020: Your whole self is your superpower
Why integration is vital to authentic creation
We show up to our creative work carrying invisible baggage: the parts of ourselves we've been told are ‘too much’ or unacceptable. The part that forgets things. The part that feels overwhelmed and ends up crying at their desk.
But when we hide our allegedly ‘weakest’ aspects, we miss rich opportunities to connect more deeply with others—and to feel more whole in ourselves.
The prison of the perfectionist
One of my former clients—the creative director of a design company—told me about a time one of her freelancers came to her to question an error with an order. As the freelancer stood in the doorway, my client sat at her desk, choking back tears, berating herself for yet another mistake. She’d got it wrong. Again.
My client managed freelance designers who looked to her for vision. But menopause had brought unwelcome symptoms that kept getting in the way: brain fog, memory lapses, waves of anger and frustration. Her response was to micromanage, cover up her mistakes and over-explain—which resulted in her having to work longer and longer hours.
She was trapped in an exhausting binary of all-or-nothing and either/or thinking: she could only be either the ‘perfect leader’ or a ‘failing human.’
What happened next, though, was a breakthrough. She realised her ‘failures’ weren't creative obstacles but important tools of both her leadership and her creativity. She discovered that—to borrow the words of —’wholeness does not mean perfection: it means embracing brokenness as an integral part of life.’
The vulnerability breakthrough
In that conversation with the freelancer, my client faced a choice: continue the exhausting performance of covering up her flaws or surrender to being fully seen. She allowed the tears to come. She admitted the mistake and confessed the struggles she’d been having with memory and brain fog.
‘This feels like a more honest conversation,’ the freelancer responded.
She discovered the fundamental truth expressed by Brené Brown: ‘vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity, and change.’ Her power as creative leader didn’t lie in perfection but in willingness to be human. Her struggling parts weren't obstacles to visionary leadership—they created more capacity for those she was leading to be part of the creative process.
The aliveness we feel when we’re in a state of wholeness doesn't just come from integrating our skills and roles. It emerges when we welcome home the exiled parts of ourselves we've been convinced don't belong at the creative table.
Integration in action
When we create ways for our different parts to be present (like, in this post, the Trickster and Architect archetypes taking turns) everything changes.
Over time my client developed structures in which she could welcome both visionary leadership and vulnerable humanity. She redesigned monthly team meetings to include five minutes of vision sharing and reflection, then asked: ‘where's the genius in this?’ She involved the team in devising ideas for projects. Most radically, she started admitting mistakes openly and asking for help.
The results were transformative. Internally, she moved from feeling the need to grip onto things to trusting the process. Externally, relationships deepened and the team felt genuinely included. Strategy sessions became fun and so successful they were adopted as a regular monthly ritual.
As Brené Brown puts it: ‘self-awareness and self-love matter. Who we are is how we lead.’
What my client initially saw as creative weakness—brain fog, emotional volatility, confusion—became her access to fuller human experience. In a similar way to when I incorporated empathy maps into strategy meetings with an academic team, her vulnerability opened space for the thinking and feelings of others.
It expanded collective creativity.
This is the deepest level of letting different parts ‘take turns in the spotlight’—including those parts we've been taught don't belong in professional spaces. We begin to integrate struggling and successful, confused and wise, human and professional.
Whether you're writing, leading teams or solving problems, your struggles and contradictions are archetypal energies waiting to amplify your creative power.
There’s an internal family reunion inside you waiting to happen.
It doesn’t include just the Trickster, Architect and Scholar we explored last time. It includes the Blocked Creative, the Struggling Student, the Confused Seeker, the Imperfect Human—and a whole array of personas you may not know yet.
What parts of yourself are you leaving out of your creative work? The part that doesn't know what it's doing? The part that makes mistakes? The part that feels overwhelmed?
These aren't obstacles to your creativity; they’re essential members of your inner team. They have their own genius. And your contradictions and struggles aren't flaws to hide; they're raw materials for authentic expression—access points to the full range of human experience that makes creative work truly alive.
When we stop fighting our wholeness, we access the energy of possibility at its fullest power. And in a world that profits from keeping us fragmented, choosing to welcome all parts of yourself to the creative table isn’t just radical—it’s vital.
Your creativity isn't separate from your struggles. Your vision isn't diminished by your vulnerability. Your professional self isn't more valuable than your imperfect human self.
Is it time to put down that invisible baggage?
What if the things you've been carrying aren't baggage at all, but essential creative supplies? What if that overwhelming part, that forgetful part, that tearful part were never meant to be hidden?
Next time you show up to do your work, try arriving not with baggage to conceal, but with the full toolkit of your human experience—every struggle, every vulnerability, every imperfect part of you ready to contribute to something that is uniquely, and fully, you.
Love, Rachel
Community inspiration
This week, as part of Stories of Creative Courage, I talked to and , two fantastic humans who, through coaching and facilitation, work with changemakers and leaders to ‘create the world their hearts know is possible.’
This conversation was right on theme for this month’s focus on integration. We spoke about the importance of accepting all parts of our selves in being more creative, whole and human—and how bringing humour is helpful when we invite in the parts of ourselves we’d rather hide.
You can watch the full episode below.
Stories of Creative Courage with Joey Clifton and Solomon Mehta-Slade
Redefining Creativity: how two changemakers are building community through courage and joy
Creative inspiration
Books on the topic
Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges by Amy Cuddy. In this book, Cuddy explores the mind-body connection and how to access personal power through authenticity and presence. And if you haven’t already watched Cuddy’s inspiring TED talk about how our relationship with our body shapes our experience, I advise you to take a look.
The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown. This for me is one of the ultimate guides to letting go of perfectionism and embracing wholehearted living through courage, compassion and connection.
Listen to:
‘We Can Do Hard Things’ with Glennon Doyle, particularly this recent episode How to Stay Human with Suleika Jaouad. Author and artist Jaouad discusses the importance of creative processes for staying human, the challenges artists face when promoting their work and a powerful journalling practice to unlock self-connection and creative clarity.
Memorable quote of the week
When a woman tells the truth, she is creating the possibility for more truth around her.
—Adrienne Rich, American writer and poet
What’s next in your creative journey?
As your guide into creative courage, I'm here to help you transform those invisible blocks—the fear and shame that live beneath the surface—so you can express authentically and freely.
Here's how I can support you:
Make an appointment for a virtual coffee (free). I hold 3-4 slots every month for a 20-minute chat so we can either get to know each other, or reconnect. This is for everyone! Perfect if you’re curious about meeting new people and making, or deepening, connections.
Book a 30-minute Creative Breakthrough call (free) to gently uncover the exact fear or limiting belief sabotaging your creative expression so you can finally share your work with confidence
Read my manifesto for creative courage (free). Follow my story in serial form about the core principles of my creativity, my journey into creative courage and why I founded Wordplay Coaching.
Creative Courage Circle: an ongoing intimate group for deep creative healing and mutual witnessing, so you can express authentically without feeling alone on your creative journey. Membership is by invitation only—please contact me to explore this option.
Bespoke 1:1 Creative Transformation journey based on the principle of finding your Essence process. This entails 6 months of personalised integration work to embrace your hidden aspects and create from your complete authentic power.
You had me at, "Your whole self is your superpower." And then giggling with "There’s an internal family reunion inside you waiting to happen." My girls really need to know this about me...so they can know it about themselves. Same for every relationship. Thank you!
Yes, sharing failure is so important. Great piece