PODCAST · arts
The Moderately Tortured Artist
by Kimberley Smith
Being a creative and putting your art out into the world can be both exhilarating and terrifying. The Moderately Tortured Artist is a podcast by coach Kimberley Smith that started as a show for musicians and has now taken on a life of its own.It's for any creative who has ever considered giving up. Any artist who has felt it is too hard, encountered too much rejection or feels crippled by their perfectionism. Part pep talk, part permission slip, this show is about helping you remember what matters most. The joy of creating something unique, the self expression and story you share with others and the elation you feel when it all just clicks. Because as tough as it is, we couldn't imagine doing anything else.
Episodes
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Healing the Inner Little Victim
The Little Victim. A wounded part of ourselves that we often hold some disdain or frustration around and that we often try to forget we have and definitely attempt to keep out of the public eye. One that can crop up when we're challenged, when we face disappointment or things don't go as we…
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Why it is Essential that You Develop Your Own Artistic Taste
One of the biggest sources of friction we tend to encounter as creatives is the chase for external validation and the frustration that we're still chasing external validation. We give others the power of determining whether our art or our performance is "good" or "successful", which amplifies our...
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Identity and Free Traits - The Building Blocks of Confidence?
How much of our identity is set and how much control do we really have over making changes to it? One of the questions I get asked most is "How do I become more confident?" and that's what I'd love to tackle in this episode where we delve a little into the neuro-science and psychology around...
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Sensitive Creatives Can Do Hard Things
Have you ever felt that your sensitivity has held you back from pushing outside your comfort zone or embracing a challenge? I think this is a story that many creatives can relate to and one that is not doing us any favours. This episode is about chipping away at that belief, seeing the brilliance...
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I CAN Be Bothered
I think it is highly likely that we're dealing with an epidemic of the apathetic kind. That the phrase "I can't be bothered" or "I don't know if I can be bothered" is having an IT girl moment (and who can blame us with the state if the world right now?). But what is it costing us when it comes to...
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Releasing the Identity of the "Hot Mess Creative"
Is there a part of you (like me) who believes that the free-spirited nature of an artist equals external chaos and an aversion to organisation and structure? If so, let's unpack this a little because I realised that in clinging to this idea as part of my identity, it was creating an undercurrent…
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What Would it Feel Like to Empty Yourself Creatively?
Do you have a sense of your own creative potential? For me, I can taste it and know instinctively that I've barely scratched the surface. But I also have a history of over-working and falling in a heap afterwards. So how can we be in perpetual creative motion and learning without striving…
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The #1 Thing You Need to Know About Visibility, Vulnerability and Sharing Your Honest Expression
So there's a part of you who wants to come out of hiding, to be seen as more authentically YOU. Who wants to take up a little more space. Who wants to be able to express themselves honestly and to allow others to witness that. Welcome to the podcast episode just for you. This contains everything…
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How to Navigate Disappointment Around Sharing and Impact
So you've done the brave thing, you've shared your art or your gifts in some way. You're all hyped up and proud of yourself UNTIL - crickets or a lacklustre response. Until you don't get the outcome you desired. If left unchecked, this disappointment can build up and build up and begin to turn…
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What Relieved Me of My Overwhelm
I've had a long and toxic relationship with overwhelm and we went through a break up a couple of months ago. My energy has returned, my zest for creating, really everything about the way I move through my day and how I feel about it has shifted. And I wanted to share what allowed for that to...
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Your Vague Desires Aren't Getting You Anywhere
Desire. It's a juicy word that kicks up a lot of sensation in your body right? But when it comes to WHAT you desire and your MOTIVATION and DEVOTION to get there, not all desires are made equal. Most people use vague language to articulate their desires. Words like "happy," "healthy" and "more...
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How to Feel More Empowered in Your Life by Shifting Your Language
Your words create your world. Yep, the language you use each and every day is influencing and colouring how you feel. So is it empowering or disempowering you? Serving you or not? The uncomfortable news is that right now you're most likely speaking out of habit and through the lens of your...
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Shake Off the Tight, Ill-Fitting Costume of "Background Person"
This episode is for anyone who has ever believed they should tone themselves down to blend into the background, to avoid standing out. That you shouldn't boldly share your gifts, draw attention to yourself or be exceptional because it comes with too much risk. It asks you "Where are you accepting...
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Rejection is a Brutal and Fabulous Teacher
I know, rejection isn't a topic that makes me jump out of bed and do pirouettes either, but I do think it's important to talk about. So even though it makes me feel incredibly vulnerable and a tad apprehensive, I'm sharing a rejection story of my own on the podcast this week. A pretty recent one....
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A Battle Cry for Creatives - Are You Running in the Wrong Direction?
This episode is an audio version of a Facebook Live I did to call you forward. If you know you've been hiding, dipping your toe in the water or trying to convince yourself that "you don't have what it takes" or your art "isn't that important" - this is for you. Gather around the campfire. Grab a...
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On Waiting for Permission and to Feel Ready
This episode is for those who are waiting. Waiting for permission to take up space, to share their work or to be chosen. And waiting to feel ready to step up and out of their comfort zone, to accept themselves wholeheartedly or to run towards what lights them up. Feeling hesitant, scared or...
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Your Sensitivity is Stunning and Needed
Sensitivity is one of those things many creatives have in spades and yet the messaging we tend to receive is often one of "too sensitive" or "overly emotional". In this episode I unpack this a little and encourage you to follow your own trail of breadcrumbs. Is your sensitivity something you're...
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Is Chasing Constant Improvement Serving or Sapping You?
Welcome to the first episode of 2021! Where we explore how goals, New Year's Resolutions and our collective obsession with never-ending self improvement is impacting you. The way I'm discerning between whether going after something is serving or sapping me comes down to - what lies underneath?…
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The Liberating Nature of Safety and Self Compassion
Why is it that even after all the self help books and mindset work our minds are still full of doubt and drama, holding us captive? Could it be that we have to go another layer deeper? This episode is about how to cultivate safety and self compassion. It starts with uncovering your inner child…
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On Trying to "Get it Right" and Be a Perfect Human
There are far too many of us feasting on our own shame and whipping ourselves because we're "not doing it right" and by "it" I mean LIFE. There's so much anxiety around making the "wrong choice" and many of us put our power in the hands of self help gurus, hoping they have the answer so we can...
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An Ode to Transition - Making Your Way Through the Messy Middle
This is an ode to transition. The times in your life where nothing feels solid. You're shifting and changing and untethered. How can we best navigate our time spent wading through the messy middle? How can we show up with more grace and self compassion? Where are the lessons we're tempted to look...
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The Rollercoaster of Creating You 2.0
I know you want it. Some days the yearning might be so strong that you can almost taste it. You want MORE. You want to BE MORE. But the HOW feels elusive, hard and often futile. This is a nudge for you if you have been working on rewriting your beliefs, creating a bolder, more joyful version of...
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The Dark Side of Being the "Good Girl"
The biting of tongues. The constant questioning. The bending for everyone around us. Worrying that we're too much. That we're not enough. Taking on the opinions of others as gospel. This is an episode for the "good girls". The self sacrificers. The people pleasers. Those of us who have been (or...
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The Silver Linings in Our Lockdown
Many of us have never had to process fear in this way before. Deal with anxiety on such a grand scale. Uncertainty around just about every area of our lives and no end date. This episode is meant to put that to one side for a moment and focus on the BUTs, the What Ifs. What if this heartbreaking...
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Please Stop Making Art a Loaded Word
Why is it that we shudder at the word "artist" when it's about ourselves? Why do we struggle to label what it is we create as "art"? In this episode I'm unpacking the heaviness and the expectation and the rules we place around the words "art" and "artist" in the hope that you'll claim it for...
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What Your Creativity is Waiting For
How far down your list of priorities do you think Creativity lives? For many of us he's relegated to the "nice to have" category always trumped by his less fun, more pushy older brother Productivity. I wanted to share a little about what has unshackled my Creativity recently and how I think we…
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Making Friends with Failure
This episode is a frank discussion about failure. Fun huh? I think one of the reasons we fear failing so much is because we consider it embarrassing, shameful and therefore want to bury it and never speak of it again. So in the hope that this gives you some sense of freedom around your own...
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How to Get Extraordinary Shiz Done as a Creative
One of the questions people lob my way most often is along the lines of "How do you get so much done or make so much happen?" My go-to excuses for not making magic in my life or diving into all the creations/projects I want to explore are just as wiley as yours. It's how I wrangle them (and how...
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The Magic of the Body and Embodiment
This episode is about disconnection and discontentment and how a few simple practices could be a beautiful and powerful answer. I wanted to share how tapping back into my body, intuition and the concept of embodiment has dramatically shifted how I feel in my life and how it could do the same for...
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Life Lessons Singing Has Taught Me
For the final episode of the year we're going to explore five juicy life lessons singing has taught me. The importance of doing the work to make magic, the beauty of vulnerability and the dance of fear and confidence make the cut as well as a couple of other gems. And my Getcha Belt On Program...
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Is Your Own Judgement Keeping You Stuck?
I know I know, we're all hiding at least a little because the fear of being judged by other people is crippling. But in this episode I ask the question "Is that at least partially influenced by the way we judge others?" How do you cheerlead or chainsaw other artists with your words? And can you…
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Don't Play Unless You're Fabulous
One of the weird "rules" we have in huge parts of our society is "don't play unless you're fabulous". You can't call yourself a singer unless you're at some elite level. You can't perform unless you can nail every note. You can't get out there and do the thing until it's EXTRAORDINARY. Now I'm…
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Screw the Starving Artist Story (Money Beliefs and Music)
Money. Feeling awkward yet? Well you might wanna buckle up for this one because most people (let alone artists who are also carrying the weight of the "starving artist" mentality) have serious baggage around moolah. If you've been buying into the "artists can't make money" or "only unicorns make...
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A Recipe for Lightness
Ever noticed that so many of your day to day moments and interactions are cloaked in a heaviness? Or seriousness? We take everything so seriously, rush from one thing to the next and wonder why anxiety is such an epidemic. What surprised me was how much I resisted doing the smallest things that...
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Take Them Off That Pedestal
This is a plea. A request that you stop kissing the feet of the artists you love and lauding them as some kind of extraterrestrial being. Adore their music, acknowledge their artists but please don't make them out to be a unicorn. It's doing you BOTH a disservice. This episode explores why I…
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You Do Not Have Stage Fright
I know, you're thinking, "How could Kim get the title of this podcast so wrong? I most certainly DO have stage fright!" Hear me out. Because I want to talk about WHY your body goes into fight or flight mode the second you have to step on a stage. And why all the meditating, deep breathing, hours…
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How to Really Bet on Yourself
This is one of those kick-you-up-the-butt in a good way podcast episodes. Where I get you to take an honest look at how you're investing some of your most valuable resources - time, money and energy. Empires and legacies and great art and serious impact do not happen by accident. They happen...
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Confidence is Born in the Gutter
What can I do to build my confidence? How can I feel more confident on stage? How can I feel better about myself and my art? All phenomenal questions I get asked on the regular. And A) I don't have all the answers, and B) the part of the answer I DO have is way more complicated than I can write…
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A Letter to My Harshest Critic Yet
If there were ever a podcast episode for when someone has ripped apart your art or who you are as a person - this would be it. This is a call to arms. Making a stand against harsh, unfair and unconstructive criticism. A reminder for anyone who considers themselves a creative that nobody can rob…
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Make Life Beautiful Again
Why is it that it takes us being knocked out by sickness or having a near death experience for us to notice how damn beautiful life is? In this episode I share my experience after being hit by a flu virus and the rose coloured glasses I wore the day I was well enough to emerge from bed. We have...
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The Tale (and Baggage) of a Terrible Beginner
This is for you if you cringe at the thought of diving into learning a new skill. If you avoid things you know you'll be bad at. If your insecurity reins supreme and means you run or hide rather than sticking with it. If you get really grumpy and frustrated when someone is trying to teach you...
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When is it Ripe to Share?
This podcast came out of the reason I didn't release an episode last week. The episodes I'd drafted didn't feel right or ready. Which led me down the rabbit hole of - how often do we rush our art? Or put things out into the world early for validation instead of trusting ourselves enough to know...
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Pulling the Thread
How do you treat your relationship with Creativity? Do you keep in touch, give her your undivided attention and love her whether she "puts out" or not? Or do you smother her with expectation and then ignore her for months at a time? Creativity is one of the most important relationships in your…
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Where Big Dreams Go to Die
Today I get really honest about a dream I shrank to the size of a pea just to make myself feel more comfortable in the hope that you won't follow suit. This episode is all about big dreams and why they need to be protected and moved towards. If you want to listen to my song Molasses you can do…
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Silence is Golden (and Necessary)
I know, it's not an easy (or sexy) sell. You might want to roll your eyes or have PTSD flashbacks to those two times you tried to meditate and failed abysmally, but please hear me out. Making space and embracing the skin crawling discomfort of spending time in silence is CRUCIAL if you want to…
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Other People's Opinions are None of Your Business
Are you being ruled by the "should's", the obligations and the "what if's" other people throw at you? Keeping yourself small and hiding out of fear of what someone else will say or think about it? Are you trying desperately to be a good person while keeping your head above water? Well I hope this...
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A Chapter on Perfectionism
This episode is for those of you who identify as perfectionists or are plagued with the notion of "I'll never be good enough". Whether you currently wear your perfectionism as a badge of honour or are frustrated that it keeps you small and stuck, this episode will bring you even more clarity.…
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Why You Might Want to Embrace Discomfort
Discomfort is a pretty hard sell, I know, but hear me out. In order to do anything creative, stretch yourself in any way or grow as a person, you're going to have to embrace it. And many of us feel uncomfortable or like we're "wasting our lives" if we stay in our own cozy little bubble anyway, so...
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How We're Making Ourselves More Unhappy
Life as a musician unfortunately isn't all sunshine, rainbows, awards and opportunities. Bad stuff happens. Negative emotions run rampant. (I wish they didn't and that I could wrap you in cotton wool and glitter but I'm afraid it wouldn't help) But one thought, one idea most of us seem to latch...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Being a creative and putting your art out into the world can be both exhilarating and terrifying. The Moderately Tortured Artist is a podcast by coach Kimberley Smith that started as a show for musicians and has now taken on a life of its own.It's for any creative who has ever considered giving up. Any artist who has felt it is too hard, encountered too much rejection or feels crippled by their perfectionism. Part pep talk, part permission slip, this show is about helping you remember what matters most. The joy of creating something unique, the self expression and story you share with others and the elation you feel when it all just clicks. Because as tough as it is, we couldn't imagine doing anything else.
HOSTED BY
Kimberley Smith
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Moderately Tortured Artist have?
The Moderately Tortured Artist currently has 58 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Moderately Tortured Artist about?
Being a creative and putting your art out into the world can be both exhilarating and terrifying. The Moderately Tortured Artist is a podcast by coach Kimberley Smith that started as a show for musicians and has now taken on a life of its own.It's for any creative who has ever considered giving up....
How often does The Moderately Tortured Artist release new episodes?
The Moderately Tortured Artist has 58 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to The Moderately Tortured Artist?
You can listen to The Moderately Tortured Artist on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Moderately Tortured Artist?
The Moderately Tortured Artist is created and hosted by Kimberley Smith.
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