What I Learned About Creating from Lady Gaga
Oprah recently did a beautiful interview with Lady Gaga...
In it, Lady Gaga candidly shared about her personal journey with mental health, authenticity, purpose, shame, and lots of other deeply inspiring stuff. If you’re interested, you can watch it here.
At the beginning of the interview, she spoke about the creation of Lady Gaga. Her words and message struck me:
Lady Gaga: Well, you know, at first when I was younger, I went through a lot of struggles in high school. I was really bullied. I didn't feel good about myself. And I got made fun of. Like why do you want to be a singer? Why do you want to be a musician? Why do you want to be an actress? And I felt so secluded and isolated. I dropped out of college because I was, like, I have to pursue my dreams as a musician. This is what I want. And it was in creating Gaga, that I was able to create a superhero for myself. It was a vision for the me that I wanted to be. I wanted to be confident. I wanted to be filled with self-compassion. I wanted to be filled with compassion for others. And I wanted to share my story and my vision of the world with the world.
Oprah: And so you created this sort of alter person, Gaga.
Lady Gaga: Who now has become me also.
Oprah: Yes.
Lady Gaga: That's what happens when you have a vision for yourself. You can be here, right? And then you have your vision. And then all of a sudden...
Oprah: The two merge.
Lady Gaga: They come together.
Oprah: You become aligned.
Lady Gaga: Yes.
Oprah: And you say Lady Gaga, the creation of Gaga, actually gave Stefani the wings to fly.
This message stayed with me long after the interview. Lady Gaga. What a genius. She had a vision that felt out of reach. So, she created a character that allowed her to step into that vision.
You hear it all the time, "Fake it til you make it."
Maybe Stefani didn't feel confident. Maybe Stefani didn't feel full of self-compassion. Maybe Stefani didn't feel like she could share her story with the world. But Lady Gaga did.
We all carry a certain level of self-doubt. A certain level of fear. A certain level of wounding that drags down our bodies and dreams like a ball and chain.
How will we become artists in a world built on money?
How will we travel the world as adults with responsibilities?
How will we find great love when our hearts are scarred and closed off?
How will we be brave when we're afraid?
An inner conflict see-saws between what we truly want and why it can’t be.
“I’m just plain, old me not a superhero."
But Lady Gaga shows us that being a superhero doesn’t require magical powers or shooting fire from our hands.
Being a superhero means having the courage to claim a life that truly matters to you.
Being a superhero means stepping toward your truest essence in some small way every day, even if you have to make up a damn character to believe in it.
Lady Gaga knew her truth was a confident performer who felt deep love for herself and the world, and she was willing to drop out of college to claim that, even if others didn’t see it. Even if she didn’t know how it would work out.
We all have our own version of Lady Gaga inside us.
A version that finds us in our daydreams.
A version that perhaps feels unrealistic, unattainable, silly, not acceptable enough for this world.
A version that also feels lighter, braver, and more free.
Now is the perfect time for each of us to daydream, listen, and step toward that call.
Love,
Jamie
“What makes a heroine? I think I can answer that. A heroine is a woman who risks going too far in order to find out how far one can go for a cause greater than herself.” - Diane Keaton