We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lauren Flynn a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Lauren , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

I used to consider myself a late bloomer and be resentful of the many factors that “kept me from” having a creative life. There was a time that I wondered about what a trajectory would have looked like if I’d had been pushed in a creative direction from a young age. In some ways I was, but practicality was always the priority in my environment. When I look back at myself as a young adult, what seemed to be a really lost woman trying to find herself was really me, chipping away at the false self to start to get to the path that would be like a magic carpet and serve as a consistent foundation for my creative and spiritual self. That path was incredibly non-linear and challenging because there was a self that had to die off in order to make space for the new. That journey was as scary as it was rewarding – the gifts are what inform my creative practices and messages. I do think it’s the only way it could have gone so there’s no way of knowing, but I imagine a much more tame journey had I started younger and I don’t think I’d have had experiences that were as impactful.

Lauren , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I graduated from college in my late 20’s and was already on a successful business trajectory but one day I just handed in my resignation with no plan. I felt that my work – sales and marketing for large corporations – was not purposeful but I didn’t know what would feel meaningful to me – it was just unbearable to continue on the same path. I ended up taking a job that paid less but was much more fulfilling as an assistant to Organic Architect, Eric Lloyd Wright. In that environment, which expanded beyond architecture, I was introduced to a very creative world. I was inspired to pick up a guitar and created a whole new direction where things fell into place pretty quickly. I used meditation and yoga to support my creativity and eventually started low key teaching to friends who all encouraged me to pursue more teaching & study. Music and yoga have gone hand in hand for years now. In addition to my own endeavors, I also consult other creatives on their business strategies so I get to really blend all of my passions and skills.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

There was a 6 year period where I went through three natural disasters and lost everything each time. It happened just as I would be gaining momentum in whatever I was choosing to do. Sometimes it was clear to me that I needed to change direction and other times it was clear that I had to rise up to meet a growth edge and push past it – that realization sometimes took ten minutes, other times it would take years. To lose everything but the shirt on your back brings a whole new set of life circumstances to the table – everything from identity (who am I without my clothes and my things?) to social standing (you fall down a few rungs on the ladder when you have nothing and people will – consciously or not – treat you differently) to spending time you might have spent in school or building a career, instead scurrying around to find pots and pans and socks and qtips, nevermind put a roof over your head. The key to resilience for me has been surrender. It’s a lot easier to work with “what is” than to struggle and resist. The path to surrender was part of the killing off of the old self.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Inspiring people to follow the thread is always at the forefront of my journey. I’ve done a few complete 180’s in life with very little support and no safety net, including quitting drugs, alcohol and cigarettes. My sobriety journey – from cessation to excavation – was just as traumatic as the natural disasters. But the gifts are immeasurable. Prior to that, I went from a very conservative, predictable and safe life to one of having literally no idea what would happen from month to month. I want to encourage people to follow their intuition, to tap in to their abilities to create a different life and to pay it back as you move along. Toni Morrison summed it up brilliantly when she said “If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.”

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.buriedblonde.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buriedblondeofficial/
• Other: https://www.laurenflynnyoga.com

Image Credits

Doug Manelski, Gabe Adams, Arianne Autaubo Martinez