We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jeremy Arndt & Nancy Grzeszak a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jeremy Arndt & Nancy Grzeszak, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?
At the moment, we are in our 13th year of carving out our creative path together. I (Jeremy) am in my 15th year of living as an artist. We have fully supported ourselves with our creative work for quite a number of years now, at least a decade, although I’m not 100% sure where that line blurred from having to pick up side work to make ends meet.
The intention was always there from day one. In 2009, I moved most of what I owned into a VW Bus that I bought for $400, and hit the road traveling the country as a street performer, alternating between an intermittent job I had taken in Utah and street performing in the times I wasn’t working the job. After a year or so, I left that job to pursue music full time.
When Nancy and I met, she had worked several careers, most recently being an assistant in the dental field. She alternated back and forth between touring with me and working in different jobs. There came a point where we both realized if we put the effort into our own work that we were putting into working for others, it would take us far. Year’s later, our journey has taken us further than we could have ever imagined. It has taken us to 20 countries and 5 continents together.
We lived on the road, touring full time with our Sound Journey offerings for years, first traveling Australia together in a little Toyota van, then moving back to the US and living in the back of my pickup truck while traveling, before upgrading to a School Bus that we lived in for about 5 years. After the bus had some mechanical failures, we bought a brand new van and lived in that for two years before buying a house. We still live in the van when we’re on the road and it saves us an incredible amount of money in hotel fees every year.
One of the biggest things that enabled us to build a living from our creative work was stripping everything unnecessary away from our lives, getting rid of any recurring bills, and living on the road. The early years had us living gig to gig, sometimes making just enough money at one event to get us to the next one. Every year got better as our network had grown, our community of supporters had grown, and as we got better at what we were doing. We made a lot of sacrifices to allow us to focus on building our creative work and persevered through a lot of tough times. After some years of doing our work, we started to see the fruits of our labor of love, and now, we really appreciate the fact that we stuck with it.
I’m not sure if there’s anything that could have sped up the process looking back, but if we could advise others with what we know now, we would let others know to, pursue your passion with patience and tenacity. If you do something long enough, you will get good at it and you will succeed!
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.
Settle into Stillness unites the healing power of conscious relaxation with sacred sound. Settle Into Stillness was founded by Jeremy Arndt and Nancy Grzeszak, whose paths converged in 2011, igniting a shared passion for yoga and music that would ultimately blossom into a transformative journey around the globe. Their mutual desire to spread peace, serenity, and self-discovery led them to create the Sound Journey, a magical fusion of music and mindfulness.
Settle Into Stillness stands apart from the ever-growing landscape of mindfulness-based musical offerings. By seamlessly weaving together diverse world music instrumentation, such as the mesmerizing handpan and the enchanting didgeridoo, with the gentle resonance of gongs, and the ethereal tones of crystal singing bowls, Settle Into Stillness has crafted a truly extraordinary experience. Each element is carefully chosen and delivered with intention, creating a symphony of soothing vibrations that nurture the mind, body, and soul. Their offerings create an immersive experience that transports participants towards a state of deep inner calm. Through carefully curated sessions, individuals are invited to release stress, let go of tension, and embark on a profound journey of self-exploration.
Each Sound Journey is a unique tapestry of sonic landscapes, woven together with love and a deep commitment to the individual’s well-being. The purity of sound permeates every cell, evoking a sense of harmony that soothes the spirit and opens doors to personal transformation. Settle Into Stillness invites you to come experience one of their Sound Journeys, where the transformative fusion of these enchanting instruments and mindfulness practices will open doors to your innermost self.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
In our early years of touring and traveling the country with our music, we had a lot of difficult scenarios that were constantly testing us and pushing us to be more resilient in life. Life was always full of adventure, but being young creatives, we often found ourselves in very tight financial situations. Because of this, we had to develop a very DIY attitude towards everything in life. We were the musicians, the booking agent, the web designers, the graphics designers, the social media team, the road crew, the driver, and the mechanic. Everything formed very organically from this grassroots mentality.
One of our favorite stories to tell is when we were touring out in the western USA in our school bus. For anyone who has traveled out west, you know that everything is very spread out. Road services are not always plentiful, and when you’re driving in a big bus like we had, there are even fewer services who can help you out. We were on a break between events and driving to Yellowstone National Park to spend a week in nature. We were a couple of hours outside the park, away from any sort of civilization or cell service, cruising along happily, when all of a sudden the gas pedal on the bus dropped to the floor. The bus slowly came to a halt, as I had no control over the throttle when driving. I pulled to the side of the road and immediately started investigating. We always had to travel with tools, as we had no idea what adventure the bus would throw at us on any given day! With Nancy and our cat, Miles, eagerly watching over me, I discovered that the mechanical throttle linkage had fallen apart. A tiny nut had fallen off the linkage while we were driving. I walked the highway for a ways back scouring the road looking for any small shiny objects that may be the piece we lost to get us back on the road. We didn’t have any luck at the near impossible task of finding that piece. Rather than despair, we had to come up with a solution. We found some rope on the bus and tied it to the throttle on the engine, and brought the rope into the cockpit from the engine bay. I then proceeded to drive a half hour or so to the next town by pulling the rope to give the bus some gas. It was a hilarious sight to behold! In the next town, we found a hardware store, replaced the lost nut for less than a dollar, and were well on our way to one of the most beautiful wilderness areas our country has to offer!
Because we had the opportunity in life to pursue what we loved, we seemed to have a sense of strength and support that gave us the resilience to move through these challenging moments. The alternative was always something else that we didn’t love as much as music and traveling to share our music. We kept moving forward through those early years and now, many years later, our career is better than ever, our love for each other is stronger for all of the challenges we went through, and no matter what life throws at us, we know we will have the ability to make things happen!
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
It’s widely known that the path of an artist can be a challenging one. Setting off into the unknown and blazing one’s own trail through life leaves us without a road map to follow. Artists often face financial struggles, instability in life, perhaps even loved ones who don’t understand. However, our path as artists has been incredibly rewarding. The biggest blessing for us, as traveling artists, has been meeting and making connections with people from all walks of life and getting to see a lot of the world. We’ve been welcomed into the homes of more people than we could ever begin to count, and have friends across the globe from all sorts of backgrounds. It is truly these connections that keep us going! We’ve been shown so much love and care, which inspires us to dive deeper and give more back to life.
Over the years and all of our travels, we’ve observed that almost everyone works hard in life. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, or what background you come from. Most people work hard at whatever it is they do. For us, it is truly a blessing to be able to work hard at something we love. When we follow our creative path, we become an active participant in life. Rather than responding to the myriad of experiences that life is thrusting upon us, our role changes and we start to shape and mold our life experience. When we realize this and start to take an active role, our entire life becomes the work of art.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.settleintostillness.com
- Instagram: @SettleIntoStillness (www.instagram.com/settleintostillness)
- Facebook: Settle Into Stillness (www.facebook.com/settleintostillness)
- Youtube: @SettleIntoStillness (www.youtube.com/@settleintostillness)
Image Credits
Rayna Paige Photography