GB Tavern Tales Episode 23- Nancy Norbeck- The Muse Whisperer and the Performance Parasite

Tonight we have a healer at the Tavern — but not the kind who mends broken bones or restores hit points. This one works with something far more delicate: the creative spark that so many adventurers have lost along the way.

The Performance Parasite.

This creature doesn't attack suddenly. It attaches itself slowly, usually when we're young. It whispers that play is pointless. That curiosity is inefficient. That the only creativity that counts is the kind that produces something, performs for someone, pleases the right people. Over time, the host forgets they ever had a muse at all. They say things like "I'm just not creative" or "I used to make things, but..." They look fine on the outside, but inside? Flattened. Disconnected. Quietly exhausted.

Nancy Norbeck is a Muse Whisperer.

As a creativity coach and "Messy Muse Mentor," Nancy helps burned-out perfectionists and people-pleasers reconnect with their creativity — not to produce more, not to optimize, but to feel more alive and more like themselves. She's also the host of Follow Your Curiosity, a podcast she's been running for over seven years, exploring creativity as a human birthright through deep conversations about play, resistance, and reclaiming inner authority in a world obsessed with productivity.

Her message challenges everything the Performance Parasite taught us: creativity isn't a skill to master. It's a reconnection to something that was never actually lost — just buried under years of performing, pleasing, and being "good."

Tonight, she's here to help us remember what we forgot.

🎲 Business is an adventure. Don't be an NPC.

Connect with Nancy Norbeck: 

🌐 https://fycuriosity.com/ 

💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancynorbeck/ 

📺 https://www.youtube.com/@fycuriosity 

📸 https://www.instagram.com/fycuriosity/ 

🐦 https://www.twitter.com/fycuriositypod 

🎵 https://www.tiktok.com/@fycuriosity 

📝 https://fycuriosity.substack.com/

Connect with Paul Pape: 

🌐 https://gamifybusiness.com 

🔗 https://linkedin.com/in/paulpape