Latest / Authentic Living / Reigniting Passions: Christine Lindebak on Fashion, Burnout, and Embracing Authenticity

Transcript

Reigniting Passions: Christine Lindebak on Fashion, Burnout, and Embracing Authenticity · Authentic Living

• 0:01
  Welcome to Authentic Living with Roxanne, a place where we have conscious conversations
• 0:08
  about things that really matter in our lives.
• 0:12
  And now here's your host, Roxanne Durhaj.
• 0:40
  Hi, everyone.
• 0:41
  This is Roxanne Durhodge.
• 0:42
  Thanks for tuning in again to Authentic Living with Roxanne.
• 0:45
  Today, have a interesting guest, and, we were just chatting about, creativity, but also
• 0:51
  fashion connectivity.
• 0:53
  I guess it's Christine Lindabag.
• 0:55
  And Christine is has a fascinating could say that probably Christine's background is
• 1:00
  something that I've not had on the show today.
• 1:03
  So Christine, welcome to the show.
• 1:06
  Thank you, Roxanne.
• 1:07
  Thank you so much for having me.
• 1:10
  So Christine, let's kind of jump into what what got you into fashion.
• 1:17
  And I know initially, you got in on your primary we're talking beginning of your career.
• 1:22
  But tell us your path a little bit about how you ended up in fashion.
• 1:27
  Yeah.
• 1:27
  I think at its very base was from sewing.
• 1:31
  I started sewing when I was about five years old, and I don't even remember a time when I
• 1:36
  haven't been sewing.
• 1:39
  So with that, when it came time to get my first job, I was able to literally just walk into the
• 1:48
  Sales Floor of my local Nordstrom, which was in Seattle.
• 1:52
  And I was able to get a job right away because I understood the the basics of clothing
• 1:58
  construction.
• 1:59
  And so really that led me right into a first career working in fashion.
• 2:04
  And I don't think that I ever would have had that opportunity had I not understood clothing
• 2:10
  and construction through my sewing experience.
• 2:13
  And what got did your mom like to sew or was it the community that you were in that got you?
• 2:18
  Now I can tell you my history, which is kind of funny.
• 2:21
  It's opposite to yours.
• 2:22
  So I went to school in Trinidad And Tobago, and we had a sewing class.
• 2:28
  Had in Trinidad, it's the British system, so we had houses.
• 2:32
  So the houses were all for famous women.
• 2:36
  And on our shirts, the top the fronts of our shirts, it was a like, it's almost like a
• 2:40
  squiggly kind of almost kind of pattern that we had to embroider.
• 2:46
  Oh.
• 2:47
  Of the houses that we got put into.
• 2:50
  And I think I believe mine was a Cavelle.
• 2:52
  I don't I'm gonna forget forget the stitch with just the round and the loop through, and we had
• 2:57
  to do it for all five to seven of our shirts once we got picked.
• 3:02
  And needless to say, I was not the best at sewing.
• 3:05
  So talking to somebody that loves sewing, it's inspiring now because I recognize what a craft
• 3:14
  it is.
• 3:15
  Yeah.
• 3:16
  Yeah.
• 3:17
  I think there's we probably sew because there are other benefits to it that are maybe less
• 3:23
  known.
• 3:24
  And I think you you know, it's it's one of those benefits of creativity that is like over
• 3:30
  and above just the actual act of the sewing.
• 3:33
  It's interesting.
• 3:34
  And I think as a teenage girl, my thing was get this thing done.
• 3:37
  Right?
• 3:37
  Go, go, go, go.
• 3:38
  You know?
• 3:39
  Right?
• 3:39
  But now as an adult, you can see the benefits of it, like when you see something that is well
• 3:46
  thought out or constructed or also, and then from Trinidad, with Carnival, the creativity
• 3:53
  involved in everything from the crafting of costumes related to the abolition of slavery,
• 4:00
  which is where carnival came from.
• 4:02
  Right?
• 4:02
  So, again, that whole element of dropping down and instead of the teenager in me thinking that
• 4:09
  this is big monotony, but to recognize that it is a space that you can get to, Probably a
• 4:14
  little bit lost in kind of the teenage years that I learned how to sew, but probably not at
• 4:19
  the level you've changed.
• 4:21
  Yeah.
• 4:22
  No, I love that the idea of kind of dropping down because there is a subtle subtle subtlety
• 4:29
  to that when you're really dropping in into yourself for a moment, and it can be very
• 4:34
  intuitive as well.
• 4:35
  It may not be designing or sewing carnival costumes with colors and textures, but maybe
• 4:41
  just sewing a shirt on the weekend on Sunday morning, and you decide to add this little
• 4:46
  detail that's just kind of an creative intuition.
• 4:51
  It's really satisfying.
• 4:53
  Mhmm.
• 4:53
  So tell us about the fashion world.
• 4:55
  Tell us about where you got because I know you worked with some huge brands and you tell them
• 5:01
  because I'm I don't have the bio in front of me, but was it like pieces like Pucci and
• 5:05
  different places like that?
• 5:07
  So big, big houses.
• 5:08
  What was it like in that world?
• 5:11
  Well, yeah, I started in Seattle for a brand called Escada, and then I just really followed
• 5:17
  the career wherever I would get a promotion.
• 5:20
  So I moved to Arizona and then Southern California in Orange County and then LA and
• 5:26
  then finally to New York.
• 5:28
  So I, in New York, I worked in corporate Madison Avenue office.
• 5:34
  It was, you know, if you've ever seen the movie, The Devil Wears Prada, that was the
• 5:39
  magazine industry.
• 5:41
  But there were definitely some similarities to that type of environment, very polished, and I
• 5:48
  would say there's a hierarchy to everything.
• 5:50
  We had a great sample closet, so some of the fun things were definitely there.
• 5:55
  But it was just like any other business, I would say.
• 5:58
  We had last year's numbers to beat.
• 6:01
  We had all of the marketing and the HR departments and everything that runs together
• 6:08
  like a business.
• 6:09
  So, very fast paced.
• 6:11
  Every season, a new collection comes in and you have to figure out the new way to sell it to
• 6:18
  the same customers or how to get more new customers in.
• 6:22
  So, my last role was retail director with Emilio Pucci, the Italian brand.
• 6:28
  So, I would travel, four times a year to Milan to see the new collection, help with the buy.
• 6:35
  So everything that we would sell in the five stores that I was responsible for.
• 6:40
  And so, yeah, it was really just, I, it was everything I always wanted to do.
• 6:46
  And I did it until the point a little past the point of I just didn't have the passion for it
• 6:52
  anymore.
• 6:52
  It was a really great experience while I wanted to be there.
• 6:56
  Yeah.
• 6:57
  So exposure to everything you loved starting from, like you said, sewing at five to kind of
• 7:02
  the big fashion houses and everything corporate.
• 7:06
  But ultimately, would think sales and marketing, very important to keep the business
• 7:10
  going.
• 7:11
  But ultimately, I would think that you would have seen some creative minds at work in those
• 7:18
  spaces.
• 7:19
  What did you see?
• 7:20
  Because we kinda think about a kinda Escada or Pucci or all these big brands as being
• 7:27
  something spec they are special because of what what they put out there as identity.
• 7:32
  But what is it that you saw around creativity with some of those environments?
• 7:37
  Yeah.
• 7:37
  I think, really, at the base, I saw just immaculate, amazing clothing construction.
• 7:44
  Beautiful, just exquisite fabrics and laces and beadwork and the way that fabrics and
• 7:54
  accessories were put together to create a story, something really interesting.
• 8:00
  It really is just like this level of quality that I'm always trying to recreate in my own
• 8:06
  through my own hands.
• 8:08
  Also, runway shows were something really exciting and very creative.
• 8:12
  Oh, look very exciting.
• 8:14
  Like, obviously, you've been I would assume you've been to many of them, but they just seem
• 8:18
  the electricity by experiencing on screen.
• 8:22
  Could just and probably not just excitement, but probably a lot of stress as well.
• 8:27
  Yeah, a lot of stress in behind the scenes and a lot of stress even when I would just go as a
• 8:35
  kind of in the back row, I would say as a participant, it's stressful just being dressed
• 8:40
  properly to represent the brand and all of those details.
• 8:44
  It's pretty stressful.
• 8:46
  So yeah.
• 8:47
  But fun.
• 8:48
  But definitely fun.
• 8:49
  Fun.
• 8:49
  And then looking for perfection as well too in so many things.
• 8:54
  In my career as an executive, as a psychologist, I worked with different
• 8:58
  performance houses, directors and stuff like that with musicals in Toronto where I am close
• 9:04
  to.
• 9:05
  And it was interesting because what was fascinating, so of course my job was to look at
• 9:10
  what are some of the elements in reference to the sector and the positions within the sector
• 9:17
  to deliver perfection, really, you think about it.
• 9:20
  If you think about a runway show or a musical on Broadway or Toronto, it's about you you get
• 9:27
  entertained.
• 9:29
  In this case, maybe plays are about, what, an hour and fifteen, hour and twenty.
• 9:34
  Runway shows maybe a little bit lengthier if there's breaks.
• 9:38
  But that perfection was what they sold.
• 9:41
  So I saw behind the house what it took.
• 9:44
  So what they did, and I would often say as a new executive, show me behind the curtain.
• 9:49
  Quite literally, in this case, did, Christine.
• 9:52
  And I was blown away.
• 9:55
  And they my task, which shows you how how you don't see what's involved in a sector, it was
• 10:01
  how many things could go wrong.
• 10:02
  So they put me behind.
• 10:04
  I saw all the actors and everybody doing their thing.
• 10:07
  Just before they got started, hit the lights.
• 10:10
  They put me just behind the curtain and then they put me just in front where I can see.
• 10:16
  And I was to count.
• 10:17
  I could not count one mistake.
• 10:21
  Wow.
• 10:21
  They had 20 that they could then point out to me and tell me what they were doing.
• 10:29
  They had reconstructed an entire computer behind the scenes that I would not the audience
• 10:34
  would not have seen.
• 10:35
  So again, going back to that whole level, like you said, of what it takes to run a brand, to
• 10:41
  create that identity, to understand the market.
• 10:45
  There's so many variables that go into it.
• 10:47
  Oh my gosh.
• 10:48
  Yes.
• 10:48
  And so many hands and people.
• 10:51
  Yeah.
• 10:53
  Yeah.
• 10:53
  So there's a lot of teamwork and dependency among different responsibilities as well that
• 10:59
  have to really in like play well together in order to get to that end result.
• 11:05
  And I think it's interesting how people react under stress as well or pressure.
• 11:11
  Pressure, obviously, very similar because you have a deadline.
• 11:15
  And also shipping, like, a certain fabric may not come in time or it comes the
• 11:19
  day Oh, the wrong sizing.
• 11:20
  There's so many.
• 11:21
  The model has probably gained half an hour.
• 11:24
  Yes.
• 11:25
  You see the extreme depictions on movies, those types of things too.
• 11:30
  So you gained all this knowledge, and then you decided to make a shift, which is where you're
• 11:38
  at now.
• 11:38
  And it sounds like you really kinda landed in a place that is good for where you're at.
• 11:43
  So what what elements may went into the making you make that shift?
• 11:48
  Wow.
• 11:49
  I think it was a good probably two years in the making of figuring out what at the point that I
• 11:56
  started to realize that I had achieved everything I wanted in that corporate role, It
• 12:01
  was about two years before I actually made the shift.
• 12:05
  So it was not fast at all.
• 12:07
  It was really just scary and figuring out what it is that I really wanted.
• 12:12
  And in the interim, I studied web design.
• 12:15
  So back in 2015, I working online was just starting to come into just starting to become
• 12:23
  popular.
• 12:24
  I was blogging with my brand Sewing in the City.
• 12:27
  I was doing blogging and building sites, and then that ultimately became my next step was
• 12:35
  I've realized, oh, I can do this for people.
• 12:38
  I can do this remotely.
• 12:40
  So that was kind of the first check of the boxes of, okay, let's figure out a way to make
• 12:45
  income.
• 12:47
  But I think a whole other side of that whole thing is the emotional.
• 12:52
  First making the decision that's huge.
• 12:55
  I'll never forget the day that I told my vice president I'm leaving.
• 13:01
  It just every friend I had thought I was ever so slightly crazy to leave such a great role,
• 13:08
  you know?
• 13:09
  And I was
• 13:10
  Then what are you what are you doing?
• 13:11
  Yeah.
• 13:12
  Like, the top of at the top of my game, it just seems absolutely insane thing to do.
• 13:19
  I I did it.
• 13:20
  I just knew that I couldn't do I I was there was nothing in my future for me along that path
• 13:27
  anymore.
• 13:28
  And, also, from a physical standpoint, I was living out of alignment and my body was telling
• 13:35
  me.
• 13:35
  I started to have these undiagnosable allergy attacks.
• 13:40
  Like, I wasn't allergic to anything, but my body was giving me these signs of
• 13:44
  like, How what long had you had those symptoms, Christine?
• 13:47
  Like, when did they start to develop?
• 13:49
  They were they before you the two years, or did they develop within the two years of finalizing
• 13:54
  the decision to make the shift?
• 13:56
  Yeah.
• 13:57
  It was about, I would say, three years before I made the shift.
• 14:01
  Three years, you said?
• 14:03
  Yeah.
• 14:04
  Yeah.
• 14:04
  Three years.
• 14:06
  Learned to I was always had Benadryl in my hand.
• 14:10
  Wherever I would go, I had the Benadryl because I would know the signs and I would take
• 14:15
  Benadryl before it got too bad, but I ended up in the hospital two times.
• 14:20
  I mean, really, like
• 14:22
  They would have to put epinephrine in you just to to stop
• 14:25
  the Stop it.
• 14:26
  Yeah.
• 14:27
  Yeah.
• 14:27
  Yeah.
• 14:27
  So your body was speaking to you.
• 14:31
  Absolutely.
• 14:32
  And hindsight is always twenty twenty.
• 14:34
  We we know it looking back.
• 14:37
  But within a couple of weeks of me leaving my corporate role, I've never had another allergy
• 14:43
  attack again.
• 14:44
  It just completely went away.
• 14:46
  Have you ever heard of the book, The Body Keeps a Score?
• 14:49
  Yes.
• 14:50
  Yes.
• 14:51
  Which is kind of my world of which when I practiced, I was in.
• 14:56
  Because oftentimes what happens to people is we don't listen until it gets to the somatic
• 15:03
  level.
• 15:03
  We get the the cognitive cues, right, which we can flit away.
• 15:07
  We get the emotional ones with, oh, get over it, Christine.
• 15:10
  You're being too sensitive.
• 15:11
  Push through it.
• 15:12
  We all do or whatever.
• 15:13
  All those messages that we get implicitly or explicitly around especially in your industry
• 15:18
  as well.
• 15:18
  Right?
• 15:19
  You're probably going from, like you said, show to show, new season coming, those types lots.
• 15:24
  So there was never there's not much type time off the turnstile.
• 15:28
  Yeah.
• 15:29
  Never.
• 15:29
  And especially in New York as well, there's, like, all these other turnstiles happening at
• 15:34
  once.
• 15:34
  Like, rent is gonna increase every year, so you need to make more money.
• 15:38
  And so there's a lot of turnstiles Yeah.
• 15:41
  That were in play at that point.
• 15:43
  Interesting.
• 15:45
  Yeah.
• 15:45
  So you made the shift.
• 15:47
  And what did you know, when you made the shift, like you said, within three weeks, things
• 15:53
  started to settle.
• 15:55
  What how did that kinda I'm gonna say it reconnected or I'm not saying you were
• 15:59
  disconnected, but it sounds like from what you're telling me, Christine, that there was a
• 16:03
  level of reconnection to a primary love or or of a craft that was there, like you said, since
• 16:11
  you're a little girl.
• 16:12
  A 100%.
• 16:13
  Yeah.
• 16:13
  Yeah.
• 16:14
  And I I think it it came from being a little bit bored.
• 16:18
  When I left when I made the pivot, I physically moved away from New York City, and I actually
• 16:24
  moved to a small Spanish island.
• 16:27
  And I was staying in a a country house that I had rented and was literally just there eating
• 16:37
  good food.
• 16:38
  It was a bit of a sabbatical for the first three months, so there wasn't a lot of pressure
• 16:42
  in the beginning.
• 16:43
  And I just rested, ate well, met locals and just kind of immersed Just probably slept and
• 16:50
  Oh, slept in late and whenever I needed.
• 16:54
  I think I probably slept more than I've ever slept ever.
• 16:58
  So I think the body really was, I was so dysregulated.
• 17:02
  My nervous system was so burnt out and yeah, and then slowly emerged from that cocoon And it
• 17:11
  just was really natural.
• 17:13
  Then it was, okay, what am I going to do?
• 17:14
  And kind of tried some different things on.
• 17:17
  And ultimately, it was sewing, even though I didn't even have my sewing machine with me at
• 17:23
  that point.
• 17:24
  I had just come with a couple of luggages for that first first trip.
• 17:29
  And but I that was not even gonna stop me.
• 17:32
  I found a sewing machine and eventually dove right back into it.
• 17:37
  Wow, amazing.
• 17:39
  I think what's important that when I hear and that I talk a lot about the internal resilience
• 17:44
  within ourselves, right?
• 17:45
  My word is it's kind of like the internal GPS that we all have within us and our path kind of
• 17:53
  pricks and prods us for different reasons.
• 17:56
  To accommodate, we almost disconnect or pack away or reposition that core fundamental thing
• 18:03
  that little girl would have learned, right, as you become an adult.
• 18:07
  And then at some point you hit that space or that whatever you wanna call it wall or, you
• 18:13
  know, kinda left or right, which way to go, and then you gotta make a choice.
• 18:18
  And it sounds like you definitely made the right choice.
• 18:20
  But what ends up happening, and unfortunately, knowing that is that the burnout level and,
• 18:26
  like you said, your your nervous system was at such a depleted level that it took three months
• 18:33
  of where we went, whether it was in Spain or somewhere else, to really kind of know the
• 18:37
  level that you're at, to start to reconnect it with some basic fundamentals, good food,
• 18:44
  probably moving, good walks, sleep, fresh air in the country somewhere, some of the basic
• 18:51
  things.
• 18:52
  And that's what I find with dealing with people that are in leadership roles that are under all
• 18:57
  those pressures.
• 18:59
  The pressure cooker becomes kinda who can stay longest in it.
• 19:02
  And by the time people make a shift, unfortunately, it takes a whole lot of time for
• 19:07
  them to build back to even get to the point where they could start to listen to what's
• 19:11
  important again.
• 19:12
  That was 100% my experience.
• 19:15
  Yeah.
• 19:16
  Yeah.
• 19:16
  It's Yeah, I think if there's anything that I could share just from that experience was don't
• 19:23
  wait that long.
• 19:24
  There there was no reason why I needed to wait that long.
• 19:28
  But I think for me, the other side was so scary that obviously, especially if you have a
• 19:36
  dysregulated nervous system, your whole body is going to work extra hard to keep you safe.
• 19:44
  And so therefore, even though it's burnout and it's not working, not in alignment, it still
• 19:52
  feels on some level safe.
• 19:54
  Safer than making the jump for that nervous system that's just hanging on for dear life.
• 20:00
  So I totally understand.
• 20:02
  But yeah, it was I didn't need to wait that long at all.
• 20:07
  No.
• 20:07
  And I think it's I don't know if this makes sense, but a lot of people what they've said to
• 20:14
  me and a lot of leaders say is, Roxanne, I knew the signs, but everything around me kept
• 20:19
  reinforcing that I just had to keep going.
• 20:21
  I had to just plug through this quarter or this year, or the kids are teenagers now.
• 20:26
  So when they're not teenagers, the other pressures will seem less.
• 20:29
  And then on and you're one of the fortunate ones that didn't get sick.
• 20:33
  You had allergies, which is basically your body saying, tapping on your shoulder saying, gotta
• 20:38
  do something.
• 20:39
  So you were getting a gentle tap.
• 20:41
  Some people unfortunately develop, more critical physical concerns, which means that
• 20:47
  they have to go through years and years of rehab to even get back to the point where they
• 20:52
  could start to even get healthy again.
• 20:54
  Right?
• 20:55
  Yeah.
• 20:57
  It's interesting.
• 20:58
  I think also one of the options that I probably didn't consider really like advocating for
• 21:06
  myself was taking a three month sabbatical and coming back.
• 21:10
  Because after my three months, I really could have gone back to my role.
• 21:14
  They hadn't filled the position yet.
• 21:16
  It was kind of open ish.
• 21:18
  And so I think that could be something if someone is listening and kind of feeling that,
• 21:23
  why not advocate for yourself and see if there's a way that just a sabbatical.
• 21:29
  I think that could be a great way to connect and then come back to your to the job.
• 21:33
  So how did you start to listen differently when you in that three months, clearly, you started
• 21:39
  the your businesses.
• 21:40
  How did you know you were getting clearer as you took that time?
• 21:45
  Oh, gosh.
• 21:46
  I don't know that I ever really had, like, a moment of, oh, I'm clarity.
• 21:53
  I think ultimately, you know, the I think it was just inspiration when I was coming back.
• 21:59
  I was having fun feeling play.
• 22:03
  There was a certain element of play.
• 22:05
  I had friends that had young children and that was kind of fun to hang out with them and see
• 22:10
  kids and play with kids.
• 22:13
  I had a dog at the time as well.
• 22:15
  She's passed away, but I have another dog now.
• 22:18
  Going for long walks and exploring and just I think also going to cities or little towns or
• 22:26
  hikes or places that I've never been before, that, like, awakens something.
• 22:32
  And but I I don't know that I ever felt a moment of this is what I'm gonna do.
• 22:36
  At one point in time other than it sounds like you were replenishing by some of the things
• 22:42
  that we probably don't think about.
• 22:44
  It's like when my son was young, you know, and I was like and I would you're trying to get
• 22:49
  constructive you're trying to get productive or whatever, and we'd go for a walk.
• 22:52
  Right?
• 22:53
  Yeah.
• 22:53
  Let's go for a walk, RJ.
• 22:55
  And then he would see a dandelion, and then he would pick it.
• 22:59
  And then and then we would walk around, and he'd be, like, stopping dead stop because there
• 23:04
  was a bug.
• 23:06
  And then he'd be, like, pick up the bug.
• 23:10
  And then, oh, I'm scared of the bug.
• 23:11
  Put back down the we probably got, like, 10 feet.
• 23:15
  And I'm like, this is not gonna work out.
• 23:17
  But really, what you were describing is just joy again.
• 23:20
  Right?
• 23:20
  Joy and just being.
• 23:23
  Right?
• 23:24
  Which is oftentimes what I often say.
• 23:27
  And when I work with leaders, I talk it's about being able to have those micro moments, like
• 23:33
  seeing the kids play or having that really good hearty meal or, like you said, going into a
• 23:39
  little town you've never been to you're like a child again because you're like, oh, let's go
• 23:44
  see what this little store has or let's go try this new ice cream or those types of things.
• 23:50
  And I think as an adult, what ends up happening when you're in high pressure situations, like
• 23:55
  all of us have been, I've been in corporate as well, that you get so depleted that on, let's
• 24:01
  say, quote, the proverbial weekend, you don't even if you have the time, don't have the
• 24:06
  energy to be able to really drop down, like you said, that you were able to do it in three
• 24:10
  months.
• 24:11
  Yeah, a 100%.
• 24:13
  And sometimes even now in my current life, I'll this is such a good reminder too, because we do
• 24:19
  get busy and weekends sometimes are taken up with obligations or family things, and we kind
• 24:24
  of forget that is also taking that time to just not have plans and maybe explore for an hour or
• 24:32
  just do things that that replenish that part of us that is curious and playful and Yeah.
• 24:40
  Likes a little bit of adventure.
• 24:41
  Those little things are so important for replenishing creativity, inspiration, just
• 24:48
  ourselves.
• 24:50
  Yeah.
• 24:51
  So tell us about the business and and what you're doing with it.
• 24:55
  And it sounds like it's fun.
• 24:57
  So I'm curious to know what's involved in it.
• 25:00
  Christina's also now in Valencia.
• 25:03
  So she's on the other part of the world, but all her business and her courses and all the
• 25:07
  things that she does is online.
• 25:10
  So for anybody listening, this is just a click away if you're you're peaked by what we're
• 25:15
  talking about.
• 25:17
  So I have so it's called Sewing in the City, and, I sell digital fashion home sewing
• 25:24
  patterns.
• 25:25
  So if anyone is familiar with sewing patterns that you might buy at the store, I make those,
• 25:31
  but in a digital format.
• 25:32
  People can print them at home and assemble them and then make the garment in their own home.
• 25:37
  Sewing patterns.
• 25:38
  And then I have, several different courses teaching people anywhere from the basics of
• 25:44
  sewing to more specialty things like how to get the right fit in your clothes, like pattern
• 25:50
  hacking, and some of these other fun things.
• 25:53
  So really just kinda leading this movement of reviving creative home sewing, and it's not
• 26:01
  really the way our grandmothers used to do it.
• 26:03
  It's like this actually pretty cool and rewarding to be able to make your own clothes
• 26:09
  that fit your body.
• 26:11
  Not like the one with my family where everybody kind of you saw, oh everybody had the same
• 26:16
  shorts or top or all the same material.
• 26:23
  Mean, I think
• 26:23
  You have something that you could wear.
• 26:25
  I did this, like something that's fashionable and well tailored or whatever based on what
• 26:31
  they might learn from being in your community.
• 26:35
  Yeah.
• 26:36
  Yes.
• 26:36
  A 100%.
• 26:37
  And definitely, it's it's an expression of your own style, your personality, just your own
• 26:43
  likes and dislikes when you go into a fabric store if you're drawn towards, I love purple or
• 26:48
  I love this print.
• 26:49
  And that just is all part of the creative process and bringing something to life that
• 26:54
  really is your own and is deeply personal and a part of your Yeah.
• 26:57
  We do that.
• 26:58
  And about a year ago, I actually started my own fashion brand, but we're doing it very
• 27:03
  differently.
• 27:04
  And it's not it's not seasonal based.
• 27:07
  It's is we do, like, drops.
• 27:10
  So it's when we when I drop new styles is not necessarily on a time pressure.
• 27:16
  And we make all of the pieces from antique and vintage linens that I've sourced here in Spain.
• 27:24
  Wow.
• 27:24
  That sounds interesting.
• 27:26
  Wow.
• 27:27
  That sounds amazing.
• 27:28
  So you get to do it now with all the however years you were in kind of the corporate realm,
• 27:35
  but you get to do it coming from the frame of timing and pace.
• 27:40
  But you get the creativity and the ability to to obviously develop something that's quite
• 27:48
  unique, but not with the pressures of, okay, this is the fall now the fall line, now the
• 27:53
  spring line kind of go, go, go, go, go.
• 27:56
  Yeah.
• 27:57
  Yeah.
• 27:57
  It's I call it slow fashion because it really is it's a totally different way to to roll
• 28:05
  things out, and it's slow.
• 28:07
  And by nature, the pieces that I create are limited in number.
• 28:12
  So because they each one is unique, made from vintage or antique textiles.
• 28:18
  So they really have a lot of character, and it's about bringing something into the world
• 28:22
  that's different.
• 28:23
  And mostly, we do homeware, so, like, beautiful robes and pajama sets that I create.
• 28:29
  So, yeah, still doing it, but on my own terms, I would say.
• 28:34
  Absolutely.
• 28:35
  So this let's talk a little bit.
• 28:37
  I just wanted to ask you one last question because I know we're we've gone longer that
• 28:41
  I've taken a bit more of your time.
• 28:43
  What is it that actually using your hands and sewing you think helps you with?
• 28:52
  Yeah, such an interesting question because I think about this a lot, and I think the process
• 28:59
  of using my hands is actually helping me process my thoughts.
• 29:06
  So, I can get into a state of flow where when you're doing something and time just passes and
• 29:14
  then you look at the clock and you're like, oh my gosh, an hour has gone by.
• 29:17
  I have to I have to do this thing or whatever.
• 29:20
  That's kind of what it is.
• 29:21
  And it's taking me to, I don't know if it's like necessarily relaxation, but just flow
• 29:27
  where I can process, maybe think about some things.
• 29:31
  Sometimes I'll come out of like sewing for an hour and I've found magically found a solution
• 29:38
  to that problem that I had this morning kind of a thing.
• 29:41
  So I think at its base, that's really what it's doing.
• 29:45
  Found a way to do that in a way that I can monetize it, you know, do that for
• 29:50
  a little And how cool is that, right?
• 29:52
  Most a lot of times when people find things, they're like, I'm not gonna make money at this,
• 29:56
  Roxanne.
• 29:56
  But I wanted to give you context for what I teach.
• 29:59
  So I often say with leaders or just people that are trying to kind of tap into their authentic,
• 30:07
  Who am I and what am I about?
• 30:09
  And ultimately, that little girl within you, she had all the skills.
• 30:13
  And then she had to, like I say, trip along in life, get pricked and prodded, then had to, at
• 30:19
  some point, realign things overall.
• 30:22
  And when you find something like that, and I you know, either people would be hyperaroused
• 30:27
  or hypoaroused.
• 30:28
  Clearly, when you use your tactile in your case, that just grounds you.
• 30:34
  Whereas some people need to move.
• 30:36
  Let's say you have somebody that's more frozen or hypo aroused, being able to go to do
• 30:42
  something physical allows them to come back into the state of the body.
• 30:45
  So it's interesting that when you're saying with sewing with somebody that's frozen, it
• 30:50
  probably wouldn't be the idea.
• 30:51
  But it's, again, dropping into awareness of what helps me have joy, replenishes me, makes
• 31:01
  me have fun again, which is ultimately what you're finding with your craft, and trying to
• 31:06
  ensure that you have little elements of those things regardless of what you're doing
• 31:11
  throughout your day, throughout your week so that, like you said, had you had the knowledge
• 31:16
  that you had when you took those three months sprinkled in, you might have been able to kind
• 31:21
  of say, hey.
• 31:22
  Need to do the sabbatical, but I could come back.
• 31:25
  So, like, with people listening, I implore you to really start to think about what is it that
• 31:30
  you do to ensure that you have those in the moment, present, resilience building kind of
• 31:37
  elements to keep connected to yourself.
• 31:40
  And if you're not and you're that depleted, that's when you should be thinking, I need to
• 31:44
  make some change.
• 31:46
  So beautifully said.
• 31:48
  Yes.
• 31:49
  So tell us about any last words before we wrap up?
• 31:52
  And I ultimately want you to tell everybody because if they're wanting to to learn to go
• 31:57
  back to the craft of sewing or if they just wanna learn from you because I know you've got
• 32:01
  a big following on all the different platforms, YouTube and stuff like that, where they can
• 32:06
  reach you.
• 32:07
  Yeah.
• 32:08
  I'd love it if you come check me out on Instagram.
• 32:11
  It's the handle is sewingandthecity.
• 32:14
  Lots of short videos and fun things that kind of inspire.
• 32:18
  And then I'm also on YouTube under the same handle, sewingandthecity, where I do more
• 32:23
  longer tutorials and how tos and sewing roundups there.
• 32:28
  So, if you want a creative dose of inspiration, definitely check me out on especially on
• 32:35
  Instagram.
• 32:35
  Awesome.
• 32:36
  Well, thank you so much again.
• 32:38
  So what am I what am I taking away?
• 32:40
  Like, I'm taking away that we all are leading in some way, but to not you know, to give
• 32:47
  yourself options so that you can decide before you get to a point of where you might be
• 32:52
  potentially burning out or having to make a dramatic change.
• 32:57
  If you have to make that dramatic change, it comes and that that space presents itself.
• 33:02
  However, there is opportunity to start to reflect now in awareness, to drop down, to
• 33:08
  understand what is my stress signature so that you're not to the point of depletion where you
• 33:13
  have to spend a year or two to be able to get back to the replenished version of yourself.
• 33:18
  So my task for you is to think, what is it that I need to recognize, get quiet, get still, and
• 33:25
  start to take some time to reflect on what is it maybe that you used to do when you were a
• 33:30
  child that you would do for hours on end and where your mother or father would have to pull
• 33:35
  you in because you would keep doing that thing even though it was time to go to bed.
• 33:40
  So that's that's the task that I'd like you to think about.
• 33:43
  So for everyone, thanks again.
• 33:45
  You know that I'm starting a new course on my book.
• 33:47
  It's a live coaching and course on the ROR, which is a six week program.
• 33:53
  It's starting in the fall.
• 33:55
  We've got a lot of people already signed up, but if you're interested, please reach out, and
• 34:00
  I will give you more information just to Roxanne at Roxanne Durhodge dot com.
• 34:04
  Again, Christine, thanks so much.
• 34:06
  Everyone, thanks for hanging out.
• 34:07
  Click that subscribe button.
• 34:09
  We can get amazing guests like Christine more often to come and visit.
• 34:13
  Take care.
• 34:14
  Bye, everyone.
• 34:20
  Thanks for tuning in to Authentic Living with Roxanne, creating the space for positive,
• 34:26
  healthy change.
• 34:27
  Roxanne is a keynote speaker, psychotherapist, and coach.
• 34:31
  To work with Roxanne, visit roxannedurhaj.com/blueprint.
• 34:37
  We'll see you next time on Authentic Living with Roxanne.