We recently connected with Mike James and have shared our conversation below.
Mike, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?
As artists, we often create our interpretation of the world and how we see it. I create inspirational audio stories that help empower listeners to get to just a little more freedom in their lives. Oftentimes, that freedom may come in the form of looking for different work that feels more satisfying or creates a better work/life balance. I’m at my most happiest and in that “flow” state that’s often talked about when I’m creating stories. It’s what I’m built to do. It actually makes me better at my “jobs” that I do as it fulfills a piece of me that Corporate America cannot. While I believe I will soon make my full living from my art, I realize that I cannot spend time thinking about “when” or “how” this will happen. Especially when I’m working in a job that doesn’t satisfy me. I really honor the process that I am in, present job included, refuse to complain and continue to work hard at the job while pouring my time and love into my art that people seem to love. I’ve recently had discussions where I told someone close to me that I can be jealous occasionally when I think of someone going to school for an interest such as IT and computers. It’s a much more set path for financial stability where jobs are everywhere. As an artist, we have to pave our own way. I wouldn’t change my situation as I feel my life is more of an adventure and I’m reminded of that when I see the faces of many of my friends who work their “jobs” every day.
Mike, 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 became a Certified Life Coach in 2010 and have since worked with 950+ clients. I was a very creative child so in 2012 when a set of story ideas started coming to me when I began clearing spots in my mind through meditation, I knew there was something here. With so much education, information and “how to’s” when it comes to mental and emotional health, my stories provide something unique (truly – I consistently hear “I’ve never heard anything like this”). Much like when you buy a band’s new album, I have four albums that when you hit play, you are taken through an experience. Each album has about 13-16 stories that are inspiring, thought provoking, eye-opening and will open up some emotions as well. The stories are about ten minutes a piece and they all standalone so it’s not a series in that you may miss something if you listen out of order. We learn through stories. We were told them as children and it helps us get out of the situations we create in our heads and into our imaginations. I’ve taken examples and areas that I’ve struggled with and what my coaching clients have struggled with and turned them into how characters move through these obstacles. Or what happens when they avoid them.
We are such a fast-minded society and we aren’t really FEELING our lives. When we aren’t feeling our lives, we use other methods to try and do so. Food, alcohol, drugs, s*x, shopping, entertainment, work, always being too busy, ect. But life always finds a way to bring us back to ourselves. I’m so proud to create a cinematic experience that shows listeners how others have returned to themselves. My listeners have told me that the stories feel like “an escape.” I’m so grateful that I am creating small, pleasurable escapes for people whose minds have a hard time resting or being still.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
That painting you love but seems a bit expensive, buy it. The book you loved, don’t loan it to someone. Encourage them to get a copy themselves. That album or band you appreciate, yes you can stream the music but buying the album will help them succeed.
We love our art so much as art is just interpretations of life by the artist. And if we resonate with the art, we feel that interpretation and ideas as well, whether we understand how or not. Those artists, in whatever capacity, often pour their lives into their work. Time, money, emotions (hurt, pain, anger, joy, vulnerability) and yet they don’t receive a stable check at the end of each week as do the typical 9-5 workers do. A world without art would feel incredibly black and white so support those artists you love.
I recently told a friend about a GREAT Memoir that I read. They then said to me, “Can you bring it to me next time I see you so I can borrow it to read?” I said “No. Support this person who dissected their life so that whoever reads this book can benefit from the lessons this person had to go through.” We spend amazing amounts of money on a drink and appetizers or a fancy coffee every morning, spend some money on the artists that make the human part of the world a more beautiful place.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being creative in your experience?
For me, it’s creating the art. Not how one might think though. My truly best work comes from somewhere outside of myself. I don’t sit down and think “what story can I next tell that would be impactful?” Instead, I meditate each day. It clears my mind of all the debris that is being a human being. It clears the stories I make up about my life and other people, it helps me see what problems are actually present or what is a projection of something that MAY happen, and it opens up pockets of silence so that at any point later in the day/week/month, with open pockets in my brain, I’m able to receive new ideas.
Creation is a spiritual partnership with the Universe/GOD/the Creator (whatever you want to call it). I’m most proud that as most of the rest of humanity seems to be moving faster, I take the time to slow down and let what’s meant for me, catch up to me. THAT is where the magic of my stories comes from. That important relationship with the Universe/GOD/the Creator that I make sure to make time for.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mikejamesnow.com
- Instagram: MikeJamesStories
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MikeJamesNow
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikejamescoach/
Image Credits
Shaina Ann and Austin Photography