Singer, Therapist, and performance anxiety coach Ingela Onstad has enjoyed a varied international career in opera, concert work, and contemporary music. She also has a degree in Mental Health Counseling and with her practice Courageous Artistry, specializes in performance anxiety for musicians and other performing artists. Ingela chats about transitioning from pro opera singer to mental health counselor, proper self care, and creating career momentum in a healthy way.
MENTIONS:
SINGING LESSONS:
- Act with true compassion to yourself, think how would I speak to my best friend if he or she were going through this right now?
- Part of what we do as artists, we do it out of this feeling of a calling… and so when we’re not doing it at all, a part of our self care is also lacking.
- These identity struggles are real, but it can be incredibly valuable to be in the habit and practice of journaling or talking with somebody you trust, a mentor or a therapist, what does it mean to be an artist in today’s society and can I still make room for my art and my life even if I’m working a 9 to 5 job.
- It’s the language we use, our self talk, how we speak to ourselves about ourselves is going to be highly determinant in how we feel about ourselves… because our thoughts and the language of our mind and our brain very much will have an emotional impact on us. The tie is the thoughts often times will influence the emotions which then influence our behaviors or actions or lack thereof.
- It’s much more beautiful and effective to remind myself that none of us knows the future, we don’t even know what’s coming five minutes from now let alone a year from now…we never knew that… and the pandemic has just highlighted how much we don’t know that.
- I can motivate myself by saying to myself messages such as: Nobody knows what’s to come with any of this. I can find ways to still sing if I want to. If I’m open to it and looking for ways to collaborate and show up as me as a singer in this world I’m sure I will find them.
- You might need to tend to the wounds you have currently, and the bigger needs that you have, and then remind yourself that once I tend to these things and I get myself more stabilized, I likely will also have more time and energy and attention to devote to my craft.
Thanks for listening!
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Special thanks to Ingela for joining us this week!