How to Make Your Anxiety a Creative Advantage with Gregory Halpen

If you’re a creative person who has anxiety, you know how anxious thoughts and feelings can be a massive block when it comes to your creativity. But when we start to recognize and understand our anxiety we can learn to integrate it into our creative process and leverage it. Today’s guest, Gregory Halpen, knows this to be true as he faced his own journey of finding ways to manage his anxiety in a way that doesn’t hinder his creativity. This week, episode 208 of the Positively LivingⓇ Podcast is about how to make your anxiety a creative advantage!  

Gregory Halpen has 30+ years of experience as a gay men’s leadership coach, solo theater artist, stage & TV actor, and singer. Gregory teaches leaders how to get out of their heads and lead from the heart.

In this episode of the Positively LivingⓇ Podcast, Gregory Halpen shares how anxiety manifests itself in our creative process and gives you actionable steps to take right now to recognize and understand your anxiety so that you can find ways to interrupt and redirect it into something positive. 

Gregory and I cover the following topics:

• Recognizing what triggers your anxiety is an important step in managing it.
• How self-awareness and personal development can help you heal from and let go of factors that cause anxiety. 
• How to practice channeling anxious energy into creative work instead of avoiding it.
• Owning your part in conflicts can facilitate personal growth and manage anxiety moving forward.

Remember, whether it’s anxiety or anything else that challenges you, you are a person with a heart and soul first. And when you accept that, you can choose whether or not you let this part of yourself hold you back. 

Could you use some support? Ready for a quick win and to try coaching with Lisa? The Productivity Boost session is a speed-round strategy that is highly effective for shifting a habit, quickly reviewing your weekly schedule, discussing productivity-related tech and systems, and moving past decision hurdles for prioritizing. You'll walk away encouraged and inspired to take action! Go to https://www.positivelyproductive.com/plpboost for a very special listener discount!

CONNECT WITH GREGORY HALPEN:

Website

Creative Juices Podcast

Instagram

CONNECT WITH LISA ZAWROTNY:

Instagram

Resources

Work with Lisa! 

LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

(Find links to books/gear on the Positively Productive Favorites Page.)

Boost Productivity and Well-being with a Toxic People Detox 

Emotions, Intuition, and Authenticity with Kristen Kubik 

Internal Family Systems As a Proven Treatment for Burnout with Katie LaCelle 

Two-Minute Transition Meditation

Dance Song Playlist

Chapters

• 0:00 How to Make Your Anxiety a Creative Advantage with Gregory Halpen
• 5:26 Managing anxiety as a creative, using personal experiences and therapy to overcome self-sabotaging behaviors.
• 12:30 The challenge of sitting with discomfort and the importance of facing it head-on.
• 17:22 Owning one's part in conflicts can be tricky, but understanding triggers is key to moving forward.
• 22:36 Managing anxiety and creativity through self-awareness and interruption techniques.
• 30:53 Channeling anxiety into creativity through acceptance and integration.