Find Your Own Rhythm: Creativity, Courage and Trusting the Journey
Through the Creative Door with Morgan Joanel
Some of us humans spend our lives trying to find balance… while Others learn to dance with the imbalance.
When I sat down with Morgan, our conversation wandered through music, stop-motion animation, fashion, jewellery design, painting, travel and healing. But underneath all of those creative pursuits sat one recurring idea.
Rhythm.
Not the rhythm of a song.
The rhythm of a life.
The kind only you can discover.
A creative space isn't a place - it's a feeling you can carry with you
Morgan has spent plenty of time creating while travelling, living out of suitcases and working in unfamiliar places.
So when I asked what a creative space meant to her, she surprised me.
For her, creativity doesn't live inside four walls.
It lives inside a feeling.
Rather than needing an entire studio, she surrounds herself with a handful of small anchor points… a favourite sarong, certain colours, carefully chosen playlists or even particular sounds that immediately make her feel safe and grounded.
Those tiny rituals allow creativity to follow her anywhere.
Whether she's at home, in a hotel room overseas or backstage before a performance, she knows how to create the feeling that allows ideas to emerge.
Sometimes home isn't a location.
Sometimes it's something we carry with us.
Creativity doesn't always arrive the way we planned
One of the first things we spoke about was Morgan's beautifully crafted stop-motion music video for Disappear.
Created just before the world shut down in covid tiems, it unexpectedly opened new creative doors.
As musicians searched for ways to release work during covid lockdowns, they began asking Morgan to create visual projects for them too.
One piece of art quietly became the beginning of another career.
It's one of those reminders that creativity often works behind the scenes long before we realise where it's leading us.
Sometimes what feels like an ending is quietly becoming a beginning.
The biggest risk often creates the biggest growth
When I asked what she was most proud of creating, Morgan's answer wasn't actually a song.
It was a decision.
Leaving Australia on a one-way ticket.
Trusting herself enough to step into complete uncertainty.
She admitted that every logical part of her mind warned against it.
Yet something deeper kept whispering, Go!!!
That leap of faith changed everything.
New friendships.
New creative collaborations.
New perspectives.
Sometimes the bravest creative act isn't making something.
It's saying yes to an experience before you know how the story ends.
When creativity is taken away
One of the most moving parts of our conversation centred around Morgan's recovery after a serious car accident.
In an instant, many of the things that had shaped her identity disappeared.
Physical limitations meant she could no longer create in the ways she'd always known.
Listening to her speak, I couldn't help but relate through my own journey with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.
Although our circumstances were different, we recognised something strikingly similar.
When creativity is taken away...
You realise it was never simply something you did.
It was part of who you are. It is in the tapestry of your being.
The journey back isn't about becoming someone new.
It's about rediscovering the person you've already been.
When I was STRUGGLING with my own recovery… As one of my healthcare practitioners once told me:
"The journey back is easier because you've already been there before."
That thought stayed with both of us.
Because hope isn't found in pretending the journey is easy.
It's found in remembering that you've already proven you're capable of creating beauty once before.
You can find your way there again.
Every creative has their own rhythm
Perhaps the biggest theme running through our entire conversation was rhythm.
Morgan believes every creative has one.
It's deeply personal.
Some people thrive with structure.
Others need spontaneity.
Most of us spend our lives learning how to dance somewhere between the two.
The challenge comes when we try to force someone else's rhythm onto our own lives.
Creative work isn't meant to look identical.
Neither are creative people.
The more we understand our own rhythm, the less we compare ourselves to everyone else's.
Your greatest work begins when you trust yourself
Towards the end of our conversation, Morgan shared advice that feels increasingly important in today's world.
Find your own rhythm.
Not your family's.
Not social media's.
Not the industry's.
Yours.
Because the further we drift away from our own creative rhythm, the easier it becomes to lose ourselves inside everyone else's expectations.
Creativity asks for courage.
Not because making art is difficult.
But because remaining authentic often is.
Final Thoughts
Talking with Morgan reminded me that creativity isn't something we simply produce.
It's something we live. It’s something we breathe.
It's woven through our routines, our setbacks, our healing and the tiny rituals that help us feel like ourselves again.
Whether your rhythm looks like structure or spontaneity...
Whether your creativity lives inside music, fashion, painting, photography or something entirely different...
The goal isn't to create like anyone else.
The goal is to create like you.
Because once you find your own rhythm, everything else begins to move in time with it.
A x
Listen to the full conversation with Morgan on Through the Creative Door S1. E7, where we explore creativity, travel, resilience, healing, artistic identity, and why finding your own rhythm may be the most powerful creative lesson of all.
