"What brings you joy can also make you feel angry" (Carina Lindmeier bonus episode)

Summary

Daring Creativity Podcast: "What Brings You Joy Can Also Make You Feel Angry" (Bonus Episode with Karina Lindmeier)
Released: August 7, 2025
Host: Radim Malinic

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Introduction

In this insightful bonus episode of the Daring Creativity podcast, host Radim Malinic revisits a profound conversation with Karina Lindmeier, an award-winning illustrator from Linz, Austria. This episode, titled "What Brings You Joy Can Also Make You Feel Angry," delves deeper into key moments from their initial discussion, offering listeners enhanced understanding and valuable takeaways on navigating the creative landscape.

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1. Social Media and Authentic Connections

Timestamp: [00:41]
Karina Lindmeier: "I don't care about numbers or followers. I care about connections."

Karina opens the conversation by challenging the conventional obsession with social media metrics within the creative community. She emphasizes the importance of genuine connections over mere follower counts, asserting that true artistic value lies in the ability to connect and communicate meaningful stories through one's work.

Radim expands on Karina’s perspective:

Timestamp: [01:42]
Radim Malinic discusses how Karina's philosophy counters the prevalent trend of chasing social media approval, which often leads to creative burnout. By prioritizing authentic relationships, artists can build sustainable careers grounded in real opportunities, collaborations, and referrals. This approach not only fosters genuine artistic growth but also safeguards mental health by shifting the focus from digital validation to meaningful human interactions.

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2. Embracing Impermanence and Emotional Regulation

Timestamp: [02:34]
Karina Lindmeier: "Everything is temporary and I feel like it's so true because every feeling is temporary."

Karina shares a poignant reflection on the transient nature of emotions, highlighting how both struggles and successes in the creative process are fleeting. She encourages patience and consistency, advocating for a mindset that acknowledges the temporary nature of creative challenges and celebrates the evolving journey of artistic expression.

Radim elaborates on the significance of this mindset:

Timestamp: [03:37]
He underscores the wisdom in Karina's words, noting how understanding the temporality of creative states allows artists to navigate ups and downs with emotional resilience. This perspective empowers creatives to take risks without fearing permanent failure, promoting present-moment awareness and flexibility in their artistic identities.

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3. Finding a Creative Home and Career Transition

Timestamp: [04:28]
Karina Lindmeier: "I wanted to become a graphic designer... I call it the shrimp position... I wanted to find something that is more creative and more where I can have like my own kind of exploration and feel like more in."

Karina recounts her journey from graphic design to illustration, describing the "shrimp position"—a sedentary and uninspiring role that stifled her creativity. Seeking a more fulfilling and expressive path, she transitioned to illustration, a move that allowed her to explore her artistic vision and find a sense of "home" in her work.

Radim reflects on the metaphor of finding a creative home:

Timestamp: [05:32]
He highlights how Karina’s quest for a creative home embodies the essence of authentic career development. Moving away from the confines of traditional graphic design, she prioritized personal fulfillment and creative freedom, demonstrating the importance of aligning one's career with genuine passions rather than external expectations.

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4. The Intersection of Cycling and Creativity

Timestamp: [06:40]
Karina Lindmeier: "When you have a problem with something in your life, you feel it while you're on your bike... you have to deal with it."

Karina draws a parallel between cycling and the creative process, explaining how both activities require confronting and overcoming personal challenges. Cycling becomes a metaphor for creativity, where unresolved issues surface and must be addressed, fostering personal growth and resilience.

Radim expands on this analogy:

Timestamp: [07:43]
He discusses how physical activities like cycling mirror the creative journey by necessitating sustained focus and perseverance. Just as cyclists face headwinds and uphill battles, creatives encounter obstacles that demand endurance and inner strength. This connection illustrates how engaging in mechanical or physical tasks can lead to creative breakthroughs by providing space for subconscious problem-solving.

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Conclusion

This bonus episode of Daring Creativity offers a deep dive into the intertwining worlds of art, personal growth, and authentic connection. Karina Lindmeier’s reflections provide valuable insights into overcoming the pressures of social media, embracing the temporary nature of creative emotions, finding a true creative home, and understanding the parallels between physical endurance and creative perseverance. Radim Malinic masterfully weaves these themes together, delivering a rich and engaging narrative that resonates with both seasoned artists and aspiring creatives.

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Notable Quotes:

• Karina Lindmeier [00:41]: "I don't care about numbers or followers. I care about connections."

• Karina Lindmeier [02:34]: "Everything is temporary and I feel like it's so true because every feeling is temporary."

• Karina Lindmeier [04:28]: "I call it the shrimp position... I wanted to find something that is more creative and more where I can have like my own kind of exploration and feel like more in."

• Karina Lindmeier [06:40]: "When you have a problem with something in your life, you feel it while you're on your bike... you have to deal with it."

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This episode underscores the importance of authenticity, resilience, and meaningful connections in the creative journey, encouraging artists to dare to create from a place of genuine expression and personal fulfillment.

Transcript

[Host]

Hey, welcome to this bonus episode of the Daring Creativity podcast. This is where I revisit the interview published early in the week, giving me an opportunity to zoom in on a few standout moments for extra value and meaning. This week I released a conversation with Karina Lindmeyer, an award winning illustrator based in Linz, Austria. The conversation was called dare to find your creative home and it's full of transparency and expression of her soul. Our conversation had countless stand on moments, but as you might know, with the format of these episodes, I kind of have to narrow it down to four. So let's start with the first one and it's inevitably about the topic of social media and beyond.

[Karina Lindmeyer]

I don't care about numbers or followers. I care about connections. And this is something which is really important for me. I don't care about. I mean, you can make Light a huge following, but in the end it means nothing if you have nothing where you can connect with someone and when people cannot connect with what kind of story you have to tell or what kind of things you want to share, or your art or illustration work. So I feel like we really have to, but at least that's just my opinion. But I feel like we have to step back now from this heavy influencer thing. Also, some artists are more like influencers now, which is really difficult also for people to watch because at the end of the day you never know. Is this like a paid thing? Or are people already doing this for a living? Or what's the story behind everything?

[Host]

It's almost inevitable and impossible to not have conversation about social media when it comes to illustration, artistry or design. Because in the social media driven economy, Carina's philosophy challenges the obsession with metrics that often dictate artistic decisions. Focusing on one genuine connection rather than follow account liberates artists from algorithmic approval seeking to prevent creative burnout. This approach builds sustainable careers through meaningful relationships that lead to real opportunities, collaborations and referrals. It also protects mental health by grounding creative practice and human relationships rather than digital validations, creating authentic artistic growth. And the second stand at moment is.

[Karina Lindmeyer]

I feel like when you force something, it's not coming. So it's like you said, step away, try to focus on something else. And recently I came back to this. It's not a quote, but it's something that's popping up in my mind quite often lately. It's like everything is temporary and I feel like it's so true because every feeling is temporary. So if you feel like you're not going somewhere and you're not getting close to where you want to go. The feeling will go away, but you just have to find your way to get where you want to. So just be patient, consistent. Try to find your new perspective and start running even if you're not ready. It sounds very poetic, but it's so true. And you have to find your way through your own strategy. So to say, how to find your creativity or how to keep your chooses flowing.

[Host]

This quote was used as the opening hook to the episode and I had to revisit it again because it shows the maturity of the mind. The wisdom in the quote provides essential emotional regulation for artists navigating inevitable creative ups and downs. Understanding that both struggles and successes are temporary states. It liberates creatives to take bigger risks knowing failure isn't permanent identity. It encourages present moment awareness without over attachment to current circumstances. Whether facing creative blocks or celebrating achievements, this perspective offers permission to evolve artistically and personally. Recognizing that creative identity can be fluid rather than fixed. The next moment is the one that inspired the name of this episode.

[Karina Lindmeyer]

I wanted to become a graphic designer and after a few internships I decided, nope, that's not the way I want to end up sitting in front of my computer all day in like this. I call it the shrimp position where you at the end of the day you feel like, yeah, like a potato or a shrimp because you can't move anymore. So I wanted to find something that is more creative and more where I can have like my own kind of exploration and feel like more in. Feel like more home, so to say, in my artistic sense. So back then it was a bit different than nowadays because the Internet was not such a thing as it is now. So at the end of the day I hardly had anyone like a mentor or anyone who really took my hand and showed me things.

[Host]

I remember the moment during the conversation when Karina said I wanted to find something that feels like home. And I knew straight away that that is something I wanted to zoom in on even then a little bit more because it captures the essence of authentic career finding work that feels like home to yourself rather than performing for others. In Karina's case, transitioning from just graphic design, what she calls shrimp position. I'm sure graphic designers will exactly relate to the fact how sedentary and still sometimes the profession could be. And in her case transitioning to illustration kind of given her the courage required to trust creative instincts over security. The home metaphor suggests comfort, belonging and freedom to be authentic. It also validates the inner voice saying this isn't right and encourages designing careers around what genuinely makes you feel right. The last moment is about the fact that we both have a love for cycling.

[Karina Lindmeyer]

So I feel like when it comes to sports, it teaches us so many things about ourselves and also how we interact with others, like cars, other cyclists or ourselves. And it can bring you so much joy, but it can also make you very angry, for example. And it always goes back to like, I feel like when you have a problem with something in your life, you feel it while you're on your bike, it's not going away, so you have to deal with it. You have to deal. So that's like really the hard track, so to say, when you are on your bike and you have a shitty day and you want to pedal it out and these thoughts will not go away until you solved it. So. And that's something I really enjoy. Sometimes I hate it, but in the end I love it.

[Host]

So our chat about cycling was about the fact that there's nowhere to hide. Throughout the whole conversation we talked about there's nowhere to hide in illustration and creativity. There's nowhere to hide when you're a dj. And there's a great stories we talked about from both sides. And we also talked about our experiences of being on the bike because our experience has beautifully illustrated how physical activities force confrontation with unresolved issues. They are mirroring the creative process when you can't avoid difficult work indefinitely. Cycling. And if you're a keen cyclist or recreational cyclist, you will know that as I talk about on this podcast, before the headwind is always guaranteed, you might have a good ride one way. But coming home or cycling up a hill is always going to throw up some difficulties because cycling creates sustained focus time where the mind naturally processes problems. And it's a beautiful time when things just slot in. You just need taking time away from it. Or some people get good ideas in the shower. It's because we do something mechanical and away from just to focus and being knee deep in work. So just like being on the bike, it's a similar creative breakthroughs that emerge through persistent engagement. And the parallel between physical and creative endurance offers valuable perspective because both require pushing for resistance and finding inner strength when facing challenges. So it was a great episode to talk about these things and find elements of how the outside world of creativity actually not only influences the creative world and creative careers, but also how it mimics the experiences because they're so much alike. And I didn't mention in the episode, I didn't really know how much of endurance cycling has got much to do with endurance creativity. Because when there's nowhere to hide and you try to wrestle with it, at first, it doesn't work. It's only when you chill out and you become at one with your instruments, whichever they are. If it's a paintbrush or a bike, things get so much easier. So if you haven't heard the full conversation with Karila Lindmeyer, please check it out. It's full of beautiful human stories. And I will see you next week on the next one.