The Evolution of Identity and Creativity

In this latest episode of Authenticated, host Kate McLeod retraces the steps of guest Megan Timpane in her full-circle moment with the revival of her one-woman show Lymphomaniac, ten years after its debut. Kate's biggest curiosity for Megan revolves around how a show about her life has evolved over ten years and how she has evolved alongside it. Megan sheds light on her transition from acting to corporate communications training, spurred by a life-altering experience that not only inspired her show but also drove her to seek career stability. The conversation delves into themes of authenticity, vulnerability, and the importance of staying true to oneself, and how active of a process that can be. Megan emphasizes how her personal growth has enriched her professional work, particularly in coaching executive communication. The episode in total underscores the power of authenticity and the ongoing journey of self-discovery and personal evolution.

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Transcript

AUTHENTICATED_MeganTimpane

[00:00:00]

Kate McLeod:

Kate McLeod: Yay. Let's do it. You ready? Jim Carrey's daughters. Let's do it. Oh, let's do it. Ladies. Oh, your number's still 9 1 1. All righty then. All right. Welcome to the latest episode of Authenticated with your host, Kate McLeod. I am intrigued by people. People watching, I love. People learning, that's where I'm insatiably curious. I'm interested in the why and how of the creative mind's pattern of thinking, the subtext to the creative thinker, or in its more conscious and malleable form, the creative conscious.

Kate McLeod: Because when you are so clear on yourself via the triad of consciousnesses, then you become reflective to others. Meeting yourself is an infectious practice because what feels good is infectious and something I think we could all use a good dose of. So join me in conversations with a diverse arsenal of creative thinkers, from artists to entrepreneurs to serial thinkers ready to optimize their creative conscious.

Kate McLeod: With me. Self made and self [00:01:00] proclaimed creative entrepreneur. Sounds hot, right?

Kate McLeod: I'm here with Megan Timpane, who is a dear friend and absolutely wonderfully talented artist. And what's your title at work? 

Megan Timpane: I am technically a corporate trainer, which means I teach.

Megan Timpane: I teach people how to be more confident, basically, or how to project confidence and credibility. 

Kate McLeod: I've always thought that communications translated so well from acting because you have a background in acting. That's what you originally studied. 

Megan Timpane: Yeah, I was a theater major at UCLA and did a ton of theater throughout ever since I was maybe six years old and musicals Improv all that good stuff I did improv at groundlings after graduating and went to the British Academy of Dramatic Arts at Oxford and studied Shakespeare and then Decided it wasn't for me and somehow ended up in this profession, which felt Perfectly serendipitous, I suppose.

Kate McLeod: So that evolution of Megan, going from [00:02:00] there and then transitioning now into communications, what was that kind of like? 

Megan Timpane: Well, I, in my mid twenties or so, I had somewhat of a perspective shift and I just came back into the industry after a little hiatus and just decided that it wasn't for me anymore.

Megan Timpane: Mm hmm. I, I realized that I just didn't like this idea of someone else. telling me that I was worth something or valuable and, and It's such a hard industry. It just, a lot of it felt about like who, you know, and what you look like. And at least in the early, early stages, not as much about talent. And I think I got frustrated and burnt out really early.

Megan Timpane: And so I was working in retail for a while as my side gig. I always was interested in fashion and. Ended up working in every single position you can imagine in one store with one company. I worked at Michael Kors for 10 years and ended up [00:03:00] doing some corporate work and doing recruiting in retail. And then I moved to Rent the Runway where I was a recruiter.

Megan Timpane: And then I somehow found my company and looking for a position in L and D somewhere. And they referred me to this company that I work for called Speech Skills and It's all about teaching people how to project confidence and credibility and it's teaching executive communication and it seems like a perfect mix of all the things that I had talent in and interest in and I could make some money in.

Megan Timpane: Yeah. Which is always nice. 

Kate McLeod: But it just sounds like that was a thing that you needed to give yourself if you needed that stability or if you needed to sort of leave that field of waiting for someone else to give you permission as opposed to just like giving yourself your own. When you transitioned, did it feel like that was already in your wheelhouse, or did it feel like you had to, like, adjust a little bit to get there?

Megan Timpane: Well, I think Actors [00:04:00] tend to be really good corporate trainers because we aren't afraid of public speaking and I think a lot of it is just an issue of courage and just being willing to stand up in front of people and liking standing up in front of people, but when I got into it, I'm not going to say it was easy, yeah, I had a natural inclination towards it, but I went through nine months of training pretty much every single day of consistent work with my boss or, or shadowing people or learning scripts and watching coaching and things like that.

Megan Timpane: So it wasn't, I wouldn't say it was easy. I definitely felt like I was in learner mode for a long time. And when you're really good at something for a long time, and then you jump into something brand new, it really definitely hits. It hits your ego a little bit and you think that you're going to be great because you got the job, but it doesn't necessarily translate that way until you've been trained in that industry.

Kate McLeod: Yeah. Well, especially when, especially for actors, I find typically that's like the, I knew I wanted to do this for [00:05:00] so long. And so there has to be kind of like an ego death as you. transfer those, that skill set to something else, but then you're really, really good at that because you've climbed the ranks and been very successful in communication since making that transition.

Kate McLeod: So you have two things that you are essentially an expert in. So how are they both working together now? 

Megan Timpane: Well, it's funny because And I think I was saying this to you a couple of days ago, but I don't even consider myself an actor anymore. I, I, I technically still act because I have a one woman show right now that I brought back that I initially wrote and performed 10 years ago that I recently brought back, but I consider myself a corporate trainer.

Megan Timpane: Like I'm very immersed in that industry. I consider myself an expert in what I do. I feel like I'm really good at what I do now. And they, they lend themselves nicely to one [00:06:00] another because they get to have a little bit more freedom in what I coach now. And now that I'm an expert and I get to bring in a little bit of my acting background and things like that to make my coaching more nuanced.

Megan Timpane: So yeah, I feel like an expert in my current field, but then I also am dipping my toes back into acting, but it's my own story. So it's not quite the same as if I were to be going out and auditioning again. And. to be called upon or things like that. Like I'm creating my own thing. And so therefore you naturally feel like more of an expert, but there is a level of vulnerability to it.

Megan Timpane: Absolutely. 

Kate McLeod: I find that a lot of my friends who are artists and you know this very well too, having many as well. Um, and also a lot of clients, it's like, Um, and I think it's so interesting that that doesn't, you don't feel aligned with that because that's not what it is.

Kate McLeod: And I think that having your [00:07:00] own definition of these titles and conveying that is actually what is super important, especially now where I've been asked the question a lot. Oh, so you, you gave up acting. You're now in, you're a creative entrepreneur. It's like, no, I'm that. And, and it's just. Also, isn't acting creative entrepreneurship, isn't it just like inventing creative spaces that align with someone else's vision, that make someone else feel seen, like, isn't it all the same thing?

Kate McLeod: Mm 

Megan Timpane: hmm. Yeah, it's all, it's all in the same wheelhouse, I think it's kind of like the same bucket, if you will. 

Kate McLeod: Yeah. 

Megan Timpane: But, like you said, they lend themselves nicely to one another, whether it's. It's my career and the acting or what it is that you're doing and acting and producing and all of those things.

Megan Timpane: It's still a creative endeavor. You're still It's still a form of self expression. 

Kate McLeod: Yeah. 

Megan Timpane: Yeah. 

Kate McLeod: And now you've really made a platform that can support you right now and what you're doing. So your show, 

Kate McLeod: Lymphomaniac 

Megan Timpane: Yeah. 

Kate McLeod: Is going to the Fringe Festival in Scotland.

Kate McLeod: Yeah. Are you excited. [00:08:00]

Megan Timpane: I'm pretty stoked. I have to say it. It's a weird full circle moment. So for those of you who are listening, who don't know already, lymphomaniac is It's a one woman show that I wrote 10 years ago and the initial version was written 10 years ago. I was diagnosed with cancer at age 22 and I went through treatment.

Megan Timpane: I had stage three Hodgkin's lymphoma. I went through seven months of chemo and coming out of this, I ended up writing and performing this one woman show and I performed it off and on for three years between San Francisco, Los Angeles and Ventura County. Shortly after that, I came back to the industry, decided I didn't want to do that anymore, as I just explained, got into retail, all those things.

Megan Timpane: And then my 10 year cancerversary, if you will, of being cancer free, so my remission anniversary, came about this past year, and a theater in San Francisco asked if I would [00:09:00] be, if I would consider bringing the show back. And I said, No, at first, I was like, what are you talking about? I don't do this anymore.

Megan Timpane: Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, they asked me a year ago, December, and I said no, because I was like, what are you talking about? I don't, I'm not an actor. I don't do that anymore. And then my, my official tenure of being diagnosed came around and I thought, well, why not? I have, I have some thoughts. A lot's changed in 10 years.

Megan Timpane: And so as I let it marinate, I said, yeah, sure. Why not? And. I started writing again, I guess, this fall and performed in December, but long story short in terms of The Fringe, when I went to The Fringe, I went 11 years ago, 12 years ago, something like that. When I was in college, I was studying at the British Academy of Dramatic Arts at Oxford and a bunch of the people who were studying with me, we all took the train up to Edinburgh and I had actually fainted on the first day of the program at Bata, hit my face, got a black eye, [00:10:00] ended up.

Megan Timpane: Making up a Lady Macbeth monologue in front of the world's leading Shakespeare experts because I couldn't remember my monologue, so I'm literally standing there making up Shakespeare's world's most famous monologues and what's funny is one of the people was a professor at UCLA who I ended up having later at 

Kate McLeod: UCLA and he, as I graduated, came up to me and said, I'm going to make up a Lady Macbeth monologue in front 

Megan Timpane: of the world's leading Shakespeare experts because I couldn't remember my monologue, so I'm literally standing there making up Shakespeare's world's most famous monologue and what's funny is one of the people was a professor at UCLA who I ended up having later at UCLA and he, as I graduated, came up to me and said, So what the hell happened at Bata?

Megan Timpane: Why, what, what happened? Why did you make up a monologue? It was so strange. We were all very confused. And I was like, well I, I fainted and hit my head that morning. I even had like vomit in my hair. It was so embarrassing. But the reason for it, I didn't know. I was actually sick at the time. And I was having symptoms.

Megan Timpane: And I didn't know what was going on with my body. And when I took the train up to Edinburgh, after Bata, I felt so sick and like I was going to pass out that I contemplated going to the [00:11:00] emergency room but I ended up not and like got there, saw friends, got distracted and it didn't happen. So it's this weird like full circle moment for me of going back to the place where I started having symptoms of cancer 11 years ago or so.

Megan Timpane: Yeah. So it, it means not just something as an artist and as a bucket list item, but also as a personal thing to overcome, if you will. Absolutely. The feat of, of changing the narrative. 

Kate McLeod: Mm hmm. I have a long winded, multi part question about this. So you've been revisiting this show that you performed and had completed for the time being.

Kate McLeod: For those who are just listening, I just did air quotes, completed. Nothing is really ever complete. So this thing that you completed. 10 years ago, that version of you stands there and now you're rewriting it. As this new version of yourself that has evolved, that has lived a life, art emulates life, life [00:12:00] emulates art, you know, all these things you've, you've gained all this knowledge and so you just spent an entire rehearsal period of you revisiting version of you 10 years ago.

Kate McLeod: So with what you gained from that perspective on writing a show that is literally about you, not only is it your own IP, it's your story. What do you think? With that knowledge is going to be waiting for you from the 12 years ago version of Megan who was in Edinburgh when you get there with this show, 

Megan Timpane: I think it's gonna be really emotional.

Megan Timpane: I have to say, even just writing this show in the fall, part of writing the show in the first place was processing what had happened. And it was a really cathartic experience. It helped me process some trauma and It got me to a place in my life where I was like, Oh, okay, I can kind of put a bow on this and walk away.

Megan Timpane: And as I reopened this can of worms, I realized there was a lot [00:13:00] there that had not been resolved. And it was really emotional and it was honestly much scarier this time to perform this version of the show because it feels much more raw. It's about all the things that have been unseen since having cancer.

Megan Timpane: So things like anxiety and, and I had developed an eating disorder and I had PTSD and had to go through some intense therapies and it felt very vulnerable. So doing it this year as I go to the fringe, I think I'm going to anticipate even though the work on the show for the most part is done, all minus some minor adjustments here and there, I think it's going to be really emotional to, to be there and to re experience The whole festival in a new way.

Megan Timpane: I think it'll be feel, I, I truly think it's gonna feel very full circle. And once again, this idea of serendipity. Yeah. Like this was [00:14:00] meant to happen. I was meant to come back here. 

Kate McLeod: I love that because you've gone through your journey solo as Megan, Tim Payne, you've gone through this journey, given yourself what you need and like pivoting.

Kate McLeod: Um, in acts that are of best service to you. And it kind of seems like that's what you're getting back. Are you like aware of that transference of energy of like giving that and receiving that? 

Megan Timpane: Yeah, I, lately I've been really struck by this idea of Dharma and I don't want to mischaracterize it for anyone who's listening.

Megan Timpane: Yeah, give us your definition. For anyone who's listening, but what I've taken from that is this idea that what you're putting out, you're getting back in the same amount. And I truly feel like I'm getting so much out of this personally and developmentally for myself and mentally and physically, all of the things, and emotionally.

Megan Timpane: But I also truly feel of service in this moment, like I feel like the show is [00:15:00] something bigger than me, the message is bigger than me, and it feels like those are in equal measure currently. So it feels like right place, right time sort of thing, which It's totally this transference of energy, like energy cannot be created or destroyed.

Megan Timpane: And I also truly believe in momentum and I feel like there has been good momentum on this and I'm just flowing in the direction of that movement, basically. And I haven't really hit any major roadblocks so far. Yeah, I'm sure they're coming. I'm finding wood. But, yeah, thank you. But, yeah, I'm just, I'm just moving in the direction of.

Megan Timpane: Um, the way things are currently moving and doors have just been opening and opening and opening, which is really cool. 

Kate McLeod: Yeah. It's a really beautiful way of life to practice living because it's such an active way of listening. Mm hmm. And I think that when we tend to live in the past or try to live in the future, [00:16:00] it just distracts us from what is presently available and it sounds like you have a very active approach to actively thinking about what is actively happening.

Kate McLeod: Yeah. 

Megan Timpane: Yeah. And I think I'll be real with you, when I was an actor, I was 20, 21 years old, coming out of college, I was an asshole. Like, I was so about the ego, I was like, yeah, I got really good representation coming out of college, and like, all this, you know. I was like, yeah, the casting directors, they know me like I'm exactly what they're looking for.

Megan Timpane: Like I had this little like ego about me and I think you have to have that to a certain extent. Like you've got to believe in yourself, but you can't let the ego overcome you. Well because it's 

Kate McLeod: too hard not to have the ego. 

Megan Timpane: Totally. And as an actor, you got to back yourself. If you don't back yourself, nobody's going to.

Megan Timpane: But I think honestly having cancer really. sucked a lot of that ego right out of me. You know, you're literally stripped bare. Like you have nothing. I didn't even have, I didn't even have eyebrows. I didn't have hair. Right. So you were literally stripped bare in front of everyone. And [00:17:00] that was really what brought on the pers, the perspective shift.

Megan Timpane: And. eventually what ended my relationship with the industry. But then coming back into it, I don't, I still don't even feel like I'm part of the industry, even though I'm literally going to a theater festival in Scotland amongst all these other actors and performers. I'm like, oh, yeah, I'm just there. I'm just there to do, to do the show.

Megan Timpane: But it's not, I don't consider it to be like a theater piece, even though it is. But it feels much more, it feels much less about my ego and much more about I actually believe that there's a message here that is helpful to people. And I believe that I'm doing this in service of that message. So it feels much more altruistic than it did previously, or than my art did previously.

Megan Timpane: And it just feels more authentic, if you will, and, and just true to, to where I'm at right now without putting anything on, without having any airs [00:18:00] about me. 

Kate McLeod: Yeah. I feel like that's a sticky. Perspective shift too because it would be so easy to say well Why are you avoiding taking on the title of actor?

Kate McLeod: but what's so cool is you're not taking it on because that's just not what feels real to you right now because The art the piece it has just become bigger than just you being seen It's about like all these other versions of you being seen too. So In terms of authenticity and being seen, how would you define those two things for yourself?

Megan Timpane: Well, I think authenticity is so nuanced, like it really depends on the person and what your own personal definition of authenticity is. And I, I just believe that when you're in alignment with Like, with how, when how you're acting is in alignment with how other people are seeing you, that's being authentic and I'm getting up on that stage and I'm leaving it all on the table.

Megan Timpane: I'm being so raw. As an example, I literally, for the [00:19:00] folks at home, I literally shit my pants on stage in front of people. Okay? So I'm leaving it, it's a comedy, just as a side note. But I'm literally leaving it all out there. Yeah. Yeah. So. There, there is no room for me to not be authentic in, in the show.

Megan Timpane: Like I'm telling you my story and you can take it as a performance or you, you know, I am a performative person. I do impersonations. I do voices, things like that in the show. But. It's also just my story. And so, yeah, if you want to call me an actor, great. If you want to call me a performer, great. If you want to call me a trainer or a public, like I do public speaking for a living.

Megan Timpane: If you want to call me a public speaker, yeah, it's a form of that. But I think being wedded to any sort of identity. Can be dangerous because then you pigeonhole yourself. I didn't think that this was gonna happen I didn't think I'd ever get back into acting but here I am and I'm trying to just not Think too much about the [00:20:00] label.

Kate McLeod: Yeah, and just go with what feels right. Well, I think that's a hard thing too because The label means so much for people's Relative understanding it's the common language. We all speak but I resonate with what you're saying because I always want to introduce myself as Kate McLeod. And I want that to suffice to be enough without me having to tell you everything else I do.

Kate McLeod: Because what I feel like I'm doing now, and I think this speaks to your definition of authenticity too, is I'm just being myself. I'm thinking out loud. I'm sharing what would be my inner quiet life. I feel like it's going to resonate with someone else. I feel like it's going to give verbiage to someone else's unnamed feelings or life or experience so that they can better find theirs.

Kate McLeod: Like, you know, as friends, you get to hear about me talk about this all the time, but it's like for me three and my community there and my curriculum there is I want. I don't want to take [00:21:00] over people's minds. I don't want people to be thinking about Kate McLeod constantly. I want people to get a very clear image of Kate McLeod so that they can think of themselves and just be overwhelmed in their own minds with like their own thoughts and who they are.

Kate McLeod: And I think that's what's so cool about this space because even though there is a performative element and you are putting on a show because people are coming to be entertained. It's almost like the levity that comes in comedy when you give someone a moment to laugh so that they can cry later. It's this performative nature so we can all get it and be like, we're going to see a show.

Kate McLeod: But what we all are actually signing up to do is to be seen ourselves by watching someone else being seen. 

Megan Timpane: Totally. And we're all composed of various identities, right? Like we're all composed of so many things. Yeah, I'm a corporate trainer and I'm performing the show. I also play basketball. I also I love art.

Megan Timpane: I also, there's so, we all, we're all mutts to a certain extent, right? I hope so. It makes it fun. But it's true. We all [00:22:00] are. And there's so many components to what makes us authentically ourselves. I'm just using the tools that have helped me throughout my life in the show and hoping that it helps someone else.

Megan Timpane: And, and for me, a big part of that is humor. Like I've always been interested in comedy. The show itself is a comedy. But as you mentioned, Obviously there's this component of sadness in it because I'm talking about having had cancer and Addressing something that is a really really difficult topic for some people and then I'm also dressing anxiety.

Megan Timpane: I'm addressing PTSD. I'm addressing eating disorders Stomach issues all pretty girls. Yes But as you mentioned like I hope people feel seen in this show And reflected in the show, not because they're like, Oh, my story is just like that. No, I hope that they find one or two little things in the show that they can take away that [00:23:00] might be helpful or a new perspective shift, or they hear me.

Megan Timpane: vocalize a thought that they've had and haven't been able to vocalize themselves. 

Kate McLeod: Yeah. I'm getting a visual from what you're saying. And that is like, um, a lake, like a glass lake. But if you take a big rock and you throw it and it plops into part of the glass lake, there are going to be ripples that come after and you have to acknowledge them.

Kate McLeod: So it kind of just feels like you're acknowledging this. And you're also talking about like your tools. Like these are all. not isolated because they're all related but essentially isolated parts of your life where things happened and you had to acknowledge them and deal with them and you also had to let them evolve you because no one leaves new circumstances like unchanged unless that's just like stubbornness but then that's also stagnation so it sounds like you've been like riding the Megan waves just like Always.

Megan Timpane: Well, it's interesting that you say that because the moral of the show, if you will, or the [00:24:00]conclusion of the show, not to give it away, but to give it away, is that healing isn't linear and it's not just something that ends one day. So whether it's from cancer or whether it's from any sort of moment in your life that has shifted things for you, It could be something as difficult as a trauma.

Megan Timpane: It could not. And obviously this is all based off of everyone's own perspective, but We still have to address the things that happen throughout our lives as we go. It's not like things, you just close a chapter on something and it's done. No, you're comprised of all these varying events that have happened in your life and your identity is comprised of all of those things.

Megan Timpane: Mm 

Kate McLeod: hmm. 

Megan Timpane: And you may not identify with some of them as much as you did before, but they're still there. And if we acknowledge that they're there, we're able to then forgive ourselves when they do pop up. For parts of ourselves showing up, maybe like anxiety or, you know, whatever else it might be that we're [00:25:00] feeling ashamed of, or we're feeling like shouldn't.

Megan Timpane: Be a part of our identity anymore because we've worked on it or yeah, we've decided, you know, like as an actor I've decided not to do that anymore. So now I'm ashamed that this is coming back up No, it's it's still a part of it, but it's not all of it 

Kate McLeod: Yeah, well, I mean that that's interesting when you say oh, I thought I worked on it Yeah.

Kate McLeod: But the version of you right now hasn't worked on it. So it is a constant reassessment of just like, how do I, how do I feel about this? Like how is this sitting with me today? Because even though I might've felt healed from this yesterday, today I might not. And that's because I'm just a different person today.

Kate McLeod: So healing isn't linear and it's something that you're going to deal with for ever. 

Megan Timpane: Yeah. And like I said, like we're constantly changing and evolving, but we still are comprised of the things that have just happened in our lives. That sounds so woo woo, but it's true. We only have the perspective that we have from the things that have happened to us.

Megan Timpane: And even if, like I said, we've, [00:26:00] we've emotionally dealt, dealt air quotes with things or, or resolved internally, things like that, they can still pop up and they may, and it may not be tomorrow. It may not be in 10 years. It might be in 15 years. It might be like when you're on your deathbed, who knows? But yeah, that's okay.

Megan Timpane: That's also okay. And just accepting that that's happening is allowed. 

Kate McLeod: And also just like, those are signals from your brain and your emotional, your whole self just being like, hi, can we focus on this a little bit more? Yeah. And it's like, yeah, let's figure out what else is going. And all, all that reveals is just more of like.

Kate McLeod: Yourself. 

Megan Timpane: Totally. And it doesn't necessarily mean that that's your identity now. As an example, like let's say your anxiety pops up one day and you haven't been anxious in two years, and then the whole day you sit there and you think, I'm so frustrated with myself for being anxious today because I haven't been anxious in two years, and this probably happens every time I get [00:27:00] anxious, still to this day.

Megan Timpane: I'm like, wait a second, we worked on this, what's going on? Bites. It doesn't mean you're an anxious person anymore. It just means you're having anxiety in that moment. So the more we can release those, once again, labels, the more we're able to then move through the emotion or like move through that moment and move on to the next thing.

Kate McLeod: Well, yeah, because that's the brain trick of absolutes where if we make this absolute, then we have the answer now and then we're safe because we know everything. And it's like, no, actually it's, I think it's actually about. retraining your nervous system to be okay not knowing right now and knowing that we're just experiencing something right now and for a reason and that's just to be human.

Kate McLeod: And then, but if you allow that compassion for yourself, you're actually going to get resolved at the end of it. And you actually are going to adapt. To those things that you learn about yourself and continue moving along. It's just part of what has to happen. And so if you can kind of like [00:28:00] figure out how to enjoy the ride there, not that you're gonna have fun being anxious or experiencing symptoms of PTs D mm-hmm.

Kate McLeod: But if you give yourself compassion, know that this is just something that happens, at least you might create a little bit more like intellectual emotional safety around it during the time. 

Megan Timpane: And it's acceptance and not complacency. Mm-hmm . It's saying. Yeah. This is happening right now, like I'm feeling jealous right now or I'm feeling angry right now.

Megan Timpane: I don't want to feel this way, but this is what's happening without resenting yourself or shaming yourself for it, for it, letting it happen, but then not getting complacent and letting it fester so much to the point where you're not functional. Correct. 

Kate McLeod: And so now that you are in this realm and you have, you're honoring this other facet of yourself and you've opened this other door, I keep thinking of like, um, What are those, like, mirror houses in, you know what I mean, in, in at circuses, a fun house.

Kate McLeod: Yeah. I just see like another one opening up where it's like more Megan, but it's like, as you're doing that, what, how is that [00:29:00] informing you and your clients with communication? 

Megan Timpane: Yeah. Great question. I think, well, one, it's actually opened up a lot more. intimate conversations with my clients. I actually feel like I've connected with my clients a lot more on a personal level lately.

Megan Timpane: And I think that comes with having more clients, you know, being five and a half, six years into my career and really having a very strong client base. And I'm now at the place that, like I said, like I'm an expert level of what I do with my current company and. I now have people that know me and request me and things like that, so you tend to build relationships based off of that.

Megan Timpane: But I feel now more open to having more colloquial conversations outside of just the, hi, how are you? What are you doing? Like, how can I help you? And then diving in, there's this openness and excitement. When you're excited about something, there's an energy and it makes other people [00:30:00] excited for you and energy is contagious.

Megan Timpane: And I think. I'm coming into my meetings now with clients where I'm excited about the other stuff that I'm working on in my personal life. 

Kate McLeod: Well, because you know how good it feels to do that. 

Megan Timpane: It feels good. And it's also inspiring to my clients to be saying, they're like, they asked me how I'm doing. And instead of just being like, I'm good.

Megan Timpane: I say, I'm great. I've been working on X, Y, Z. And then it creates this whole new dynamic. They're excited about the show. They want to figure out how to support me. And we end up having more. having deeper conversations and it's no longer just a business interaction, but it's developing relationships. And I think that's part, part of feeling comfortable and I am in this work or in the work of doing my show, stepping into a very authentic, raw, vulnerable version of myself.

Megan Timpane: And I think that's inspiring to my clients. Like I'm, I'm literally teaching them how to project [00:31:00] confidence and credibility. And I'm stepping into something that though it feels scary and like I said, raw, vulnerable, all those things, when you step into it and you do it and you get a good response, it instills confidence in you.

Megan Timpane: It's no longer projecting confidence. It is confident. 

Kate McLeod: It's making tangible the intangible, which is the transference of energy. And so you sitting down with them and teaching them these skills, but then you also telling them how you're putting them into practice in your life. I mean, that's just. Just practice what you preach, you know, it's adding to your credibility, but also not just by you telling them people can see that that's the thing that people feel, you know, the more you diversify because when I was acting full time and waiting for people to call me in for an audition and waiting for people to give me an offer and all this waiting, it's like, I'm, I'm the kid who's waiting.

Kate McLeod: I'm, I'm the girl who waits around and waits for permission. And that's just not, that wasn't fulfilling to me and that wasn't exciting to anybody else because what do I have to [00:32:00] offer? And so now when things pick up, cause I'm like, Oh, well I just produced this. We just won these, you know, we just went to this festival and like won these accreditations and you know, whatever.

Kate McLeod: It's like that picks up or it's like, Hey, I just started this community or I also have this podcast. It's like no one's going to trust you. to do something that they don't already see evidence of you doing or being able to do. 

Megan Timpane: It's inspiring and it's magnetic. So, it draws them to you and it also forces them to look at themselves and hopefully inspires them to then, and gives them permission like that Marianne Williamson quote, gives them permission to do something on their own.

Megan Timpane: Gives them the permission to have courage to do something themselves. Mm 

Kate McLeod: hmm. Yeah. Yeah. It's a, like a communal foundation build almost it feels like. 

Megan Timpane: Yeah, and it's very much grounded once again in this idea of authenticity, whereas like, you know, there's so many people who, [00:33:00] once again, air quotes, cheer you on throughout your life, but when they're cheering you on because they're genuinely excited about what you're excited about, and they're then not necessarily copying you, but they're then doing.

Megan Timpane: Or they're then inspired to do something on their own for themselves. They're empowered by yells. Yeah. That I think is the biggest form of flattery. It's not, it's not copying, but it's feeling inspired and, and then. Taking off in your own, on your own trajectory. That's a trick 

Kate McLeod: I was kind of trying to suss out for myself a few weeks ago.

Kate McLeod: Where I would have a thought or an idea, like for content. Or an idea for a sub stack. And then I would go online, I would consume other people's content. And I would see what I was thinking about. And I'm like, well, so at first I was like, oh, how did they get my idea? But then I just thought, no, no, no, no.

Kate McLeod: I'm just on a certain, Frequency that happens to be [00:34:00] matched and it makes sense because it's in the environment I'm already in whether virtual or in real life Mm hmm. It's all it's I'm receipt. It just tells me that I'm able capable and Currently receiving to I'm listening as much as I'm speaking.

Megan Timpane: Yeah, have you heard the idea of if I'm gonna misuse this phrasing, but It's like negative confirmation bias It's 

Kate McLeod: negative confirmation. I think 

Megan Timpane: that's what it's called, but it's, I listen to a lot of podcasts. Oh yeah? Oh, 

Kate McLeod: which one? 

Megan Timpane: Which one? No, I, our brains, so our amygdalas, the most primitive part of our brain, the back of our brains, are wired to sense danger so that we can save ourselves and not die and evolve.

Megan Timpane: So we can not die. Yeah. And evolve. And evolve. And, but now how that presents itself is. Anxiety about literally anything. [00:35:00] We're looking to confirm our negative bias constantly, but there have been a lot of experiments, and you can try this at home, where if you look for the positive, you can do it, you can do the same thing as well, but on the flip side of that.

Megan Timpane: And it's much harder. You have to do it more manually, whereas the negative comes very much automatically to us because it is evolutionarily. ingrained into us, but you can do it positively. So as an example of that, like if you were to say, I'm looking, you can think of a shape, any shape, like a heart or something.

Megan Timpane: And you say today, I'm going to, I'm going to look for a heart in the next 24 hours. I'm going to see a heart. And throughout the day, you're going to be looking around. You're just going to be a lot more aware. And if you see a heart anywhere, There's your, your confirmation bias. Yes, a heart exists when you didn't think that you would see one.

Megan Timpane: And let's say you hadn't seen a heart or a shape of a heart for like three weeks or you had never noticed it. Now you're noticing it all of a sudden and it [00:36:00] inspires you to continue to start noticing things like that. And you might see five hearts in a day, whereas the day before you saw none. So this idea of putting out this positive energy and continuing to look for the good things, it's not that the good things aren't there.

Megan Timpane: It's just that we're not seeing them. And so it's a matter of training our brains to look for the positive, not necessarily just be like, be positive, right? But it's training your brain to continue that positive momentum, if you will. Yeah. Because you'll start seeing, like, we've all experienced those feelings of flow or like feelings of momentum before when a bunch of things start going right all at once in the same way that.

Megan Timpane: A bunch of things can go wrong all at once. Like when it rains, it pours. It works in the opposite direction as well. So you've got to just get yourself moving in that direction for it to [00:37:00] begin. 

Kate McLeod: You do. This is, this is so much of what I consult on so I love that because it's clearly in your work too. Yeah.

Kate McLeod: And what I love about having friendships in my life now where people do just totally different How things, we do so much of the same, and when our brains are seeking out negative confirmation bias, it's so that we can arrive to know because no is stagnant. No is stay right here. And I know I'm not dying right here right now, so I'm going to stay here.

Kate McLeod: But when you start looking for the positive, you start looking for your own evidence to support what it is that you want to think to support the life you want to live. It becomes this like infectious practice where you just feel unstoppable and like nothing can get in the way because look at all this evidence that is supporting what I'm feeling or where I'm going or what I want to do right now.

Megan Timpane: Totally. And it's like what you were mentioning earlier about. Now I'm going into auditions and I'm saying, well, I'm producing. And I'm when, when the casting director says, well, what are you up to right now? Instead of being like, well, now, you know, I [00:38:00] had a call back last week for another show. No, no, no. I'm also producing.

Megan Timpane: I I'm doing this like YouTube channel. I've got my podcast. Like I'm doing this, that, this, that, and the other. There's a different energy. It doesn't matter what the projects are. There's a different energy that you bring to the table when you're doing things for yourself that are in the direction of what you want to do.

Megan Timpane: And it may have nothing to do with that audition that you're in, but I guarantee you're showing up to that audition differently than you would if you were, you were just working your part time job and then going to auditions and being upset that the industry is like not doing its thing and being hit by all these external factors.

Megan Timpane: What is in with it? What is within your control? Like what, what can you do? Well 

Kate McLeod: for the arts too, I think there's a pre. Why can't I think of the word right now? Predisposition? Pre? Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's the word. Yeah. Okay. So yeah. Yeah. Especially in the arts. There's this like predisposition where it's like, Oh, well, if you can't [00:39:00] support yourself by your art, then like, are you really doing art?

Kate McLeod: And it's like, that's just not the world we live in anymore. And as a species, you've just adapted to be too multifaceted anyway for us to just like do one thing. I think that that's like a passive, um, pattern to fall into where it's like, I leave because I fell into it too. I left school, I got a serving job and I was auditioning.

Kate McLeod: And it's like, okay, so I'm not actually in that doing anything for myself beyond giving myself my basic needs, which is income to support a roof over my head and food on the table and like be able to enjoy New York and be able to audition when I need to. Like, sure, that gives me my basic needs, but it requires so much more than that.

Megan Timpane: Yeah. And I, I think one thing I struggled with is in. When I was, when I considered myself to be an actor, but one thing I struggled with when I was actively acting or trying to actively act was. It's when people would ask you what you do and you'd say you're an actor and then there's [00:40:00] this weird shame around when they say, well, what have you, what are you in right now?

Megan Timpane: And you're like, well, nothing, actually nothing, because there's this association of, you know, Making money off of your art or being in a big TV show or being in some sort of large production as being That's determining your worth as an actor or your validity Yeah That identity and it doesn't it doesn't have to be and I think that's like a common misconception about this industry You could be in a scene study class and be considered an actor where you're literally paying someone else to act Oh, absolutely and still be an amazing actor and not be a part of your identity.

Megan Timpane: Like that's absolutely valid. Or you could be working on your own thing or doing stand up at a local comedy club that three people go to on a week, on, on like a Tuesday night, you know? And yeah, I think the more we eliminate this shame [00:41:00] around not making money off of your art, the more we can decide. our own, more we can decide our own identities or at least a facet of our identity and feel really grounded in that versus feeling sort of this feeling of shame or.

Kate McLeod: Yeah. Well, I think it also changes our idea of what art can look like that can sustain you because I think that being human is innately. Like I think everyone is an artist. Totally. You think, you think your thoughts that no one else thinks. I've always wondered like what it would be like. I'm like, if I could just like be behind that person's eyes, I would love to see how they see the world.

Kate McLeod: And I think that's because I'm so excited genuinely about my perspective on the world. I love the way that I think and I have so much fun up here. I have so much fun in my own brain and I think that that's like a artistic practice that everyone is capable of. 

Megan Timpane: Totally. And this is actually brings up something that I do in my [00:42:00] day job.

Megan Timpane: And so I play this game with some of my clients called expert and it's could be considered an acting exercise, I guess. But essentially what it is is I give them a gibberish word and I have them define that gibberish word. And I say you are the world's leading expert on this gibberish word. Whatever you say about this gibberish word is right.

Megan Timpane: You don't need to be clever. You don't need to be funny. Whatever comes to mind, don't plan ahead. Just go with it. No self commenting, so no little laughs at yourself or like, ugh, that was so bad or you know, whatever. Just commit to it. And it's not even working on any of our, our skills. It's just play expert, whatever that means to you.

Megan Timpane: And the people who really succeed at this exercise. Are the people who don't judge themselves and allow themselves to go wherever they go. And I've heard so many interesting, imaginative ideas. And I always say, leading into this exercise, I say, [00:43:00] it's such a natural inclination to want to judge yourself as you're doing this.

Megan Timpane: But take this as an opportunity, as the one moment in your day, as an adult living in the world that we live in, to let your mind just go wherever it goes. And you never get to, you never get to be the world's leading expert on something in a day. Even if you find yourself really confident in who you are, there's always some sort of sense of doubt.

Megan Timpane: And I go, let your imagination fly. We rarely have opportunities to let our imagination go as expansively as it might when we were a kid, let's say. Kids, kids are just creative geniuses. Literally levels of creative genius. Most kids. Uninhibited. Because they're very uninhibited in their thinking, in their imagination.

Megan Timpane: And the more people let themselves go and don't shame themselves as they go, the more expansive their thinking is and the more interesting it is for me to listen to. 

Kate McLeod: [00:44:00] Yeah. 

Megan Timpane: And it's, yeah, just this idea of like, We all have the ability to be artists and we all probably are to a certain extent artists and creative in our own right.

Megan Timpane: But I think we get really, we confine ourselves in our daily lives with our routines and with what we consider to be our identities and that limits our ability to be imaginary. Make believe. Yeah. Envision things even, like even just envisioning positive things for ourself that are actually totally probable can feel really difficult for some people.

Kate McLeod: That exercise reminds me of the board game Boulder Dash. 

Megan Timpane: I don't know it. 

Kate McLeod: Boulder Dash is, except they're real words, but they seem Not, they're, they are the, the words you've never heard before, but you can kind of pick apart into, you know, pre, middle and end and kind of figure out what they mean. And so then everyone writes down on a piece of paper what they think it means and then they present it and then they actually learn what it means.

Kate McLeod: But I like your exercise more because I would go a little bit beyond that and [00:45:00] maybe you doing the exercise with your clients, but if you are the expert, if you're the leading expert on this and you get to be the expert in this moment, what feelings does that bring up for you? Yeah. Mm hmm. And then how can you implement those feelings now today?

Kate McLeod: So how can you take this pattern and mock it into your own life? So you do do that. Yeah, I can tell that. Yeah. 

Megan Timpane: At the end of it, I always say to them if you can be an expert in something that literally does not exist that you just made up, you can certainly be an expert in the things that do exist that you do know a lot about throughout your day.

Megan Timpane: So if you can find a way to tap into that, because a lot of what I work on is hard, hard skills. Well, they're technically soft skills, but they're very tangible. What's the difference between hard and soft skills? Well, hard skills are more tangible. Soft skills are like, hard skills are like, let's say, your ability to make, like, a spreadsheet or, you know, whatever.

Megan Timpane: Soft skills are like how you speak to someone, how you make them feel when you talk, things like that. Tangible and intangible. Okay. Yeah. Although, soft skills can be tangible as well. Okay. So things like, I teach my clients where to use their [00:46:00] hands, when to use their hands, how to speak in downward inflection, how to make strong eye contact, how many seconds do you look at each person, what feels appropriate from the listener's perspective, things like that, tone of voice, all of those things.

Megan Timpane: And This is a more nuanced note. So for people who might not be able to do more than one skill at a time, because it can feel a lot like tapping your head and rumming your stomach at the same time, giving them this note, play the expert. We've all seen an expert before and you can emulate that. I say, If you can't imagine what you as an expert looks like, think about someone in a movie or someone you've seen before who acts like an expert.

Megan Timpane: I always say like Miranda Priestly in Devil Wears Prada. She's like an expert in her field. Like play, be Miranda Priestly for a minute. We all know what that is like and we can all turn that on a little bit. You don't have to be the world's greatest actor, but like you said, it's a feeling. It is a feeling.

Megan Timpane: Throw that feeling on and we know what that looks like. We know what that feels like [00:47:00] in our body. 

Kate McLeod: And we're all capable of it too. Totally capable of it. Oh, I love that. And also once you start practicing this, and confidence just comes down to a lot of it, but I think that the foundation of confidence is just believing in yourself and believing yourself.

Kate McLeod: And I think that's the hard thing too because it's very hard to even trust that you're the own expert on yourself because we have so many outside exterior influences constantly. And we're in an age of constantly consuming information from other people and we're always listening to something. We're always reading something.

Kate McLeod: We're always watching something. And so I think that gives away a lot of our power. And so the practice of confidence is going to have to come into play a little bit more so we can remember what our own thoughts are because a lot of what I'm working on with clients right now is, why do you think that?

Kate McLeod: Is that a pattern that actually genuinely works for you or is that something that someone told you is going to genuinely [00:48:00] work for you? Because sometimes it's hard to remember. You can't remember where it came from because you've been practicing it for so long. 

Megan Timpane: Yep. Absolutely. And I think I was talking about this in therapy yesterday.

Megan Timpane: Mm. And. We 

Kate McLeod: love therapy. 

Megan Timpane: I, to go on a different tangent, but I promise I'll, I'll land the plane, is that I went on a date this week. LOL. Dating in New York is awful. And for the first time in a really long time, I just. I didn't care how, what the outcome was and I know, yeah, I'm in my 30s and I'd love for things to be a certain way.

Megan Timpane: I'm not going to say what that is, but you can guess. But I, I just kind of didn't care what the outcome was in terms of that person liking me or not liking me, whether or not it was good or bad. Gonna be my life partner or not. And I think it's because I've had so much going on lately where I [00:49:00] feel a lot of integrity in what I'm doing.

Megan Timpane: Mm. And I think integrity can feel very linked to feeling confident. It's where you say you're gonna show up and then you show up the way that you say that you are. Yeah. And. I, I've been fundraising for the show and I said I was going to fundraise X amount by X time and I'm further along than I thought and that instills confidence.

Megan Timpane: I'm like, I said I was going to do it and I did it. 

Kate McLeod: You're looking for your evidence and you're, you're seeing your evidence. 

Megan Timpane: And it, and. That, to me, feels like a very grounded version of confidence and I think that in tandem with accepting that you don't always have a definition for who you are in any given moment, that it's influx, that it changes and just accepting that but showing up for yourself as best you can and as often you can and the things that matter to you the most, I think, make you feel more rooted, more grounded.

Megan Timpane: in [00:50:00] yourself and in your identity, even if you're unable to define what that is, there are tangibles and integrity. I showed up for myself in X way this week. I said, I was going to go to the gym. I went to the gym. I said, I was going to do this. I did that. Your actions are reflective of who you actually are.

Kate McLeod: Well, because that's all writing your own manual, your user manual of you. And sometimes you don't know how to solve a problem and you go to the page where it's supposed to be and you don't know. Like it is impossible for you to expect other people to, to, to, to. So, um, you or see you or, um, receive you a certain way unless you are actually showing them how to do that for you.

Kate McLeod: Because human variation is vast. And so what works for one person is not going to work for all people. And if you're not practicing these things for yourself, and if you're not talking to yourself this way, if you're not seeing your own value, how the hell do you expect anybody else to see it? 

Megan Timpane: Well, it goes back to what we were talking about with showing up at an audition.[00:51:00]

Megan Timpane: saying I'm an actor. Mm hmm. But you're not doing anything outside of showing up at the auditions. Yeah. And if you can show up to that audition and say, well, I'm an actor. I am working on this project that I'm acting in. I'm going to scene study class. I'm doing this. There's conviction. There's integrity in that.

Megan Timpane: Yeah. Because you are literally In the act of practicing acting. But so long it's 

Kate McLeod: your act of practicing acting and not your act of checking, checking like boxes for other people. Do you know what I mean? Because like, that's the really, that's the hard part for me is like, you're checking off the boxes because someone else says like, that's what's of value.

Kate McLeod: That's, that's not helpful. Like, it, your, your version looks different. It's how you are, just the example of acting, it's like, how are you showing up and feeling like you are an actor here? 

Megan Timpane: Well, that, and that box is more likely to then get checked of being a professional working actor if you are doing all the other things that actually determine [00:52:00] whether or not you are an actor, not a working actor.

Megan Timpane: Correct. Like, you're more likely to check off that list of things that feed our ego. Getting a series regular role versus just being in a scene study class and having an amazing scene that you just did with someone and walking away feeling really proud. Like that can feel like such an accomplishment.

Megan Timpane: And then you get to that audition, you're like, I just nailed that scene. 

Kate McLeod: Yeah. I'm feeling 

Megan Timpane: really good. 

Kate McLeod: I'm in a scene study class that I absolutely love and I learned this about myself as opposed to I'm in a scene study class. So it's like, I think also there is in this. process, like the constant check in of yourself of like asking yourself, is this still serving me or am I just here because I thought I should be?

Megan Timpane: Right. And you give more weight to other people's decisions when, or their, what they think of you when you're not determining for yourself what you do. Yeah. What you think of you. 

Kate McLeod: Yeah.

Kate McLeod: When you determine something for yourself and you're like, I feel satiated in this way, that's gonna transfer as opposed to like, [00:53:00] I want you to perceive me as being, you know, it's just like, it's like just focus on it, the feeling for you. And with that, I'm curious, like, how has your being yourself led you to your art?

Kate McLeod: And how has your art led you to being more of yourself in this whole journey? 

Megan Timpane: So, interestingly enough, this past December, before I, or I guess it was after I started the show, as I was applying to the Fringe Festival, one of the questions on the application was do you have any reviews or things like that.

Megan Timpane: I didn't get reviewed this time around because I was not thinking of it as a theater piece. I thought it would be a standalone, short run, or limited run in San Francisco and that would be it. And, so I went back and looked at reviews from The original show 10 years ago and I found one, I had a pull quote on my website and I went back and read the full article and what the person said.

Megan Timpane: And as I mentioned before, I do a lot of [00:54:00] impersonations on the show. I do a lot of different, or in the show, a lot of different characters of people. I guess they're real, real life people. I do impersonations of them in the show. And what the person said in their review was that Megan is incredible at impersonations.

Megan Timpane: She Their voices are so clear, they're so distinct. But I'm not sure, or the one voice that she needs to work on is her own. Hmm. And it wasn't until I had already performed the show this December, so this is after I had done the show, that I was like, this is so funny because this time around, going into this version, the whole second act I rewrote, felt so vulnerable and so exposed.

Megan Timpane: And I contemplated not even doing it and changing it and trying to be funny about it. But the second act of the show is very, very raw. It's very much just like [00:55:00] me essentially being naked in front of everyone and being like, dig it or leave it. Yeah. I hope, I hope something resonates with you. And I was so afraid to do it and there was huge Huge payoff.

Megan Timpane: So I had this moment of thinking, I almost want to go contact that person and send them a video of the show this time around and be like, thank you. What do 

Kate McLeod: you 

Megan Timpane: think? Yeah. What now? But it's interesting because I don't even remember having read that initially 10 years ago. So what a cool thing that I was able to read that and, and with conviction say, as I read that.

Megan Timpane: I think I've now accomplished that. I think a lot of it comes with just being older as well. As we get older, we care less and we're like, well, it is what it is. 

Kate McLeod: Well, I think also it's a building of confidence too because very easily you could argue that then we didn't hear or they didn't, the audience at the time [00:56:00] didn't hear.

Kate McLeod: Megan's voice because Megan was afraid to share her voice and so now you're like I'm not afraid to share my own voice because there is a safety I've I think that's why a lot of us are drawn to acting in particular That's why everyone like did high school you know theater in some way or middle school because it's like it's the it feels like it should be this big vulnerable thing, but It actually, a lot of people find safety in it because they're not being themselves.

Kate McLeod: Yeah. 

Megan Timpane: And I would challenge that thought, too, is it's not that I'm not afraid. I was totally, totally scared. Oh, yeah. I was totally afraid to share myself, but I did it anyway. And it's this, I think, like I said, a lot of it's getting older, you're just like tired and you go, I just, I can't, I can't fake it anymore.

Megan Timpane: And I, I can't not say this because this just is what it is. If I make it up, it's going to feel. odd or inauthentic or there's no point in saying [00:57:00] it that 

Kate McLeod: way. And also as you get older. it correlates to the same amount of time that you've, or the amount of time that you've spent with your own thoughts. Of course you believe them so much more now.

Kate McLeod: Of course you see more value and you're like, no, this is really scary, but I'm going to run at the danger and I'm going to do it. And it's gonna, I'm going to hold on. It's going to be so scary, but then it's going to be great after because after. You didn't die. 

Megan Timpane: Right. 

Kate McLeod: You got your message and also you got to show more of your absolutely wonderfully beautiful self and your brain through your art to more people and they got to see you.

Megan Timpane: Yeah. 

Kate McLeod: And there's that understanding. I mean, energetically too, you can feel that in a, in a room. That's the, that's the applause. It's not the applause. It's before the applause, but you're like, wow, they're really here with me and, and not only are they seeing me, but they're witnessing. My proof of my experience.

Megan Timpane: Well, it's no longer about your performance. [00:58:00] It's about the reflection of what they see in themselves. Yeah. As you say something raw, as you say something vulnerable, people are able to then, it opens up the conversation for them to then reflect on what's going on with, in their, internally for them, essentially.

Megan Timpane: Yeah. I mean, this is why Brene Brown is so popular, is this idea of capitalizing on your vulnerabilities. Yeah. But 

Kate McLeod: she's on to something, you know? Yeah. I think that you kind of just adjusted my evolution of the definition of authenticity now. Authenticity is just turning on the light. Mm 

Megan Timpane: hmm. 

Kate McLeod: Yeah. Yeah.

Kate McLeod: You're turning on the light for other people to see. 

Megan Timpane: Yeah. 

Kate McLeod: That's really beautiful. 

Megan Timpane: It's not even to see you. It's to see themselves in you. And the only way to do that is to just be naked. And then I shake yourself in front of everyone. 

Kate McLeod: But that's the constant circle of like giving. You know, where it's like if we [00:59:00] all act more vulnerably, more truthfully, it's gonna inspire others to do that.

Kate McLeod: And that's like the real message of art. It's an invitation. 

Megan Timpane: Yeah. Yeah. It's an invitation for others to join you. 

Kate McLeod: where can people find you? Where can people get tickets to your show, 

Megan Timpane: talk to you about your show?

Megan Timpane: So you can find me? At, at Lymphoma Maniac Show on Instagram or lymphoma maniac show.com. And I'm currently in the fundraising stages of going to Edinburgh because it is an expensive feat. Let me tell you. It's a massive accomplishment first to get 

Kate McLeod: in there and then to make it happen. 

Megan Timpane: It's what? It's not just, it's like, yay, you made it now.

Megan Timpane: You need 25, 000. Great. So if you feel inspired by anything, love a little, little donation, if you, if you got the space for it or just a shout out or anything like that, there's so many different ways to contribute, but lymphomaniac show. com or at lymphomaniac show on Instagram right now, and feel free to reach out to me.

Megan Timpane: I'm [01:00:00] info at lymphomaniac show. com. If you want to chat 

Kate McLeod: stunning, I'll tag it in the show notes. Hey, thank you so much for coming on. Thanks for having me anytime.

Kate McLeod: And that's the latest. I'm honored to have been part of your thinking sphere today. Feel free to share, like, and subscribe on this platform or follow and participate on any of my social media platforms. If this practice intrigues you as much as it does me, then join us in the Me3 community, where we will work directly and you will curate a mindful method of thinking to define your own creative conscious.

Kate McLeod: Thanks for listening to the latest episode of Authenticated. I love that you're here.