We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Merideth Hite Estevez. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Merideth below.

Alright, Merideth, thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

I believe everyone is creative from the moment they arrive here on earth. As a kid, I was deeply connected to that creative flow. I would lie on the floor of my childhood bedroom in rural SC and listen to classical music, longing to know what made the music so beautiful. Out of that curiosity, I began playing the oboe and began the long climb up the music conservatory ladder. Instead of wishing my creative career started sooner, I wish I had stayed connected to my inner artist child more. Somewhere along the way, I traded her in for a creative “career,” and what I believe now is that no career can be creative when you are not connected to a deep source of creative joy that we all have access to since birth. I wish I had stayed tethered to that joy along the way!

Merideth Hite, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Standing on the corner of West 65th Street and Broadway at my Juilliard graduation, smiling for my dad’s camera phone, all I could think was, “How am I supposed to do this for the rest of my life when I don’t even like music anymore?” I had done everything right and had everything going for me. I was an Ivy League graduate and a Fulbright scholar. I had just received the doctorate from the apex of music institutions in America, and I was so burnt out and creatively lost I was not sure how to go on. I began the long journey toward creative recovery when my husband gifted me a copy of Julia Cameron’s book “The Artist’s Way.” He encouraged me to explore the intersection between my spiritual seeking and my creativity, and it was through this work that I ultimately found healing. I started leading creative recovery groups in 2017, and this year, we had over 3k artists register to join us from all over the world on Zoom, seeking creative joy. I’m proud to say I not only recovered my joy for music, but I also found a new aspect of my creative life: writing. I started collecting stories of my own journey and those of others along the path, and I am thrilled to say that my first traditionally published book, “The Artist’s Joy,” is out now. It is a coaching resource for artists who are struggling, and it includes everything I have been learning on this spiritual path to higher creativity and more joy. It is my dream that it will be a guide I so badly needed on that New York City Street that day back in 2013.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

The primary sources of pain for me as an artist were found in my desperate need for success and my innate sense of unworthiness. I felt, like so many do, that if I could only achieve more, be better, and get this or that accolade, then I would feel good about myself and feel worthy. But no matter what I did, after the rush of applause ended, I would return to my same sad self, motivated by fear and shame. I struggled with disordered eating, constantly obsessing about calories and exercise. I was so perfectionistic that I couldn’t even enjoy it when things went well. I chased jobs and relationships I didn’t truly want just because of some validation they could never provide. What I longed for was an innate sense of worthiness that nothing external could ever give me, so no wonder nothing satisfied!

Pivoting looked like going to therapy, beginning my creative recovery journey, and naming what matters most to me. I put all of the things I learned during that central pivot in my new book “The Artist’s Joy” which is out now.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I’d have to say that the most rewarding aspect of the creative life is being a multi-passionate artist!

As an oboist, I have performed with some of the top orchestras in the US, including the Met Opera. I am currently the second oboe/English hornist for the Chamber Orchestra of NY, so I return to NYC a few times yearly to perform with them in Carnegie Hall. I recorded my first album, “Beau Soir: French Music for Oboe and Piano,” with my friend, Jani Parsons, under the name Lumina Duo. Here in Michigan, I am a member of what some call the “Freeway Philharmonic.” I love driving all over the state, freelancing with orchestras. I also play regularly at the beautiful Kirk in the Hills Church in Bloomfield Hills. I love sharing my music with the community.

My other creative joys are found in writing and podcasting. My show, Artists for Joy, is in the top 1.5% of podcasts worldwide, and we ranked in the top 250 self-help podcasts in 2023. The show is a meditative, encouraging 25 mins for anyone looking to explore how creativity can make their life better. I also work as a creativity coach, meeting one-on-one with artists all over the world, including directors of major art museums and deans of institutes of higher education in the arts.

My book, “The Artist’s Joy: A Guide to Getting Unstuck, Embracing Imperfection, and Loving Your Creative Life,” is out now through Broadleaf Books.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://artistsforjoy.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artistsforjoy/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artistsforjoy

Image Credits
Mariah Kasten Photography