We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jaimee Jakobczak a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jaimee, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today 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?
This comes up pretty often in the artist community, usually with other creatives one some level complaining about the challenges of simply being an artist and trying to exist as one in the world. It’s something I sort of turn my head sideways at.
Full disclosure, I have a regular job. I have had several regular jobs. I don’t really see much end in it and it’s not something that in any way stops me from being an artist or being creative. In fact, I’d argue that without the experiences I have had through “regular” jobs, I wouldn’t be able to create much of anything of value. What conversation would I be able to contribute to or provide perspective on if I have never had to wake up at 4AM to get a train into the city for my opening shift, or if I hadn’t struggled to find a warm place to rest when my 2AM shift ended leaving me stranded without a way home or without enough time to meaningfully go home, sleep, before I’d need to be right back where I am?
I think if you’re an artist or a creative person, you are that person in all avenues of your life. You’re a problem solver at the office because you’re never satisfied with the status quo, or you’re actively campaigning for better coffee in the break room because you know people benefit and work better when they feel their basic needs are being met.
I started writing stories and songs when I was very young and I’d write about what I saw and felt – that doesn’t change just because you get a “regular” job. I also think it’s a gross misconception that just because you are passionate about art that you somehow are born with the innate privilege to create it for a living and nothing else. If we could all simply be artists, we probably would be, but a fully functioning society cannot exists with solely poets and musicians crooning about this or that. Frankly, if you’re an artist without a “regular” job you’re probably not a very interesting one.
Am I happy? I could be happier. But I could be a lot more miserable, too. Life is not about being happy, it’s about experiencing however full spectrum of thoughts and feelings your heart can allow and finding meaning in each day and ways to contribute your mind to the greater collective.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I’m a solo rock musician who performs as Neither Could Dylan, a reference to the great Bob Dylan though our music has next to no resemblance. I’m entirely a DIY-act, have released multiple albums where I write, produce, arrange, play and mix every track, design the artwork and even recently designed and screen printed my own merchandise – every part of my projects is quite literally a part of me.
I write about my life and the lives of those who have impacted me in some way and my goal is to create a comfortable space where I am able to bring greater awareness to issues and experiences that are often difficult for people to talk about. I talk about things like alcohol and drug addiction, assault and abuse, depression and suicide, because I know first hand how challenging it can be to face these types of struggles and grief.
Committed to a sober lifestyle now, over 3 years in, I often think about how different my life could have been if I had the confidence or understanding I do now – but that wouldn’t have ever been possible without first becoming comfortable with the conversations that were driving me to become dependent on alcohol to begin with. I can’t change my own past history but I hope that my stories resonate with others who are going through similar struggles, know that they’re not alone with it and that there is always the potential to change your circumstances.
When I am not working on my own creative work, I also run and operate crookedforest.ca, an independent music and writing blog where I showcase other creatives and amplify their stories. I encourage everyone, regardless of age, skill level or knowledge in a creative medium, to find something that they’re passionate about and try to learn that craft – it’s amazing how much you can learn about yourself and what really matters to you when you sit yourself down and allow yourself the time to create something from nothing. I believe we can all benefit greatly from just listening to one another and this is one avenue where I try to make that possible.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
We live in a very unique time where there are more artists and more avenues to find and support what moves you than ever before. Between the wide array of social media platforms, independent publications and radio, media personalities looking for new artists to interview and engage with, there has been no greater time to try and showcase your work on the world stage. But with that all said, it means that there is a seemingly endless pool of creatives fighting against each other to be heard.
On the other end of things, non-creatives are inundated with a plethora of options as far as what commands their own attention. Technology has advanced so quickly but a lot of it has encouraged us to stay home, and the platforms that were initially designed to keep us better connected (facebook, twitter, etc) actually seem to actively work against us in that goal – we now become bitter seeing how many vacations our high school friends are going on, how many of them just got a new car or a job promotion, if our own lives don’t mirror their successes. And we are inundated with negative news from all over the world, constantly throwing us into a pit of despair, feeling hopeless and anxious about all the terrible things, wars and crimes that are occurring at any given moment.
Some creatives thrive on these experiences and use them to create insightful art, but when there is just so much of it all the time, I think we all begin to feel exhausted just at the idea of deciding what we want to pay attention to.
I think society as a general whole needs to put down their phones, turn off their TV’s, turn off their radio’s. Spend less time being told what to listen to, what to watch, what’s trending or not trending, and return to basics. Spend more time on your own creative projects and you will become more appreciative of the art others create and it will encourage you to find the artists that really speak to you and what you’re going through. Once you find those people or those works of art, it will come more naturally to try and support them in a way that makes sense to you. Not all of us can afford to go to concerts or buy albums or books, but art isn’t necessarily about any of that at all; its just about connecting to it, enjoying it and taking from it whatever it offers you. I don’t expect to hear from every single person who ever comes across a Neither Could Dylan song, but when someone takes the time to reach out and talk about it with me, I know it’s made some sort of impact, however small.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
I’ve had a strange roller coaster of a life up until this point that I can almost say with certainty most people wouldn’t quite understand. I started writing when I was very young and playing music in elementary school before buying my own guitar at 13.
In my high school years, I focused all my attention to getting a band together to play music and learning how to record albums by working for free in recording studios. I did a lot of free labour and it ultimately cost me a lot – it is not easy to secure your future when you’re purposefully working for free because that’s what the industry demanded at the time. Eventually, that tide started to turn, but only as I became so incredibly burnt out by all the different ways I was trying to better secure myself as a “full-time creative” that I had to basically give up on my dreams and get a “regular” job as we were talking about earlier. And that’s the biggest mistake I made right there – thinking it had to be one or the other instead of how each one could lend itself to the bigger picture. Becoming just a regular full-time worker burnt me out somehow worse than all the stress from working for free previously because I wasn’t passionate about what I was doing; I wasn’t in fields that I felt were allowing me to contribute my thoughts and ideas in a way that had a meaningful impact.
And trying to keep up with what everyone else said were the right adult-decisions to be making for my age wasn’t helping. I ended up in a dead-end career I hated, married to someone that didn’t love me like I deserved to be loved and abandoning all the things I loved to do that fulfilled me as a person.
Today, I have a “regular” job but it’s less demanding and in a field that allows me to continue my art when I’m not at work and lends itself to the healthy sustainable lifestyle I know is necessary for me as a person and for my art to be able to thrive. I’m sure there are plenty of people who look at my life right now and wonder, “Gee, she’s 33, back living at home, divorced and works at a gym now after spending so many years in technical work and education?” – it sounds like failure, but it’s not, because when I come home I can decompress completely from my work and dive into music or writing or whatever is calling for me that day. The ability to be able to be a creative person at this point in my life when most of the people I know are busy juggling childcare, continuing their own educations, stressing about mortgage payments or whatever else and knowing that if an opportunity to play a gig comes up at the last minute, I’m able to drop everything and do that, that’s what’s most important to me now (and funnily enough, is what was most important to me back in high school, too).
It’s not failure if it ultimately brings you joy or fulfils you in some way and nobody can tell you what that will be for you.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.neithercoulddylan.ca
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neithercoulddylan
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/neithercoulddylan
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/neithercoulddyl
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3MYexMMZ0IomV01LozN7eg
- Other: www.crookedforest.ca
Image Credits
Jaimee Jakobczak