131: Becoming the Author of your Life with James Walters

In this playful conversation, Serena speaks with photographer, podcaster, mentor, and author James Walters, creator of A Joyful Rebellion and Meditations of the Mundane.

James shares how creativity became his language for connection, how journaling sparked a life pivot at midlife, and why following the “script” others hand us often leads to quietly unfulfilled lives.

Introversion as a “world within a world”

James describes introversion not as shyness, but deep perception.

About being “the person in the corner who’s watching everything as it unfolds” — and the unexpected superpower that becomes.

Seeing the unseen — through a camera and through people

James traces his path from photography school into commercial work:

“I love to be able to show other people the world in maybe a way they had not seen before.”

Photography became a way to:

• reflect someone’s strengths back to them
• build trust without small talk
• connect deeply without competing for airspace

He shares why distraction in front of the camera matters — and why clarity afterward matters even more.

Journaling, loops we repeat & becoming the author of your life

A breakthrough moment came when James reread a year of his morning pages:

“I was writing about some of the same goals… the same things… I’m on a hamster wheel.”

That realization seeded his podcast — and the idea of reclaiming authorship instead of acting out a script someone else wrote.

Introvert / Extrovert energy — when opposites attract

Living with an extroverted partner sharpened James’ awareness that you can both be having a good time, but managing your energy differently.

He highlights differences in:

• how connection is formed
• when energy rises or drains
• why small talk feels costly to many introverts.

Meditations of the Mundane — giving objects a voice

James’ latest book marries black-and-white photography with imagination:

“What if I take an object and I personify it?”

From park benches to gum stuck on sidewalks, James flips the script — revealing meaning, story, and whimsy in everyday forgotten places.

The hardest part of creating a book (and any big project)

James’ biggest challenge?

“The middle … where I start to lose energy … now I have to be really intentional about creativity.”

So relatable for every creative, founder, or quiet achiever.

A Joyful Rebellion — the podcast

James’ show explores:

• people who ticked every life box,
• found success but not fulfillment,
• and chose to rewrite their story.

3 Takeaways for Quiet Achievers

1. Your stillness is a strength — don’t apologize for observing first.
2. Creativity is a bridge — share your work and connection follows.
3. When awareness dawns, you can’t unsee it — you get to choose differently.

Explore James Walters’ work + Free Gift!

Meditations of the Mundane
 A Joyful Rebellion podcast
Free mini-guide: Plotting Your Joyful Rebellion
 

Invitation to work with Serena The Quiet Warrior Coach

If you’re ready to be seen, heard, and promoted without performing extroversion, the trauma-informed S.E.E.N. Coaching Program is your next step.
Learn how to lead, communicate, and show up from a place of safety and sustainability.

Book your S.E.E.N. diagnostic session at info@serenalow.com.au.

This episode was edited by Aura House Productions

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hello and welcome. Our guest today is a photographer, podcaster, and the author of Meditations of the Mundane and the Little Book of Special Powers. He's also a dad, mentor, and lifelong creative who helps people reclaim authorship over their lives by using creativity, reflection, and radical honesty. Through his podcast, A Joyful Rebellion, he shares conversations with people who have chosen to live on purpose, often in ways that go against the script they were handed. His work invites listeners to slow down, ask better questions, and find meaning in the messy middle of life. Welcome, James Walters to the Quiet Warrior Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Serena, thank you so much for having me. It's great to be here.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

Oh, it's so good to have you here. I'm looking forward to our conversation. I want to start by asking you what your experience of introversion has been.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

And for me, I am constantly observing the world and seeing what's going on. And it's funny because it's normal to me, but so many people that I meet, so many people I'm really close with, I'll tell them something or an observation I've made. Sometimes it's about them, or sometimes it's about a situation they're in. And it blows their mind because they're like, I've never thought about it that way. I've never known that about myself. You just told me something that I no one else has ever told me before, and I've only known you for a few weeks. So sometimes that can be a little bit of a superpower. And I don't mean it to spring it on people in that way, but sometimes just sitting back, being quiet, being the person, I'm usually the person in the corner who's watching everything as it unfolds. And that has been uh that has been more powerful than I ever thought it could be.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

I think superpower is the right word for it. It's so quiet and subtle and non-dramatic. But then when you open your mouth, people are astonished at the things you say. That's a very cool gift to have.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

That's amazing.

Photography As Deep Connection

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Yes. And tell us about your career trajectory. How has it allowed you to express your introvert strengths?

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Well, I knew at a really early age in in we're talking high school here, that I wanted to do something in the arts and specifically visual arts. And I landed in a photography school. And what I quickly realized is that I loved to be able to show other people the world in maybe a way they had not seen before. And I was mostly interested in doing that through the camera lens. And I studied commercial photography, and that allowed me to, again, create those little worlds. Every day I would show up at work when I got out of school and I would work in a studio and we did advertising and I would create everything that you saw in front of the camera. There was no, there were no windows in this place. So if it looked like sunshine was streaming in through a window, it's because I got to put lights behind there and get them to come in the right angle so it looked like morning and not afternoon or whatever the case might be. But it it forced me, but also allowed me to really observe the world so that I could kind of recreate it in certain ways. And that was helpful for my job, but also on the creative side of photography, I love to be able to show a person through my lens in a way that they've maybe never seen themselves before. Show them with their strength, show them with their whimsy, show a side of them that you can't get if you're looking straight at a camera doing the third grade picture day school smile, right? And when I connected with people in that way and they looked at a photo sometimes of themselves, and thought, wow, I've never seen myself that way before. And and hopefully it was a good reaction in a good way, but and usually it was, but it helped me understand that I need to do more of this and I need to uh I need to connect with people. And as introverts, we're not always connecting with people, say at networking events or or talking in groups or even one-on-one sometimes. Sometimes it is connecting through an art form, and then they want to know more. And then you can you can come at it at a little deeper level instead of just getting to know you kind of stuff. You start with the art and then it draws people in.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

And I can so agree with that. Inside my introvert community, we often go for the small group outings. And one of the things I love bringing people to is art galleries and museums. And we just wander through at our own pace and we look at the artwork and then we have a conversation. And sometimes, you know, just noticing what different people have observed and what they saw and what other people didn't see, and and how we feel about you know different aspects, different artists, it's very insightful. It gives you a glimpse, a window into somebody's world. So I I get what you mean when you say you're looking at the world through your lens, but at the same time, when you take a picture of someone, you're also capturing a moment in time, but also an aspect of them that maybe they were not aware of. And now you've brought that into their awareness and they get to see themselves through your eyes. And that that is, I think, that's a kind of magic.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

It is, it is fun to try to do it because so many people think that a photographer, what we do is take pictures. And what I spend most of my time doing, especially when I'm working with someone, and especially if it's one-on-one, I spend most of my time distracting them from being insecure about having a camera pointed at them. I give them things to do that I feel like they will be comfortable doing. I try to keep them in their comfort zone for at least a little while and build up that trust, even if it's someone I've met or I've known for many years, it's still when you bring out a camera, there's a vulnerability there that I have to either get a comfort level pretty quickly. But what I've found to be more successful, and it's not the most introverted thing, I've learned to adapt to it, but if I can give enough direction to keep them distracted, they can show me a side of themselves because they're just not thinking about me anymore. And then then I do bring in my introvert uh super skills of just blending in and hanging back and let them be themselves, and then they let the magic happen and I just record it at that point.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

That's a kind of co-creation that's going on, but let's talk about journaling because I know you enjoy that as well and you practice it, but tell us more about it.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

I struggled with journaling for many years, and I knew that so many other people had had success with it. And it wasn't until COVID times when we had plenty of time to develop new skills and a lot of personal growth was going on, hopefully, that I really buckled down. I had read a book many years before. It was called The Artist's Way, and it's been out for so many years by Julia Cameron, and she suggests writing something called a morning page, and it's just one page. And doesn't matter what you write about, you don't have to write about gratitude, you don't have to write about anything, just whatever comes out of your brain at that time, fill up a page, move on with your day. I thought that is really that's easy. That I can do that. And I've always had a problem with structure sometimes, so there wasn't too much structure there. And so I tried it, but what I found out is that I I kind of fell away from it until COVID times. And I said, okay, I'm I'm going to do this. And I made a practice every morning. I write one page in that journal, and I have for years since. And it was one day, I guess it was around 2023, that I was writing and I had a little extra time. I was up early that day and I said, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to go back. And I just want to see what I was doing six months ago. I want to flip back in the journal. And let's see what I was doing a year ago today. And what I saw horrified me because I'd been going along. I'd been, you know, thinking, oh, I'm doing great. Life is great. Work is good. All these things were just moving along. But then when I went back, I realized that I was writing about some of the same goals that I had one year, six months earlier. I was complaining about some of the same things that I was having issues with in the current moment. And I looked at it and said, oh my gosh, I'm on a hamster wheel. I'm just living the same year over and over. And this is proof. I've never really thought to look back because it's a practice of kind of just emptying your mind before the work day. It is for me anyway. So I get some of the things I talk about, what happened, what went well yesterday, what didn't go so well, and what I hoped to accomplish. And then I'm kind of at a baseline to be able to start my work day. But on that day in particular, I had a new mission. And that was to make sure that the next year wasn't like the current year or the previous year or two years before because my journal was telling me that I am just doing this whole thing on repeat. And that's not the kind of life I wanted to live.

SPEAKER_00 11:30

And what did you do once you had that realization?

SPEAKER_01 11:34

I that's kind of the foundation of my podcast, A Joyful Rebellion, is when I realized that I was not really the author of my own life. I was living out the script, but I wasn't writing the script. You know, if you think about a movie, every movie you've seen starts with a script, it starts with a story, and then actors come in and they read the script and they act it out. I was doing all the acting, but I wasn't doing any of the writing. And that was leading to just an aimless kind of existence that in the moment, if I didn't do any reflection, it seemed pretty good. There was nothing dramatic. There was nothing uh negative that I can think of. It just wasn't fulfilling. And it took that proof of seeing it in my own handwriting to really get me fired up and say, okay, I'm not going to do this anymore. I only have a certain number of years left. I don't know how many, but I know it's uh, you know, I was over 45 at that point. So I I figured I I had more years behind me than I had ahead of me. And it was time to get moving.

Rewriting Your Script With Awareness

Introverts Versus Extroverts On Energy

SPEAKER_00 12:51

So that was an unintended gift from Julia Cameron that in following this discipline of writing every day, one page, you then noticed a pattern about yourself. What have you observed so far about the differences between how introverts show up and how extroverts show up?

SPEAKER_01 13:16

Oh wow. So so different. So my partner is an extrovert, and we are constantly just amazing each other with our ability to do completely different things. And one of hers, she we were talking one day and and I said something about getting lonely, and she's like, oh my gosh, you you can get lonely. And because I can I can go into you know my my workshop, as I call it, and be creative and and not really see people for a while or very much. And I said, Yeah, I I mean it takes weeks for me to get there, whereas it takes her maybe hours before she needs some interaction, some human interaction. But I think the biggest difference that I've noticed is the connections. The connections can be a little more difficult with introverts, with myself, because I I tend to want to put my work out there first, and then people react to it, and then we develop that relationship. Whereas I've observed my partner, she puts herself out there first and creates a connection, and then they they talk about whatever ends up um being important to them at the time. But that's one huge thing is is putting something that's maybe not as vulnerable. Like my work is is an extension of me, but it's not as vulnerable as hey, I'm I'm Jane, or just going and and talking to someone. That sounds awful. But but once once I connect with someone on a topic or something, like we're talking right now, I love talking on that level. It's just all the surface stuff that is the big challenge. And I've observed that the extroverts don't seem to have too much of a problem with that part.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

I think a lot of listeners, yes, that is their superpower. They can just go right into it with all the small talk, and that's fun for them, and they get energized. And the more people are involved in the conversation, the better. It's like, come on, join us, you know, and then it's like a big party. And for the rest of us, it's maybe I'll just go over to the corner there and just chill out for a few moments. I need a few moments of peace to regather myself, and it's just fascinating how we are all at different parts of the spectrum. And then again, depending on who we are with and our comfort level and our capacity for that day and you just the context of it. I think that's the beautiful thing is it's not locked in. Just because we're introverted doesn't necessarily mean we we don't like talking to people. It just has to be the right context to bring that out. And what you said about, you know, let's take away all that surface stuff, but have something in common, something we can talk about that both of us enjoy talking about, and we know something about, and we are maybe passionate or really knowledgeable about it, and then the conversation flows. So I think you said through your art, it becomes a way to connect with people because you are putting something of yourself, an extension of yourself out there, but it's not putting yourself out there. And I think that's why the marketing advice doesn't quite work for introverts when they say you have to push out there. It's very just a thought of it. I think it creates a little internal resistance in the introverted and the quiet achievers, thinking, but I don't want to be out there. I want to be back here, I want to be where it's safe.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

Yes. And I want to, I want the option to change my mind. So if I put myself out here and I'm supposed to be this thing this week, and and I decide, you know what, I'm not that thing right now, or I don't feel like uh being on in that way. And also I think it other introverts I know are really into being, I know the word is overused, but the authenticity of themselves. And sometimes putting yourself out there feels like you have to put on an act. It's almost our our go-to assumption that that's what you have to do. And that's not really the case. But I've found myself doing it. I've talked to other introverts who say, yeah, I just feel like I was putting on a show and it didn't feel like me. And they just haven't figured out how to do it yet. And I'll also say the the differences I've observed having a partner now who is an extrovert. We in the holidays just happened, and so there were a lot of parties, a lot of get-togethers and things like that. And I could see her talking to a group of people across the room, and I could see her energy battery going up, up, up. And I'm over here talking to a couple of people, and we're having a great conversation, but my energy is going, and I'm enjoying it, but my battery is going down, down, down, as hers is going up, up, up. And so it's just a completely different, we're both having a good time, but we are experiencing the energy management a lot differently.

Executive Presence Without Being Loud

SPEAKER_00 18:45

I think you've just summed up one of the fundamental differences, just through the the lens of energy management. Because sometimes people think, oh, you know, you need to speak up more, you need to be, you need to speak louder, you need to engage, and and so on. And sometimes, you know, the with the the introverted professional women I work with, some of them get told they lack executive presence. And my question is, who gets to decide what presence looks like? Because maybe we have a fixed idea of presence, thinking that it's associated with certain traits and certain models based on what we've seen modeled to us. But maybe it doesn't have to be all one way. Maybe presence can also be leaning in and really listening intently. It can be empathy, it can be compassion, it can be so many invisible forms of connection.

SPEAKER_01 19:39

Absolutely. And sometimes as introverts, I know that it doesn't get revealed enough. And it's not it's not about being loud. Sometimes it's just about giving a reassurance or even giving uh an encouragement. And I have to remind myself because sometimes you think a thought and you you thought you've communicated it, and that's not really fun for the other person who can't read your mind. So I have to remind myself, okay, you thought this thought, now you have to, it needs to come out of your mouth somehow. It needs to you come in an email, whatever it is, it needs to be communicated. And that is one thing I've certainly been working on the last few years is if I think it and it's going to be positive, nurturing, I need to make sure it's out there somehow.

SPEAKER_00 20:36

Such a good point. I can think of all the times in the corporate world, for instance, where the introvert has a really good idea, has a brilliant solution, but then they bite their tongue, they hold back, they overthink it, and then the moment passes. And sometimes somebody else speaks up the very same thing, very same idea, and that gets picked up right away. It gets commended and applauded. And then the introvert is left feeling. But I had the same idea too. But the problem was that internal resistance and that failure to communicate. Just one more step is all it takes to let people know. So if you have a thought, vocalize it. Vocalize it much more than you're normally comfortable with. And I think it's that discomfort that holds back the introvert.

Marketing And Client Care For Introverts

SPEAKER_01 21:21

Absolutely. And that their resistance is real. I even fight it. I fought it today. I had to force myself to put out a marketing email. And it was only going to a couple of dozen people, but I knew that as soon as the email went out, there would be a lot of engagement, meaning that I was about to open up a can of worms in a good way. It was a way that people wanted to get more information. They wanted to get in on what I was offering, but at the same time, You have to keep the business going. And you also have to, like we talked about, manage energy and say, okay, I'm going to hit the send button. And within 30 minutes, I'm going to be getting a flood of questions. And I have tried to live the life where I try to manage all of those things up front by making frequently asked questions and making all sorts of things that were maybe a little hands-off. And I've also, as an introvert, tried to live the life as a business owner where I put a few little barriers between myself, like an assistant or an answer server. Those things, um, those things will get you only so far, I've found, until people just start to either lose interest in what you do, because I'm more of a personalized business. They they want me from me. And it took me a while to realize that I knew they wanted the photos from me, but I didn't know they they need the they need the comfort level from me. They need the phone call from me, they need the encouragement. Yes, you are selecting the right thing, the the right path forward, whatever that is. So that's when I realized, okay, I need to create some sort of a comfort level with just this engagement with clients beyond me holding a camera. And that was a huge revelation in my own business.

SPEAKER_00 23:31

That everything you've just said there is so pertinent for anyone listening who is a solopreneur. When you are the face of your brand, when you are the business, when it's you that the client wants. And now we have so many, you know, so many kinds of software, so many tools, so many resources, ways we can outsource that. But it's it can't replace who you are. But then there's only one of you. So you need to conserve your energy too. And so finding that delicate balance, I think, between making it a wonderful client experience that's memorable and that's your signature and that's unique to you, but at the same time not depleting yourself. I think that is the daily balancing we all have to do.

SPEAKER_01 24:18

Absolutely is, and it's something I'm still working through because in my business there is a fair amount of marketing that goes on, and then there is a ton of post-production. So I sell the photography jobs that I do, and then I go execute those, which means I take pictures, but that's maybe 5% of the business. People think, oh, I take pictures all the time. I take pictures a few days a month. And then the rest of the time I'm processing those photos, I'm delivering them, I'm retouching, enhancing, and I'm talking with people through their options. People tend to, my clients, they care about their pictures, and so they want to make sure they're making the right decision. And so they ask questions like, well, what do most people do? And I was like, this isn't one of those most people situations. This is what do you feel when you look at this? And then we so I've learned to be a little bit more of a coach in the way that I talk with my clients and just help them get back comfort level because distraction is great on the photo shoot day during that time. I can get really beautiful pictures of them. Distraction after the fact or confusion is not good at all. It uh it leads to no sales, and those sales would make me a hobby. Uh so I don't want that, I don't want to go there. I want to keep doing this for a while.

SPEAKER_00 26:00

So you need distraction at the right time and then clarity at another time.

SPEAKER_01 26:05

Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 26:09

Tell us about your book.

SPEAKER_01 26:12

Yes, Meditations of the Mundane. That's the latest book. And it's the very first book I've ever created that had pictures in it. Uh I written a book before it was a memoir, and it was about my life as a wedding photographer. So it was a lot of stories. People always were curious. What's the wildest thing you've seen? So that was about 10 years ago. But Meditations of the Mundane came out last year, and it is a coffee table book. It's large and it is all black and white. And I love to walk around old cities, cities that are a few hundred years old. And they just have they've got the interesting architecture, but they've just got this grit to them. They've got these places that people have forgotten about sometimes. And I love to notice the things that maybe no one else would. And I was walking one day in Charleston, South Carolina, and I thought to myself, you know, I wonder if the things that I'm noticing, these mundane things, these things that other people just walk right by. I wonder what would happen if I thought about life and the world from their perspective. And what if they had an opinion? What if these objects had hopes and dreams? What if they were judging the people who walked by them every time someone walked by? And I really got to thinking about it. And there were so many things that I was able to photograph. And we're talking like park benches, we're talking like really small details, we're talking uh chewing gum stuck to the sidewalk in some cases. And I just thought, let's do an exercise of flipping the script because as a photographer, especially when I was an advertising photographer, we tend to objectify people and that not in a malicious way, uh, in a way that if if my client wants to sell jeans, then we're going to hire a model to put on the jeans so people can see how it fits and people can see, oh, those are stylish, those are fitted, or those are baggy, whatever the case might be. And so this model, we don't we don't know her name or his name. We don't really care who they are. We just want to see how the jeans fit. So, in that sense, what I did for so many years kind of objectified the person. And I thought, what if I take an object and I personify it? And that's nothing new. I mean, Disney's done that with candlesticks and and all kinds of stuff for you know, many, many years. So objectifying something isn't revolutionary, but taking something that was boring, taking something that was mundane, and most people wouldn't pay any attention to, and then trying to give it a voice, give it some life, give it opinions, and in some cases make it funny. That was a challenge, and that was a lot of fun. So every picture in the in the book, there's a picture on one page, and then there's a story from the perspective of whatever object is in the photo. And that's the way the book is. You turn the picture, you see the next story.

SPEAKER_00 29:44

I can see how how that would be a fun project for anybody to do, and just the difference in perspective. Because we walk past a lot of things every day and we fail to notice a lot of things because we're busy, we're in a hurry, we're distracted, we're on our phones, we don't often take the time to notice details. And I think that's what makes you as an introvert who is also passionate about the arts, that makes you different because you you stop, you notice, you think about things and then you share them with others so that they can think about things too. Because when somebody picks up your coffee table book and flips through the pages, they will be, oh I never thought of it this way. I never thought that they might have a voice. That would be fun. And then it it takes them on a different direction. Maybe they'll have a little adventure inside their own heads the next time they go walking.

SPEAKER_01 30:42

Yes, that's the goal. I love to impart uh some sort of whimsy to people. That that's my most fulfilled moment. If I can give someone a little bit of whimsy without them walking away thinking he's completely crazy, it's okay if they think I'm a little crazy, but not completely. And to be able to give someone something to think about, twisted up with a little bit of whimsy is so rare nowadays. And it is a wonderful gift to receive. And uh it's a fun gift to give to others.

SPEAKER_00 31:21

Yes. It's a gift of eternal innocence and youthfulness, and just being able to look at life through the eyes of a child without all our preconceived, you know, intellectual fancies, and just enjoying it, just being awestruck, just being inspired, just enjoying what's happening.

The Dip And Finishing Creative Work

SPEAKER_01 31:41

To be awestruck, it's it's so rare that it happens. And for me, it tends to happen in nature, in places like landscapes where I've never been before. And I feel small and I'm looking at this expanse thinking this looks absolutely fake, but it's amazing. And it's just the most wonderful thing.

unknown 32:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 32:07

What is the hardest part of writing a book?

SPEAKER_01 32:12

It is that point where you do, or for me, it is that point where I start to lose energy and think, okay, is this I've been at this for a while. I've been over the the really excited phase, and now I'm down in the drudgery of the work. And most often for me, that comes in the middle. And there was a book written about the dip, and and it's so true, because you you get to that middle part, and it's like, do I even want to keep going? Is it worth it? I I don't have enough time invested to have that fear of loss if if I bail. But man, I I have invested a lot in this. So I need to keep going. But for me, the middle is also where I start to feel my creativity waning a little bit because I had just that huge burst of energy at the beginning, had all of these ideas. I've gotten those down on paper. I've gotten some of my favorites really fleshed out. And now I'm at that point where, okay, we've got 80 pages. I really want, I really want more like 120. Do I have 40 more photos and stories in me to share with the world? And that's when I have to dig deep. And and that it might sound like 80 is over the halfway mark, but you have to think about the editing and all the technical stuff that happens after the creativity. So it's yeah, that's really if you're two-thirds into the way of uh the creativity, you're only halfway there on the on the whole project. So that's for me the hardest part because I start to think, okay, I've I really shot my shot with all the uh creative stuff. And now I'm gonna have to work at being creative because at the beginning you've got all this creative buzz, and it's not hard to be creative for me until that middle point where you're thinking, all right, this is this is cool. It's not great yet. And now I have to be really intentional about creativity from this point on.

SPEAKER_00 34:38

So what you're doing is you're you're contrasting, I think, the the effortlessness of being creative because that comes naturally to you. It's not work at all, it's great fun. And then there is the actual how do you get to the finished product? How do you get to that part where it becomes a coffee table book that you can put in the bookstore that somebody can buy and somebody can bring home? And it's in someone else's hands, it's physical, it's it's alive, it's out there now, and it's no longer just in your head. And I think that's that's the challenge of the creative process. Or anytime we're trying to bring something from an idea inside our heads to make it real, same thing with starting a business or delivering any kind of service. There is all that unglamorous, unsexy part of the marketing, the launching, the emails, the campaigns, and letting people know about it. I wish my work would just speak for itself. You know, I I enjoy putting this whole thing together, but now I have to go and sell it. I have to go and talk about it, I have to promote it. And some of us, we we really don't enjoy that part of the process.

SPEAKER_01 35:50

That's true. That is true. And I've found in my own business, if I can get really intentional about the creativity on the business side, because there are some projects that I do as a photographer that aren't particularly creative. So they're not fulfilling me in that way in terms of the photos I'm taking. So now when I have those projects, I start thinking about okay, how can I make this email as creative as possible? How can I make this invoice? An invoice is a little bit of a stretch, but leave a little something on it to where someone said, Did you see that? That that was interesting. Whatever that might be, if I'm packaging something up, I'm thinking about how can I make it so that someone will comment on it, someone will notice, you know. So for a while, that was wax seals for me. And that was one of those really it felt old school, old world. And people could tell that at least two or three extra minutes of effort and love went into just getting that package together for them. So little things like that is what I look for whenever I'm not fulfilled creatively in the core part of my job.

A Joyful Rebellion And Who It Serves

SPEAKER_00 37:17

I love that. I love that that extra two, three minutes and that paying attention to details and making the experience special for someone and just picturing how they feel and you know what they might say when they have that package in their hands and they're unwrapping it. I think they can feel the love. They can feel the care, they can feel that they are special. There is some kind of transference of energy there that goes from you as the creator to them, the recipient. What a great way to frame it. Thank you for sharing that. Now tell us about your podcast and who is it for.

SPEAKER_01 37:53

Oh, the podcast has been so much fun because it it really follows the same track that I've been on as a photographer for my entire career. As a photographer, I I dip into people's lives every time I go out to do a photo shoot, uh, whether that's a corporate event and I get to see what that corporation is about, what the leaders are like, and what what are the conversations that are going on? If it's um some kind of an expo, if it's a social event, I get to see what is this family like, or what is this group of people like, or what is club like? And then I get to go home back to my world and having a different perspective. And and don't us introverts love to just hang back and observe and see different perspectives of things, but then go back to our own little world where we can be safe and warm and do our thing. And that's what I've done for 30 years. And the podcast world is the exact same experience, except I get to talk with people one-on-one now instead of just observing them talking to other folks and documenting it. But I get to document the conversation, I get to record it, and then of course it goes through an editing process just like my photos would. And then I release it out to the world just like I would do with the photos. So the process of it has always been really comfortable, but the experience of it has been amazing because I get so much more insight in having those deep conversations. And the podcast itself, it's called A Joyful Rebellion. And it's about that time in people's lives where they have worked really hard to be successful, and they've done all of the things that their parents, their family, their society, their church, their school, everyone told them to do, uh, whether that's get the degree, get a certain job, get the family, the house, and two cars, that sort of thing. And they get to a point in their life where they look around and they are objectively successful. They can see that they checked all of the boxes and and they did uh everything everyone said would make them happy. But maybe they're not quite feeling that happiness. They're not feeling that fulfillment, and they're wondering why they shouldn't. They start to feel that guilt. They're like, okay, I've done all these things. I've got all I've got a boat, for goodness sake. I mean, I went on, took my family on vacation, but why am I not happy? And that's the point where they have to make a decision. And that's where the kind of moving toward joy starts. But sometimes before they get to the joy, the people that I talk to have to go through a rebellion. And sometimes that's a rebellion against what they've always grown up knowing to be true, that this certain job was going to bring them happiness or this certain way of life. And I talk to people every single week who have gone through that experience and they've gone through a journey that uh sometimes it was life happening to them and they had to figure it out. And it was really big and dramatic. But sometimes, uh, more often, it was them just waking up at some point, like I did with my journal, and saying, Oh my gosh, this I can't keep doing this because this is not what life is supposed to be about, not for me, anyway. Uh, so some people that's fine. They can go and live the same day or week or year, but I wasn't having it once I realized, and and that's the the big thing that comes up in the show is awareness. Until you're aware of something, you can't do anything about it. And that's what a joyful rebellion is. I talk to people every week who've who've been through that experience. And I'd say eight or nine times out of ten, they then want to help others in a similar situation through their own experiences. And uh that could be through a book, that could be through coaching or whatever it is they do for work. But yeah, it's always fun conversations.

Free Ebook And Closing Invitations

SPEAKER_00 42:29

I love the sound of it, a joyful rebellion. That on the other side of the rebellion is the joy that you're looking for. And that joy probably is requires you to deviate from the script that you were given. And I think most of us are unconscious of that script. So, what you said about awareness is very important too, because that's the starting point, that's the baseline. When you have awareness, then you can't go back and pretend you didn't know anything about it because now you can see it and you can't unsee it. And then you go forward. Well, you now have a choice. Do I just keep going on autopilot or am I going to carve a new pathway for myself? And that's when the exciting part of the rebellion begins. So you, I know you also have a free ebook on that page on your podcast page called Plotting Your Joyful Rebellion. So if you're listening to this, make sure you go on to a joyfulrebellion.com and look for James's ebook. So thank you so much, James, for joining us today, sharing your wisdom about the how an introvert connects through the arts with people, looking at the world through your own lens, but also finding a way to balance, I think, that the creativity with the clarity for yourself as a business owner and for the person who's receiving on the receiving end of the beautiful products and services, how you make them feel special because you pay attention to the details that other people may miss.

SPEAKER_01 43:53

Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. This was wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 43:57

You're very welcome. If you're ready to be seen with us, Having to perform extroversion, I invite you to join the visible introvert community at serenaloe.com.au. See you on the next episode. I'm so grateful that you're here today. If you found this content valuable, please share it on your social media channels and subscribe to the show on your favorite listening platform. Together we can help more introverts thrive. To receive more uplifting content like this, connect with me on Instagram at Serenalo Quiet Warrior Coach. Thank you for sharing your time and your energy with me. See you on the next episode.