Elle Luna: When You Follow Your Dreams (Literally)

The Chat

Elle Luna found herself at a crossroads: one between continuing to collect life’s “Shoulds” or finally following her “Must.” As an artist at her core, Elle lived her early life collecting trophies and thinking practically. Since she was a kid, Elle wanted to be a lawyer and did nearly everything she could to get there - until the world forced her in another direction.

Elle is now a best-selling author, speaker, painter, and expert on finding your passion. She started her career as a designer at major San Francisco startups, like Uber, Medium, and Mailbox in their early days. But, she kept having this recurring dream of a white room - one where she felt fully at peace - which was so different from her normal life, she knew something had to change.

So, after following her (literal) dream, she discovered that her “Must” had been hiding under her nose all along - and she didn’t need a fancy job title at another Silicon Valley startup to find it. Elle wrote her observations in a Medium post, “The Crossroads of Should and Must” that went viral and landed her a book deal all about discovering your passion. Elle’s journey is a continuous demonstration that tuning in to your Must, your creative passions, is a beautiful unfolding.

This conversation with Elle is for anyone who finds themselves at a crossroads, battling against the stories about what the world tells them they should be - instead of what they really want to be doing. We dive deep into the ways that all us humans keep ourselves in a prison, far away from a creative, passionless life - but most importantly, how we can chisel away at those beliefs in order to craft a life that we love. Join us for a grounding conversation about finding your passion, removing your Shoulds, and tapping into your innate creative mind to heal.

Some stuff we also cover:

How we’ve all internalized stories of what is “good” and “bad” - like what it means to be an artist (cue: no health insurance) - and how we can shift them

The physiological impact of following your Must, and in turn, staying stuck to your Shoulds

The prison of time - and how we can begin to undo the systemic layers of “shoulds”

The regimented steps that Elle took in order to buy herself “time” to explore her creativity

Simple-but-important creative exercises that could help you heal and give you clues towards developing your passion

Resources you might want to check out:

Book(s):  The Crossroads of Should and Must: Find and Follow Your Passion ; Your Story Is Your Power: Free Your Feminine Voice


Other projects: #The100DayProject


Social media: @elleluna


Website: ellaluna.com

As always, this podcast is sponsored by:

Daydreamers. At Daydreamers, we’re redefining how we all spend our free time and making space for adults to build creative hobbies. Get on the waitlist to meet us IRL at: daydreamerspace.com.