I’ll be the first to tell you that I used to think “loving yourself” sounded like the cheesiest, most cliché mantra and totally irrelevant to creativity. But what I’ve learned over the last 11 years as a creative entrepreneur and artist is that loving yourself is the superpower we need to stay the course on a journey that can oftentimes get really, really hard. On this week’s episode of Creativity School, I talk to my good friend, essay writer and children’s book author Laurenne Sala all about what loving yourself actually means, what that looks like in practice, and how it allows us to withstand the sting of rejection and stop our constant need to make people like us and our work. We dig into ALL the things in this episode, from the secret formula to writing a successful children’s book, to dealing with rejection after Laurenne submitted hundreds of manuscripts, and to feeling like a total failure when you don’t make 100% of your income from your creative work. We also discuss the 3 essential parts of the creative process that highly creative people embrace.   **Today’s episode is brought to you by Audible! If you want to get started with a free audiobook download and 30 day free trial head over to at www.creativityschoolpodcast.com/audible.   Mentioned in this episode: Laurenne’s amazing new book You Made Me a Dad How a commercial Laurenne wrote for a baby brand went viral and turned into her first children’s book You Made Me a Mother How her entire children’s book career started with overcoming her lack of self-esteem and learning to stand up for herself Learning how to deal with rejection All the steps to become a children’s book author and write a great children’s book 3 essential parts of the creative process that highly creative people embrace How to know what critiques to take from people and know what to ignore Thinking you’re a failure because you can’t make a living full time with your creative work     CONNECT WITH LAURENNE: Website | Instagram | You Made Me a Dad     CONNECT WITH CREATIVITY SCHOOL: Thank you so much for listening! Subscribe so you never miss an episode, and connect with me online! Instagram | Twitter | Facebook If you have any questions or comments for the show, click here