKER_01: Cause whenever you hear about pushing, you feel like hustle culture where it's pushing you to burnout.
30:10
SPEAKER_01: There's this third thing that I don't think we talk about as creatives is that just that grit to like get up and I'm gonna do it again today.
30:17
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna get up and I'm gonna do it again today, and I'm gonna be excellent at it.
30:21
SPEAKER_01: And that is lost somewhere between empathy and burnout.
30:26
SPEAKER_01: There's a third way, and I never would have gotten that had I not had that life lesson.
30:31
SPEAKER_01: And thank you, Jeff, and my mom, for saving my leg.
30:35
SPEAKER_01: And the doctor, I cannot even know his name.
30:37
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
30:38
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Jeff.
30:40
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
30:40
SPEAKER_00: Is that a fun story?
30:41
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know.
30:42
SPEAKER_00: It's that's very interesting.
30:43
SPEAKER_00: And I'd never heard it before.
30:46
SPEAKER_00: And I'm having a hard time.
30:48
SPEAKER_00: And maybe it's just because I'm older now, but like I'm having a hard time being like, Yeah, let's push the leg back.
30:53
SPEAKER_00: Like, and maybe they thought like when when your like arm falls out of your socket, like maybe that's where like when they're like, Yeah, you pop it back in the socket, and it's just like, yeah, I don't know.
31:03
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
31:03
SPEAKER_01: I'm just thinking about just 16-year-old kids.
31:05
SPEAKER_01: There were no adults in sight.
31:06
SPEAKER_01: So it's just like the 16-year-old kids were like, That's gross, let's push it back.
31:12
SPEAKER_01: Oh no.
31:12
SPEAKER_01: Who knows what like Mission Impossible movie had come out where they'd seen, you know, Tom Cruise, you know, do something, and they're all like, that seems like a good idea.
31:21
SPEAKER_00: I love it.
31:22
SPEAKER_00: Oh, Tom.
31:23
SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
31:25
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so this brings me to ask you why do you think story is important in our relationships and our community, just in our big picture, right?
31:34
SPEAKER_00: Like I I always love your perspective on things.
31:37
SPEAKER_00: And I love that I just got a little bit more insight into it with this whole like leg thing, right?
31:41
SPEAKER_00: But when you think of story, I know there's gonna be a creativity twist on it, right?
31:46
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna infuse a little bit of your take on creativity in there too.
31:49
SPEAKER_00: But when you think of story, what do you think of?
31:52
SPEAKER_00: Why is it important?
31:54
SPEAKER_01: I think it's important on a couple levels.
31:55
SPEAKER_01: First of all, it's just entertaining.
31:58
SPEAKER_00: Which we need to go back to like the play brain.
32:00
SPEAKER_01: Like some play and some break.
32:02
SPEAKER_01: Like go watch a movie, go watch some comedy, go hear like you know, that's when normally when a comedian talks, they're telling a story and it's a gateway into laughter and release.
32:13
SPEAKER_01: And so there's just like the entertainment level.
32:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
32:15
SPEAKER_00: That was one thing Phil's done therapy on and off.
32:19
SPEAKER_00: And in the early days of therapy, his therapist was like, watch comedy.
32:23
SPEAKER_00: Watch comedy.
32:24
SPEAKER_01: Oh, exactly.
32:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
32:25
SPEAKER_01: When I've had my health things, I mean comedy is the only thing.
32:28
SPEAKER_01: But I think so.
32:29
SPEAKER_01: On one end, it's saving us with laughing.
32:31
SPEAKER_01: But on the other end, I think it's how we learn, especially through fiction, like movies, fiction kind of books, that's how we learn empathy towards other people.
32:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
32:42
SPEAKER_01: It's where you can put yourself in someone else's situation.
32:45
SPEAKER_01: And I think we need a lot more unity in the world where we can put ourselves in a situation and see ourselves in the eyes of someone else and be like, how would it be like if I was in their shoes, if I was living their life?
32:57
SPEAKER_01: And it's bringing you awareness that you wouldn't normally have.
33:00
SPEAKER_01: And in the creativity, like in piano music, because there's a story throughout composing, when you're using music, it kind of breaks you open that harmonic, that feel, the story is actually helping you feel.
33:11
SPEAKER_01: There's a Ursula de Guinco quote about we writers are the raw nerve of the universe, and we go out and feel things that people haven't felt for themselves and teach them how to feel again.
33:22
SPEAKER_01: So I like that on all those three levels.
33:26
SPEAKER_00: That quote in particular is like, oof, oof, gotcha.
33:31
SPEAKER_00: I want to start bringing us home.
33:35
SPEAKER_00: Is there anything as you were thinking about our time together today that you were like in the shower, driving, on a walk, being like, can't wait to share this with Caitlin on crafted connections?
33:46
SPEAKER_01: I think I said it already, but I'll say it maybe one more time in a different way.
33:50
SPEAKER_01: Is that we adults need to play.
33:54
SPEAKER_01: We need to create to help ourselves stay human and stay not calcified.
33:59
SPEAKER_01: And whether that is an art class, a dance class, it's not something extra to do.
34:04
SPEAKER_01: It is something to keep us human.
34:06
SPEAKER_01: And so I will always do this until I'm a very, very old person, just for my own mental and physical health.
34:12
SPEAKER_00: Well, that brings me to another question.
34:14
SPEAKER_00: When I first started working for myself, I came across an article about energy management and not time management.
34:22
SPEAKER_00: I love this.
34:22
SPEAKER_00: So I would love to hear your thoughts on it.
34:24
SPEAKER_00: Can I hear your thoughts on it too?
34:26
SPEAKER_00: Yes, totally.
34:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
34:27
SPEAKER_00: So essentially, and this article was very, I didn't know it at the time, but absolutely foundational for me working for myself in the sense of spending time doing what fills you up, what gives you more energy versus what wears you down, delegating those things that wear you down.
34:41
SPEAKER_00: It's like you you talked about with your burnout journey.
34:43
SPEAKER_00: You're like, I'm gonna eat right, I'm gonna sleep, I'm gonna see what happens, and then you still need more.
34:47
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, yeah, creativity is one of those things where it takes time to be creative, it takes time to be with your inner child, but ultimately it does give you more energy.
34:55
SPEAKER_00: And so I would love to hear if you utilize that and how how you consider both things, right?
35:01
SPEAKER_00: Like energy management versus time management.
35:03
SPEAKER_00: Did that give you enough of my own personal background?
35:06
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's gotten more complicated over the year, not more complicated.
35:09
SPEAKER_00: I've gained more knowledge around it over the years.
35:11
SPEAKER_00: I'm trying not to like that first article was super basic versus like then I was like getting more and more into it.
35:17
SPEAKER_00: And then like the more we got to know each other, right?
35:19
SPEAKER_00: There was lots of there's sound healing, things like that that we're like into, but you said yes, and I'm gonna let you speak to energy management.
35:27
SPEAKER_01: I love hearing everything Caitlin's saying.
35:29
SPEAKER_01: She's so wise.
35:30
SPEAKER_01: So I'm if I can hear what Caitlin's saying, I want to hear it.
35:33
SPEAKER_01: That's great because it felt like it was all over the place.
35:35
SPEAKER_01: No, it was very good.
35:37
SPEAKER_01: I I'm I think Caitlin knows I'm in the Brendan Bouchard high performance kind of group.
35:42
SPEAKER_01: And he has studied what the top high performers do like very extensively.
35:47
SPEAKER_01: And so there's these questions that we have to score ourselves.
35:49
SPEAKER_01: I don't do it every day.
35:51
SPEAKER_01: Sorry, Brendan.
35:52
SPEAKER_01: I do it a couple times a week.
35:53
SPEAKER_01: But one of the questions is I manage my energy well.
35:56
SPEAKER_01: And so let's think about the phrasing of that.
35:58
SPEAKER_01: He didn't say, Did I manage my time well?
36:01
SPEAKER_01: So I feel like a lot of what's going on in that group is about managing our energy and it's not about managing our time.
36:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
36:10
SPEAKER_01: So if you're managing, if you are the power plant that's creating the energy, it's like not pushing your day's worth of boulder up the hill.
36:22
SPEAKER_01: It's like you're creating energy upon energy upon energy upon energy.
36:28
SPEAKER_01: We've all had those days where we've done a lot and you feel so good at the end of the day, you're like, oh my gosh, I had the best day.
36:36
SPEAKER_01: And there are some days you haven't done much and you feel so defeated, and you're like, I had the worst day.
36:41
SPEAKER_01: And they're not necessarily, there's no inverse correlation between what I did, how much I did, and how I feel.
36:48
SPEAKER_01: And that's why I'm so excited about creative works, like creative play.
36:52
SPEAKER_01: There's actually something in science called a cognitive reserve.
36:56
SPEAKER_01: So when you're playing piano, your brain, they've measured it, your brain has more of a cognitive reserve.
37:02
SPEAKER_01: And they talk about when we're just flipping through our screens, like we're shortcutting some dopamine in our brain.
37:08
SPEAKER_01: So we need more and more and more and more of it.
37:10
SPEAKER_01: And we get our energy depleted.
37:12
SPEAKER_01: So when we're doing these creative things, I know specifically in piano, that the cognitive reserve in your brain extends.
37:18
SPEAKER_01: So it's actually giving you more and more and more energy, according to science, not just according to me.
37:23
SPEAKER_01: I think it's fascinating that someone has measured something called cognitive reserve.
37:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
37:28
SPEAKER_01: So yes.
37:30
SPEAKER_00: So yes.
37:30
SPEAKER_00: I love it.
37:31
SPEAKER_00: Science.
37:32
SPEAKER_00: I love I'm like, I read an article that was like one page long in 2016, and you're like, let me tell you about the science.
37:38
SPEAKER_00: And I love it.
37:39
SPEAKER_00: Because I don't think there was much science in the article.
37:41
SPEAKER_00: It was like a listicle of like, try this, not that, you know, energy.
37:44
SPEAKER_00: But it was like super helpful, right?
37:46
SPEAKER_00: And that stuff needs to be digestible for like large consumption too, so that people can actually utilize it.
37:52
SPEAKER_01: I was gonna say one more thing about cognitive reserve.
37:54
SPEAKER_01: It also prevents your brain from aging.
37:56
SPEAKER_01: I mean, your brain obviously is gonna age.
37:58
SPEAKER_01: We can't like stop that, but it helps the decline against aging.
38:01
SPEAKER_01: So there's that in cognitive reserve as well, which I think is fascinating.
38:05
SPEAKER_01: I feel like do it justice.
38:06
SPEAKER_01: So I just wanted to add it.
38:07
SPEAKER_00: No, I love that so much.
38:08
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
38:09
SPEAKER_00: Well, let me ask you this: what do you have coming up?
38:12
SPEAKER_00: What do you want to share with the people?
38:13
SPEAKER_00: Where can they find you?
38:14
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
38:15
SPEAKER_01: Basically, everything is amber piano.
38:18
SPEAKER_01: Just find me somewhere there.
38:19
SPEAKER_01: I have some digital piano courses coming up.
38:22
SPEAKER_01: I have a circadian light rhythm guide coming up.
38:24
SPEAKER_01: That's something I've kind of delved into about managing my energy.
38:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
38:28
SPEAKER_01: Been syncing my day with the sun.
38:30
SPEAKER_01: That's coming up.
38:31
SPEAKER_01: I'm performing at Carnegie Hall in April.
38:34
SPEAKER_01: That's coming up.
38:35
SPEAKER_01: 2026.
38:36
SPEAKER_01: Uh yes.
38:37
SPEAKER_01: April and 2026, which I know that's not coming up anytime soon.
38:41
SPEAKER_00: No, but it's.
38:42
SPEAKER_00: It's a big flipping deal, and it's super oppressive, and I'm so excited.
38:45
SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
38:46
SPEAKER_01: Those are just things off the top of my head that are coming up.
38:48
SPEAKER_00: I think that's great.
38:49
SPEAKER_00: And then if there's anything else, I can add them, add them to the thing.
38:51
SPEAKER_00: But Amber, thank you so much for your time today.
38:58
SPEAKER_00: Crafted Connections is lovingly produced by Calhoun Creative Consulting, a strategic storytelling firm dedicated to helping people and brands tell their stories in a way that resonates.
39:09
SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe and connect with us on Instagram at Crafted Connections Bot.
39:16
SPEAKER_00: Keep creating, keep connecting, until we meet again.