We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Amy Campbell-Pratt a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Amy, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?
Am I happy as an artist or creative? This is a tricky question and one that I ask myself regularly. Happiness, artist, and creativity are pretty slippery words for someone who has navigated most of her life with an undiagnosed mental illness.
So, let’s start there. In my journey to wholeness, I have found happiness lives in authenticity. And… I have not always presented my authentic self to the world. I was trained as an actor, so playing dodging authenticity was easy for me.
However, that all began to change in 1996 when I played Zelda Fitzgerald in her one-woman show by William Luce. In that play, she said,
“Mrs. F. Scott Fitzgerald, that’s all I ever was. I should have stayed
Zelda Sayre. I loved and married the artist in him. I should have
loved the artist in myself.”
For decades, I ran from and crashed head-on into the word artist. I was not an artist or creator. I was just “Crazy Amy”. To accept myself as an artist, I would have to face what I knew was my own mental illness. And… I was going to have to love myself… shadows and all.
Turns out, at 49 years old, I stopped running… and was finally diagnosed with a mental illness. This diagnosis was not the death sentence I had dreaded my whole life. Instead, it was an ignition of a superpower that would align my entire exsistence and help define my purpose. Turn shame into courage and bring our “shadow self” into the light.
My purpose is to help others change their own narrative, turn their situations into their superpower, and love their own artist.
Being happy as an artist or creative is about really being authentic… every day. It’s about learning to love the artist in ourselves. It’s about incorporating our shadow selves, loving and accepting our duality, and feeling worthy to show up and create our best life.
Like me, most of us go our entire lives running from our artist, never believing in our creator spark or trusting we have the ability to create. I am here to tell you that we are ALL artists. We are ALL creators.
And yes, I have run from and crashed into the quandary of having a “regular job” too… many times in my life! And I have tried, believe me… I have been a freelancer in the film and television production industry for over 25 years, and throughout my tenure, I still fight with the idea of getting a “real job,” as my Dad always said…
Amy, 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?
question #2
I am a Renaissance Woman, Visual Translator, Author, Teacher, Artist, and Creator/Founder of Regeneration Reimagined.
I am also a loving wife & bonus mom, Holy Fire Reiki Master, Certified Professional Coach, QPR Suicide Prevention Trainer, energy channel, teacher, and facilitator.
I’ve navigated life with an undiagnosed mental illness and lived in a carnivorous shame spiral for many decades. After a suicide attempt in 2006, I began my journey toward wellness by completing my BA in Psychology and professional coaching certification. As a mental health advocate, I am passionate about breaking the stigma associated with mental illness through courageous storytelling and QPR Suicide Prevention Training.
Through Regeneration Reimagined (REGEN), you can find a wealth of resources and empowerment tools to help you on your journey to wellness. Whether you are struggling and need help breaking free from your own carnivorous shame spiral or just want some daily inspiration, you can find it here.
The latest addition to the website is the “Just For Today… Journal” Paperback. You can also see the “Just for Today” video posts on Tictok.
I am super proud of this journal. It is a game changer for my own mental wellness and recovery journey, and I am sure it will help so many others on their journey to wholeness.
My first book, Speaking of Radial Tires; SORTING out a Purpose Through the Random Chaos of Life, is also on the website.
This was a ‘come to Jesus meeting’ book for me, as this was a way to bring my shadow side (my mental illness) into the light. This book is a reflection of madness and is full of beautiful photographs and sometimes very dark prose. It was a finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards in 2021 for photography.
You can join the REGEN Revolution by checking us out on social media. @regenerationreimagined
Some would say I’m a pusher. I get things done. I am a no-nonsense accountability coach and teacher. I push people to evolve and vibrate a little higher. I teach people how to change the narrative and rewrite their future by letting go of (integrating) the past.
Learning Reiki is a significant tool on that journey. I can not tell you what a game-changer learning Reiki was for me on my healing journey. Now, I teach this powerful healing practice to others.
Reiki helps to re-open circuits’ in the body that have been closed over time. You can act as a ‘conductor’ to reconnect your internal systems as a Reiki healer. This transformative work mends the body’s energetic currents, releases past trauma, and opens the flow of love and light into the body while helping you vibrate a little higher.
Reik is such a powerful tool to enhance your wellness journey. You can find virtual Reiki healing circles on the REGEN website or find a Reiki 1&2 Certification Class to attend to enhance your own practice.
When you heal yourself, you heal the world.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
In my opinion, there is no such thing as a “non-creative .” My core belief is that we are ALL creators, and we are all on a journey to loving the uniqueness that is us/ the artist within. Whether we are creating our home expense spreadsheets, family dinners, gardens, or MOMA masterpieces, we ALL are creatives. To tell you the truth, it was this idea that to be considered an Artist, you had to be working on your Magnum Opus. What if your most significant work was creating a family, garden, or spreadsheet? What if we could change the language around artists and creatives to be more inclusive? What if we eliminated the separation between creative and non-creative? How different would our world be? Perhaps this could lead to the return of school funding for the ‘arts’?
Perhaps this choice, this separation, has kept many of us in a state of constant duality. I think Oscar Wilde was trying to tell us the same thing in 1889 when he wrote in his essay, The Decay of Lying, “Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life.”
Who knows the ripple effects that eliminating the labels of ‘artist’ and ‘creatives’ would have. By changing the language, we could build a bridge of neutrality between creatives and non-creatives… We could see ourselves as creators of an inclusive world. I can tell you for certain that my life would have changed dramatically if I had felt that I didn’t have to choose whether or not I was going to BE an “artist” and instead just focus on loving the artist in myself.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
My life began to change in 1996 when I played Zelda Fitzgerald in her one-woman show by William Luce. In that play, she said, “Mrs. F. Scott Fitzgerald, that’s all I ever was. I should have stayed
Zelda Sayre. I loved and married the artist in him. I should have
loved the artist in myself.”
For decades, I ran from and crashed head-on into the word artist. I was not an artist or creator. I was just “Crazy Amy”. To accept myself as an artist, I would have to face what I knew was my own mental illness. And… I was going to have to love myself… shadows and all.
Turns out, at 49 years old, I stopped running… and was finally diagnosed with a mental illness. This diagnosis was not the death sentence I had dreaded my whole life. Instead, it was an ignition of a superpower that would align my entire exsistence and help define my purpose. Turn shame into courage and bring our “shadow self” into the light.
My purpose is to help others change their own narrative, turn their situations into their superpower, and love their own artist.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://regenerationreimagined.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/regeneration_reimagined/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RegenerationReimagined
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-campbell-pratt-b8b49284/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RegenerationReimagined
- Other: TICTOK https://www.tiktok.com/@regenerationreimagined email: [email protected]
Image Credits
Headshot was AI generated- My husband toolk the other photos Chris Pratt