Follow the Fun! with Mary's special guest Lou Theodore

Hello there, it's Mary Schiller with you today of MarySchiller.com where we follow the fun because why not, right? Life is meant to be fun and business is meant to be fun, and so I like bringing the two together. And hi Clifford, you may notice that, uh, there are two of us live here for this talk. I am here with the lovely and talented Lou Theodore, who is a client of mine and is becoming a friend, I'm happy to say. So thank you, Lou, for joining. And Lou is an incredible artist and storyteller and joy seeker, joy spotter, joy everything. As you will soon see, she will bring much joy to your life as well through this conversation. So before Lou and I get started in our chat and invite you to join us, I just want to make sure that you can see and hear both of us okay. So say hello if you wouldn't mind in the chat and let us know where you are joining from. Can you hear Lou say hello and then we'll make sure.

Hello everybody.

Can everybody hear us both? Hi Jesus, nice to see you. Clifford, and who else is here? I see some people are joining. Please give us a high sign in the chat. Hi, Lynn. Hi there. Hi, Chiara. Hi, Doug. Great. Thank you, Doug, so much. Hi, Lucy. Thanks for joining. Wonderful. Loud and clear, Clifford says. Hi, Manju. Great. Hi, Terry. Oh, nice to have you here. Fun. Hi, Laura. Oh my goodness, thank you for joining, Laura. Gosh, it's so nice to see you all here. Thanks. I always feel like these chats are like a big reunion of all my, my pals. It's so nice. Well, thanks everybody for joining, and as you can see, this is a little bit different format from how I usually do it, so you won't hear me yakking for an hour. It'll be conversation between Lou and myself and you, of course. I invited Lou on to this presentation today because She and I have been working together for a couple of months on this notion of following the fun, and it's been a really interesting process for me to observe in Lou because she has really done some interesting things since we've been working together, and she's been kind of allowing that, that follow the fun motto to permeate her daily life. Hi, Marina, good to see you. So I'd like to start, if you guys don't mind, by asking Lou to introduce herself with a little more detail and let you know what she has been up to. She started a project recently, and I want her to talk to you about that. So take it away, Lou.

Hi. Hello, everybody.

Hi, Mary from Oxford.

So I'm an artist and illustrator by trade. And I've been looking to make some changes in the sort of work that I do. And started working with Mary as a kind of aid to doing that. I've been thinking, thinking, thinking for quite a long time and not a lot of acting, if I'm very honest. And we started exploring that whole— this whole idea of following the fun, being allowed to follow the fun. So I alighted on a project which seemed stretching and fun, and it literally, it just popped up actually. And it was very, um, it was quite appropriate the way it popped up because I was due to speak to Mary. I'd had this idea just pop into my head. I then spoke, spoke out loud to Mary about it, so it's almost like it became real, and then I committed to it. And this is my, uh, day 18 of the project, and it's basically, uh, doing a video a day. So nothing scripted, it's really just talking off the top of my head, putting it out on social media, and, um, just seeing what happened, just for the sheer fun and the adventure of it. So, um, it has been absolutely astonishing.

It has.

You know, if you'd said to me, okay, just doing this fun project, um, you know, it, it— I don't know, it might open you up to new things, you might have a bit of fun on the way— would have gone, yeah, great. But it's been way, way more than that, and I'm only on day 18 of 100 days, so goodness knows what could happen by the end of it. But would it be helpful to talk a little bit about the sort of—

yeah, yeah, definitely. And I wanted to mention too that if you guys have questions that come up while you're listening, you can put them in the ask a question area and I will look at them and we will answer. And you can also type into the chat anytime. I'll keep an eye over there because definitely want to make this interactive. And I would love to hear, Lou, a couple of things. One is, you know, why video? Why did that seem like a fun thing to do? And then I'd like to hear some of the things that have occurred since you started.

Okay, so I don't honestly know why video. I've always been quite self-conscious of having my photo taken. I used to make— I had a relative recently who was ill and housebound, so I started making some little tiny daily videos for her just so that she could, you know, see a bit of Brighton, what was happening, what I was doing. But I'd maybe only done, I don't know, 10 of those and that was it. And all my really my professional kind of creative expression has all been through artwork. So not, not through video, not through word, nothing, nothing like that. And actually, I would say that I've always been quite a shy person. Not anymore.

Not anymore. That's all out the window.

That story's tumbleweed now. Yeah, so I, I don't know why it just— there was just an element, a kind of spark about it that it pops into my head and I just thought, oh, it sounds kind of exciting. I'm just going to go with it. So there was no— there's absolutely no logical, rational reason. There's no, oh, I'm doing video to get to X or to gain that experience. It really was just leaping with a bit of inspiration. That was it. Cool.

So, um, what, what were some of the first things you noticed as you started doing this project?

Um, that it was pretty effortless. I mean, I'm not making, um, movies here, so I mean I don't know, about 3 minutes to, I think, 10 minutes is the longest one. Um, but actually doing them just felt fun and effortless, and people were saying, oh my God, that's such a big commitment to take on, you know. I was like, no, it doesn't feel that way. It's never felt that way. Um, And actually, we're only talking about minutes in a day, you know. I think I said to you, I spend more time brushing my teeth than doing the videos, really. But finding things to talk about happens quite effortlessly as well. I just, you know, there isn't a theme or anything like that. It's just what occurs in that moment. The really astonishing thing is how people have engaged, and I would never ever have predicted that. They've engaged with the videos in a way that, you know, they haven't engaged ever with the artwork or anything else. You know, I haven't got a massive social media following, um, and I've got, I don't know, maybe 600 people on Instagram, quite a lot on, um, Pinterest and other places. But, but there might be likes and there might be the odd comment, but what's happened right from, actually right from day one, was there were conversations. It wasn't just a quick like, there were conversations that all sorts of people started to direct message me with questions if they didn't want to put them up. And, um, yeah, and the questions have been amazing as well, you know, just what people are looking for, the sort of connection people were somehow sensing in the videos. Yeah, and It's just that engagement and the kind of, you know, and really weirdly the impact that they have for people, for individuals. Because, you know, I'm just in Brighton, I'm, you know, maybe walking back from the bus stop, I'm on my phone doing a quick video. You know, this is as sort of low-tech as it gets. It's just recorded on my phone, you know, and I upload them to a few sites and then people are watching them all over the world. Yeah, people are coming to me from all over the world and making comments and saying, you know, oh, I'd like to do this and how do you do that. And I'd anticipated that there would be a lot of questions about artwork, technical drawing skills, or I don't know you know, how do you pitch for a job as an illustrator, that sort of thing. Because that's who I thought was following me, so who would be looking. Not one art question. Not one. Apart from how do I— how do you gain the confidence to draw in public, which isn't even really an art question, it's a kind of confidence question, but not one.

That's so fascinating. That's so interesting. Oh, I'm getting a little feedback in your, um, in your computer, I think. Do you have any headphones nearby? Yeah, I see we have a fan. Clifford said he's watching you on YouTube. Yeah, or on some platform.

I don't know who's watching unless somebody comments. It just sort of Let's put these—

there we go.

Is that better?

Yeah, thank you. Yeah, it's so interesting that, um, so you're an artist, so people on social media, um, uh, you know, know you for that, but none of the conversations you're having are, are about that. So now people want to know where they can find you, Lou.

Oh, um, YouTube, um, Instagram TV. Um, I think if you just go to the normal Instagram account, it gives you a link to the, the TV things.

Are you known as Lou Theodore? Lou Theodore. Okay, Lou Theodore. Yeah, so they can search for you, um, and find you. And I just find that so fascinating because we— I've had similar things happen where I think I know what people want to hear from me or whatever, what they might be interested in. I'm always— I'm almost always wrong. I'm almost always wrong. And so I just think it's so fascinating that your— the conversations you're having with people really don't have anything to do with your profession, but much more to do with other things about life. So can you give some examples of some of the things you've talked about on these videos? Oh yeah.

Um, yeah, I talk about, um, gosh, everything, whatever pops up really. Sometimes I talk about conversations that I have with people. So, um, I had— sorry, I'm just going to take one of those out. Um, I had a conversation with a lady on the bus. She saw I was actually drawing on the bus. She saw that I was drawing. She then started to talk to me about she'd enrolled in a drawing class, um, and was finding it really, really difficult. She started showing me her sketchbook And we had this sort of 15-minute conversation on the bus that I then spoke about, um, on the video, which was actually, you know, we all, we all have thoughts that pop up, you know, we all have, um, I call them kind of monkey on the shoulder sort of thinking, saying it's no good, you're wasting your time, why are you bothering with this, that sort of thing. And just saying actually you can ignore it. You can ignore it. And with that lady in particular, I would— she— it just struck me that she was, um, she was so up in her head and so anxious and tense whenever she went to these lessons and actually felt that she'd made a big mistake by enrolling, that she, you know, why did I ever think so much of myself that I could be creative? Um, and actually she was, she was so in the head, she was missing the joy in the moment. And I was just saying to her, look, you know, why don't you just give yourself permission to go and do crappy drawings all term, right? That's your expectation, nothing more, you know. And then just go and just enjoy being in a new environment, enjoy playing with all the different materials, you know. There's a, there's a kind of, um, you know, just the joy of the now. And she went off and she was quite lighthearted, and obviously that kind of provided some stuff for the video.

Um, that sounds like what you're— you've done for yourself in a way, right? You've given yourself permission to just play with this new medium and, um, without any judgment attached to the quality, quote unquote, whatever that means. Of what it is.

Um, I, I got a very interesting question quite early on, which was, which was kind of really, which is really funny, was about how do you get the confidence to do videos and put them on a trendy platform like Instagram TV when you're so old? So, so that was a really brilliant one.

That's funny somebody asked that.

Well, I think partly it really— oh, I don't know, obviously the question was sort of longer than that, right?

But that was the gist of it, right?

That was the gist. Um, but it came from a place of longing with a woman, you know. She really— I could tell that she really wanted to do more stuff, but she couldn't give herself permission. Yeah. And she was asking me, well, where do you find that? What you know, what makes you feel so good about yourself that you're not worried that you've got gray hair and you're just doing these videos, you know, because you want to. And it was, it was just talking about that, and it was talking about there's, there's never anything, there's nothing riding on it. There is nothing riding on it. If I do a video that's a bit stilted or a bit boring, you know, okay, that's what came out that day.

Yeah. Ernest is gray as the new blonde. Terry's laughing too. No, but what is underneath that, though, like you say, is pretty deep because it goes to this notion that we don't really have permission to do what we want to do, no matter how persistent the idea is to do something. You know, it's like, um, uh, it's like there's something within us that wants to make itself seen, and we actually are free to do that because there's never anything riding on it. But that's not the— that's not the conversation that most people are having, either within themselves or with other people.

But there is a yearning because, because all the questions are along that line. So all about visibility, having— yeah, being seen and being heard. And maybe the questions have just come that way because they see somebody doing something and, you know, it kind of connects to that bit of them that wants to do something as well.

Yeah, Terry says that's very inspiring. And I, I think that that it is inspiring because people, I think it, there's something in them that changes then that maybe that suddenly it's a maybe I could, you know, maybe I actually could do whatever it is that they would like to do. You know, Lou is going on IGTV with these videos with her lovely gray hair and glasses and, you know, and so maybe I could do whatever it is. You know, maybe there's nothing wrong with that.

Well, and it is happening, you see. Now, this is like— this is really mind-blowing for me. So I got a message from a lady that had watched one of the videos and said that she'd been— she'd been thinking about changing her career, but she needed more experience in that, in a kind of a different field. But there were opportunities for her to gain that experience and she watched the video and thought, what am I waiting for? I went and enrolled and then just messaged me to say, actually, that video, I watched it when I was on the train and it made the world of difference. Wow. Which is— and, you know, people sort of say, oh, I've gone out, or I've bought some pencils and I'm giving it a go.

And I'm like, I'm getting choked up right now.

Oh, I know, but because really The effort on my part is just to show up for minutes every day and talk about whatever. And it's, you know, who, who could have anticipated that it would help people like that?

I know, it kind of, um, what does Clever say? You're a natural, Lou, you make it look easy. Erna is such a great example what happens when women speak. Yeah, that's, that's very true. I think that we, we just never know, you know, what is going to occur when we take a simple action. You know, it's like that ripple effect in the water. You know, we might throw a tiny stone in, but look at how far that can ripple outwards from there. And what I find amazing about what you're doing and And just this idea of showing up, that in and of itself, people who've heard me say this are going to be like, not again. But the consistency thing and being the person who is showing up daily with this project and even just for yourself showing up daily to do something is just it makes a huge difference, huge difference.

It's made a big difference to me because I've been a kind of a serial committer, so I'll kind of, you know, go hell for leather and put— take on really big ambitious things, which obviously I, I can't sustain then, and then I drop off. So actually, I didn't realize it at the time, but this has kind of been perfect in that way because it is it is contained to not very much time every day. Um, and I just, you know, shoot and go. I don't edit or anything like that. I just— yeah.

Um, and having it be something you do every day, but that's become normal, right? It becomes normal then, right?

Exactly. Quickly, in 10 days, I would say it just became absolutely normal to me that that was just part of my daily routine. And there was— what's brilliant about it for me in particular as well, that was that there's no thinking about it. There's no prevarication. Shall I do it? Shant I do it? Oh, I'm not sure I've got enough time. None of that. It just happens. And, um, that of course is— it's, it's obviously great. It's showing up for other people, but it's also great for you. And it sort of made me realize, oh well, okay, isn't that interesting? That's become part of my everyday life without any effort, struggle, grit. That hasn't been required. It's, it's just happened. I wonder what else I could include into my everyday life that, that quickly becomes my new normal.

Yeah, that's when things get really exciting, right? Yeah, totally. Yeah. Because this whole idea of, like you said, leaping into inspiration, we can do that in lots of different areas. And we start to see, we see, okay, well, that wasn't so hard. That seemed like a really big deal, but I just went for it and that wasn't so hard. So like you said, okay, what else can I do that I've been wanting to do that I haven't yet?

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And that's starting to happen, you know, just listening to the— listening to the— so, you know, when you have an idea, or I have an idea, and then it's almost always followed by a but, which is the kind of the chatter telling you why you shouldn't do it. And I've become very much more aware of that and kind of discounting the buts. And doing different things as well that I maybe would have hesitated about before. But because, um, this experience has been so positive for me, but also more than that, it's just so inspiring that so little effort on my part is helping other people. That's really, really kind of powering it forward. And made me think, oh well, what— I wonder what, what else could I do that would be interesting and fun and helpful for people?

Yeah, I'm going to come back to that. Um, we have a comment and a question. Terry says, I've noticed that too, as we move forward with something new daily, it becomes our new normal.

Yeah, but that's— but I think if I was doing it maybe every other day or twice a week, I think that would have been harder. I didn't realize that. I mean, I'm only saying that in hindsight, but I think actually doing it every day takes all the thinking out of it.

It's simply something you're doing.

Yeah.

And like you said, once you start to see how quickly things can start to occur, then it's like you can't wait to do it.

Yeah.

Yeah. All right, here's a question from Lori. Is there a specific time you do the videos or just when you feel like it?

Oh, it's when I can fit it in. Yeah, because, you know, some days, um, some days it's easy to do them if I'm just in the studio, whatever. Other days, if I'm going to client meetings and stuff like that, it's not so easy. So just whenever I can, I just commit that I will, you know, do them every day.

And yeah, and not worry about the when or the where or the how or all that.

No, no. And sometimes, you know, I do video of if I'm sort of going on a trip somewhere, some of the views and stuff like that, incorporate some of that in. Sometimes it's just me talking. I think it's, it's all up for grabs.

Yeah, that's great. Thanks. Uh, another, um, yeah, uh, Terry says, you know, we don't need to worry about what will I talk about, you know, we just, we can simply do what's spontaneous right then. And we just know that that's— that will serve us every single time.

Yeah.

Um, oh, Ernest says, was there a special reason you started the videos?

Um, no, I was— the only reason was I was looking for a fun project to do. I felt that I'd backed myself into a bit of a corner with lots of thinking and no action, and I just wanted to do something just for fun. That was all.

Yeah, nothing heavy attached to it. Like, like you were saying earlier, I think a lot of us can get bogged down when we start to listen to a lot of thoughts that say, okay, this has to lead somewhere.

Absolutely. Yeah, there is absolutely— people ask me all the time, what are you going to do after the 100 days? You know, what's the outcome of this? What I've I don't know. No, I'm just doing the videos.

Right.

They're kind of astonished. It was, um, I discovered on the weekend that some of the life drawing classes that I go to, some of the people in there are watching them. Oh, who knew? And, um, they were all sort of the very, very outcome kind of based. And I sort of said, well, I don't know, that's, you know, that, that'll come about. And one day, 18 or 16 or whatever, then I've got loads more to do. Goodness knows what will have happened by then. That's right.

Terry says, I find, uh, that if I think about what I'm going to talk about, it keeps me from starting. Same with creating art. Um, oh, Ernest said she did a video a day for 6 weeks last year. Yeah, yeah. And ditto to Terry. Yeah, you know, I think that these kinds of projects are really cool, you know, whatever you decide to do on a daily basis that's new, because it shows you just how at the ready our creativity is, that something will come forth. It just will. It's kind of like a faucet. You can just sort of turn it on. And that goes back to what we were talking about a few minutes ago that I really wanted to come back to, which is that so many things before we actually try them look like so much effort. It looks like we have to do so much to get something off the ground or to have an impact and all of that. And I think you're proving by your experience that you can actually just not do a whole lot in terms of putting forth a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. It's just not required. Not required.

No, it's interesting, isn't it? Because, you know, it's a bit like got this perception that there's a finite amount of content available, which is obviously just mad, isn't it? Absolutely mad. Because always There's always something, and I'm a naturally kind of curious person, so I, um, a lot of my professional work is sort of drawing on location, so engaging with people that way. So, um, you know, my radar is always on, and, you know, um, yeah, no, there's infinite content. We don't need to worry about it.

Well, Ernest's comment is that sometimes she sees that there's so many choices, so she gets sort of tongue-tied, like, doesn't know which way to go. And I can relate to that, too, except that the difference for me now is that I just go with whatever. And like Lou, when you have an idea of something that you're committed to, that thing about making a commitment, I don't know what there is about that. I know in Creating the Impossible, I haven't read the book, but I know in the class, Michael O'Neill talks about that idea of commitment. Of just saying, yeah, I'm just going to go for it. There's something that gets kicked into gear when you do that that I have no understanding of what that is.

It's like an I'm all in.

Yeah, you go all in. Go all in. And then everything starts to get clearer. It doesn't look so fuzzy anymore. And you just are simply doing things that seem more natural, not so much work attached to them. Yeah, there's something kind of magical about that. Oh, Ernest is like, the universe pushes you forward. I totally have that sensation sometimes though, that I'm not really, you know, rowing the boat, that the boat is sort of being pushed downstream. And every once in a while I might stick my oar in for a couple seconds, you know, and then I get pushed downstream some more. Do you get that sensation sometimes?

Definitely, definitely, you know, and Just going back to the kind of content thing, sometimes I have 2 or 3 ideas and I just don't care. I just pick one. I just, I don't think it matters. I, or it, because this is a fun project, there is nothing riding on it.

Yeah.

What does it matter? And if it, if it's an idea that really, really wants to be heard, it'll pop up again. That's right. It will make itself known.

So, or it can join one of my Google documents that's got all my ideas in it. Yeah. But here's the thing too. Oh, Terry has come. Maybe it's bigger life that's creating, not the little me. Like, there is something that is sort of coming through us in these moments, just like when you draw something, the same sensation, right?

Yeah, it is. Yeah, no, it is, it is that sensation. And sometimes I can't always remember very clearly, um, what I've said.

Oh yeah, I know.

So it's that sort of— and it is exactly the same as creating a bit of art. It's like that sensation, it's coming through you, not from you. You're just sort of in that flow state and the words are just coming.

It just happens. Yeah, I think that that's a really exciting thing to experience on a regular basis because it then went like for myself, then if I ever have any thinking that comes in that says, oh, what are you doing? You're making a mistake. You shouldn't do— I kind of just go, whatever, I'm just going to go for it anyway because you've had enough evidence in front of you. That, like you said, there's nothing riding on it. It doesn't take as much work as I think it does, so I'm just going to try it, whatever it is.

Yeah, yeah. And it— I think it does connect you to that, that kind of bigger, um, solid, quieter bit of you. I mean, for me, I've always had a very loud, megaphone, thinky kind of voice. And for decades, you know, it really, um, really thought it was giving me very valuable information that needed to be heeded and communicated.

Absolutely. Yep.

Um, and I have noticed—

can relate to that.

And, um, I have noticed that that voice has got a little bit quieter, the kind of thinky, thinky voice. I wouldn't say that, um, the kind of the big Lou, the kind of life voice dominates. I wouldn't say that, but it's certainly come to the fore a little more. And there's— because, I don't know, maybe because I trust it and I act on it every day, and that, I don't know, somehow that grows, that connection.

I think our— this is my take on it— is that the more we're kind of listening to that and responding to it, the more it becomes the way that we just live more naturally, if that makes sense. That becomes— talk about the new normal. That becomes—

exactly. Yeah. And that's a very different way to live. And, um, you know, in small and big ways that sort of rippled out. So that sense of sort of, um, I don't know, sometimes pausing, sometimes seeing things differently, sometimes saying yes to stuff that I would have said no to, and not having as much thinking about that going on. That's all been a kind of really lovely unexpected sort of ripple-out side effect of this project.

It sounds to me like the, the idea that nothing is riding on it is starting to penetrate other areas. Would you say that that's true?

Yeah, absolutely true. Yeah, because more you— the more connected you feel to that sense of um, who you really are and the expansiveness of that, the less there is that need to kind of defend the small you, because it starts to get a little bit tattered at the edges. It's not quite as, you know, yeah, as strong as it once was.

Exactly.

Yeah. Oh, how amazing is that though? It's totally amazing. That's Just come out of that split-second decision and amazing.

And as of now, you're only on day 18, I think.

So, you know, a long way to go.

Got a long way to go. So one can only, you can't even really imagine what you'll experience over that next, you know, 80-some days.

It's so exciting though, isn't it?

Super exciting. And I wanted to invite people who are here watching live, or if you're watching the replay, you can type a comment as well. I'm wondering if there is something that you would love to do, but you haven't done it yet because you've been kind of nervous about, you know, what the outcome might be or, or all of that. I'm wondering if there is something like that for you that maybe you're seeing a little bit differently from this conversation. Like maybe it's actually okay to go and try that new thing or, you know, make yourself visible in some way that you haven't already. So if you want to share that in the chat, I would love to to hear about it. I have personally found it inspiring because, uh, it's, it's really been, um, a way— this is going to sound really weird, but you— I feel like you have given me permission to follow some new directions in my professional life that I have heretofore kind of held back because I thought, oh, what are people going to think if I I do these things, are they going to see me? Are they going to judge me or whatever? And now it's kind of like, this is what I find really fun and exciting that I really like to spend my time doing. And then I think, well, Lou's doing something, so I think I'm just going to go for it. I'm being honest. I have had your name come in my mind when I thought that. Oh, let's see, Terry. Now I'm really curious about doing daily videos for 100 days.

Oh, my goodness. It could be a movement.

It could be a movement, right? Yeah. Tiara, timing to hear this is perfect. Just yesterday I said to myself that I'd like to start doing videos. So thank you, Lou and Mary. I'm feeling the flow of the river. Just one plus I want to say for video, not that you must do video or anything, but there is something very cool about seeing someone speaking to us in this way. And I know for me, it's made a huge difference in my own life doing video and having these live chats and things. I just get so enriched by the conversations like you described that come up. So I'm just giving a little plug there for any kind of video if you are so inclined to do that. I think it's a great choice. Barbara, I have just joined. Sounds like you're talking about being authentic but haven't heard from the beginning. Oh, this is Barbara from Glasgow. Yeah, Barbara, we've been chatting about the fact that Lou, who is an artist, kind of on a whim decided to do 100 videos in 100 days, just whatever occurred to her. And she's on day 18 as we're having this chat, and a lot of things have already shifted just in that short amount of time. So it's very exciting to kind of devote yourself to something on a daily basis, just kind of be all in and commit to a project of, of any kind and just see what comes of it. Terry, oh yes, let's start a Facebook group, 100 Days of Video. That's cool. That's cool. So what, have you had any response to people like close to you who have watched these, or have they not seen them? Curious about that.

They all watch them.

They do?

I, I thought that they would probably think that it was a bit weird. I thought there would probably be quite a few opinions about it. Um, I was particularly— I did, I did worry about, oh, is it going to be embarrassing for my daughter? I spoke to her about it and she's like, oh no, it's brilliant, you know. Um, and everybody else, they do watch them every day, um, but actually they're not that interested. You know, they were kind of interested in asking questions for a few days, and I thought, I thought actually, you know, that could cause a bit of a kerfuffle about like, what the heck are you talking about this sort of stuff, like about listening to your thoughts, and you know, why aren't you talking about pencils or something like that? But no, they're not really interested. You know, it's really amazing, people have busy lives, don't they? It might be a talking point, I guess, for a day or two, but they've moved on now, and it's It's become their new normal. Oh, look, Lou's put up a new video.

Yeah, but you see, I think this is something that occurs to people before they try something new, before they venture out there. If it, you know, whatever the thing is, whether it's something that will make them more publicly visible, or, or if it's simply some new project that they want to commit to, that the people closest to them will like freak out or something, or they, you know, will get upset. And I have yet to see that happen, honestly. I, I just don't. That isn't a normal scenario of people, you know, maybe they're a little weird at first and then like you said, it becomes their new normal.

Yeah, they just sort of acclimatize to it. And then actually, some— one of my aunties said to me, well, I hope you're not going to stop after 100 days because I've got quite used to it now. He said, can you not just commit that this is going to be you going forward? You know, you'll lose always does a video a day. It's better than telly. I wouldn't have predicted that.

Oh, that's great. Verena says, I'm inspired about starting a conversation about people communicating with their animals— horses, dogs, cats. I have no clue how I could do that, but I love Lou's lightness about doing the videos and getting into conversations around them. Yeah, I love that idea.

I like it too.

Yeah, those of us who love animals, that's, that's an awesome topic. And you know, this is the thing, Verena, that I think you're probably hearing from this conversation is we don't really have to know anything about anything. We can just start, you know, and just see what happens because we can't really know until we start.

No, because I wouldn't have predicted the question if you said to me, okay, so you know, who's going to be watching, what they're going to be interested in, I would have got it completely wrong. So just start.

Yeah. See, yeah, I think that, that, that is a thing that comes up to people in people's minds is, you know, what's going to happen if I do this? You know, are people going to laugh at me? Are they going to say, what are you doing on video because you're old? But what you learn really quickly is none of that really even matters. It just doesn't even matter. It's, it's more about committing to listening and responding to inspiration and then seeing what occurs. And I mean, just the fact that, you know, somebody connected with you and was so inspired by you that they went and did something they'd been wanting to do for a long time, I mean, that is worth any kind of discomfort that comes up around any of it. For me.

Yeah.

You know, whenever I have this thought of, oh gosh, you know, I've got to do another live presentation, I'm not sure how it's going to come across, I always think there will probably be somebody who watches it who gets something from it, and that's all, that's all good. You know, whether it's today or they watch the replay a year from now, you know, it's all good.

Yeah, yeah, I know, exactly. And it— oh, it's just so touching you know, I sort of update Mary every now and then about, I've just got this, I can't believe it, you know. And, um, you know, just— there's one person said, oh, I love them so much, I've just rewatched them all.

I'm like, wow, wow, you know. But how—

it's so— it's really, really humbling. It is really humbling.

Lori says, I did a 100-day painting challenge. I posted some. I think I want to start over and do videos about it. Oh, that's cool. That makes— that's a good question too. How has this, or has it, uh, affected your other work that you do, your professional artwork and things like that? Has it had, um, any effect there that you can see?

Um, no, not really. No, I don't think it has. Maybe, um, maybe the trickier projects, a little bit less thinking about them.

That's always a good thing beforehand.

Yeah, um, but no, not discernibly. Um, and it's, it's, you know, it's curious, isn't it? Because as a visual artist, you'd expect that that's how you express yourself and that's how you find your voice, is through your kind of lines, your mark-making, all that sort of thing. But this is a, is way more direct voice. And I, I wonder whether that's why, why people engage with it so much, because it is. And there's a kind of vulnerability about, here I am, you know, I've got gray hair, I'm 53, I'm recording this in my studio or in my garden. This is it, you know. Um, I just— just showing up.

Yeah, it's just showing up. I do think also that in this age of airbrushed photos and all of that all over social media and things, that when people just show up as they are, like you and I are right now, there's just something that people just love about that because it's just us. We're all just regular folks and we're just having a conversation with one another. And just being real.

Yeah, you know, and it's, it's sort of back to that, um, that comment about how do you get so brave when you're so old to do these videos, you know.

I'm sorry, that still just makes me happy.

Um, but it's like, I thought that that's not really the question. The question is, there are loads of women of our age. Why aren't we more commonplace on these platforms?

That's true.

You know, that's a, that's a re— you know, that's, that's a more interesting question. You know, why not?

Why not, right? Yeah. So any women over whatever age, a certain age, you know, get out there and start, start showing, you know, that we're—

start showing up.

We've got it going on too. Cool. Oh, this has been so fun. Anybody else have any, um, questions for Lou or for me. Um, so you just— on a technical side, so you just record them on your phone?

On—

you have an iPhone? You just record them? Yeah. And then you upload them to— where do you put them?

Um, I put them on Facebook, on YouTube, and on Instagram.

Okay. And on Instagram, I'm curious about that. So does that go to IGTV? Or does it go to the regular, or you put it on regular?

They've just changed it recently, so it used to just go to IGTV, which was, I thought, a bit of a shame. So you've got your followers on Instagram and they don't necessarily— I think it— no, if they follow you, I think they get, um, an update that you've uploaded something. But now there's a little snippet that appears in your general Instagram, um, which shows that you've got an IGTV video on there. So that's much better.

Ah, okay. Okay, yeah. And is there a length limit, um, for those?

Uh, IGTV, I think it's 10— is 10 minutes.

Okay, yeah.

I've only once exceeded it.

Erna wants to know if you edit them at all.

No, no, I mean, I've got— I've got the software, um, that I could do it, but somehow that seems to go against the kind of grain of it. I, I literally just shoot them and upload them, and that does mean that sometimes I get the most unflattering sort of starting frame. Yeah, on YouTube, some really terrible one. Um, but I don't care.

So yeah, when I was doing daily audios, I never edited them either. I would just do them listen really quick to make sure it all came out, you know, you could hear it, and then I would just put it online. Yeah, you know, there is something really beautiful about that kind of spontaneity, I think.

Yeah, you know, I like it because I really love lives. I really love watching, watching lives. And I think that's, that's, again, it's because of the authenticity of it, isn't it? It's a reacting in the moment. The umbrella kind of falls over or whatever, and somebody's just juggling, or, you know, But it's life. This is what it's like. It's real.

Yeah, Erna agrees. I like the unedited ones. It's more real. Yeah. Yeah, you know, because isn't that what we're really all trying to get at here is this sense of connection between us? You know, that, that seems like from listening to you tell me about what people are saying to you, you know, it's all about feeling this connection between people. And so You know, um, I think that that's what people are responding to because you're being very open and just very welcoming, I guess I would say, in the way you're presenting yourself. It's really nice. Yeah. So, uh, so Terry says you do the video and then post, so you're not doing them live. You're not doing them live.

I'm not doing them live because I don't know whether— can I— I see, I don't even know. Can I do a live and then record it? And then put it up? I, I haven't done lives because I've thought, oh goodness, I don't want to do it on one platform and then have to do it again on another.

Yeah, well, what you can do, just on a technical thing, is if you do a Facebook Live like on your Facebook page, you can download that video and then put it elsewhere. Okay. Yeah, you can. We have another question here. Uh, Nikki says, enjoying the sound of your— oh, here Enjoying the sound of your adventure. I've been playing with a similar leap but would be starting from zero followers at the moment. Any advice on that?

I don't think it matters. I was gonna say, because actually what I have found is— so my— I, I kind of engage most on Instagram because when I post up artwork, that it's just a very visual platform. But those people are not necessarily interested in the videos. Some are, but a lot aren't, you know. They're looking for, I don't know, a certain style, technique, things, whatever. So I really don't think it matters. I think you just— and I just try out a few different hashtags and just give it a whirl, really.

You just start from wherever you are, you know.

Yeah, you know, you have—

you start with zero followers and suddenly you get one. And then you get another one, and then you get a few more.

And was it Nikki that asked the question?

Yes.

I have, um, 2 subscribers on YouTube too. Yeah, I'm starting from zero there.

Yeah, and that's what we— everybody started at zero. Yeah, Terry just, uh, subscribed to you, so you have 3 now, and I know them all. Thank you, Nikki. I appreciate I appreciate that question. Oh, that's great, that's great. So I take it you don't regret, uh, doing this project?

Not for a sec, actually, not for a second. Not even, you know, not even from day one I didn't think, oh goodness, this is good, you know, this is a long time. No, it's just been so fun and just the benefits and The impact has just been way, way bigger than I could ever have dreamt of. You know, there's absolutely not— there's nothing to regret and everything to gain.

And like we've been saying, you know, that goes for anything that somebody has in their heart that they want to try to do. You know, it doesn't— we're not just talking about doing videos. It has— it can be anything. Like the woman who enrolled in the program that she had been wanting to do for a long time. It can be anything that keeps calling. I call them heart callings. Anything that's tugging at us, we're free to do that thing that we've been wanting to do that can enrich our life and enrich other people's lives potentially as well and not have all of that stuff attached to it, like it has to mean something or it has to go somewhere. You know, and if it doesn't result in who knows what, fame or fortune, then it's no good. You know, we don't have to go down that road anymore.

Because I mean, even if I didn't get one more message from the whole project, the messages I've had so far mean the world to me.

Yeah, how wonderful. Gosh, this has been such a nice chat. Have you guys enjoyed this? Let me know in the chat. Oh, thank you, Terry. Thanks. Yeah, it's been wonderful. And, um, let's remind people where they can find you. So you are listed as Lou Theodore, right?

Yeah, on Facebook, on Facebook, on Instagram, and on YouTube. Yeah.

Okay, I'm just putting that in the chat so people can find you and enjoy these wonderful daily videos. That's so cool. And, um, do you want to give a website for yourself too? No, no website. Okay, just, just that we're just looking at videos. That's a whole separate— that's a whole other story. Yeah, that'll be great. Oh, I'm glad you guys have enjoyed this. I've really had fun having Lou here.

Oh, it's been very fun.

Yeah, I wanted to let people know that next week on Tuesday, I have another guest, Ingrid Lil, who is also an artist. She'll be joining me to talk about using art in a new way to create a vision for your life. It's called Dream Draw Do, which will be fun. So I hope you guys can join for that. I hope you can come, Lou, for that as well. Yeah. And also, I have some spots opening up in my one-to-one business coaching program. If you are interested in applying for that, just click the green button and you'll go to my calendar, uh, which will let you sign up for a time to chat about that with me. My aim with that program is to really help you to give your business some liftoff and to help you see things from a new perspective that maybe you haven't before. See what opportunities might be right around you that are kind of glittering and waiting for you to see them. And I also give little nudges from time to time to help people kind of get over those humps that maybe they've been feeling a little bit stuck behind. So I invite you to, to click that green button and visit my calendar. Oh, thank you, Nikki. Thanks, Lucy. Thanks, Clifford. Anything else you would like to say in closing, Lou?

Summing up, um, no, I, I would just say just do it. Because I—

yeah, the Nike thing, right? Just do it.

Yeah, I just spent so long trying to think things through, trying to work things out, um, trying to rationalize things, trying to fortune tell, and nothing went anywhere. And It was only in the acting and the committing that more magic has happened than I would have believed possible. And the more you do it, the less you feel there's riding on it, and your life just expands.

The possibilities expand from a very simple, you know, a very simple commitment to something that seems like fun Yeah, I think what you're pointing to there is so interesting too, because we often have this sense that the unknown is something scary, you know, and you're kind of proving the point that seems true to me, which is the unknown is where all the fun is. It's where all the magic is.

I'd known that walking through the door it would look like this, you know. What the heck was I thinking about for so long?

Exactly. Exactly. It's like we're living in the black and white Wizard of Oz, and right on the other side is the color. Creativity equals the unknown, Terry says. Yeah, all of the light and sparkle and airiness and fun is in that space. And like you said, when you commit to that and you just go towards it, it's amazing what your experience can turn into, and fast.

Yeah, high fast. Yeah, yeah, brilliant.

Oh gosh, well, thank you so much, Lou, for being my guest. This is a first time. This is really cool for me. I'm glad everything worked. Uh, so thank you, thank you, thank you for that. And again, You know, find Lou on social media under Lou Theodore. If you have a question for me that you didn't feel comfortable posting in the chat or in the question box, just send me an email, mary@marieschiller.com. I'm happy to answer personally. And again, if you're interested in potentially working with me one-to-one, feel free to click the green button and head over to my calendar and set up a time to chat with me. I would love to hear about all of your dreams and the things that you want to do to follow the fun. So thank you, everybody, for being here. With all my heart, I love you all so much. And thank you again, Lou, for being such a wonderful guest.

It's been lovely.

All right, goodbye, everybody. I'll see you again very soon. And if you're watching this on the replay, thanks so much for being here as well. Much love to you. Okay, bye. Bye for now.