Dear Creative Community: It's Time to Fill Your Cup First

Dr. Angelica McCarthy
Jul 16
5 min read

Dear Creative Community,

If you've found your way here, it's likely because you understand that being an artist, performer, or creative professional is more than just a career—it's a calling. You know the profound joy of creating something beautiful, the vulnerability of sharing your gift with the world, and perhaps also the unique challenges that come with pouring your heart into your craft.

Hello—my name is Angelica McCarthy, and I'm honored to walk alongside you on this journey of creative well-being. As a licensed Doctor of Athletic Training and creative, I've spent over a decade supporting artists, performers, and athletes worldwide—from Broadway productions to professional dance companies, to award-winning productions with organizations like Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Miami City Ballet, and Katy Perry's "The Witness Tour."

My Journey: From Recognition to Revelation

In 2022, my husband Joe and I co-founded Angelface Records, our independent label designed to channel our artistic vision through authentic expression and creative innovation. Our mission centers on creating multi-dimensional experiences that nurture the well-being of arts communities by uniting the power of music and wellness. This vision came to life through our debut project, The Pan American Nutcracker Suite, which earned a 2023 Latin Grammy® nomination for Best Arrangement for Joe and his co-arranger Vince Norman.

While this recognition was very meaningful for an independently owned entity, its deeper significance lies in how it affirmed my core belief: when we prioritize our own healing — mind, body, and spirit — we become powerful conduits for healing others through the sacred gift of creative expression.

Through building our independent label, we've discovered how much hard work goes into producing and presenting our creations independently—building relationships, holding all the duties and responsibilities from feeding people to driving from gig to gig, booking, promoting, marketing, releasing music, collaborating with others, and more! — all while striving to remain authentic. We've learned firsthand how our creative endeavors can deplete us physically, emotionally, and spiritually, influencing how we show up not only for our work and communities, but ultimately for ourselves.

In our household, when things get hard — when we aren't seeing what "success" should look like, when people aren't responding back to emails, or we're hearing consistent "No's" — we remind ourselves of our mantra: "Let the Music Do the Talking." We return to letting our truth and creative expression speak for itself, trusting that it will ultimately land and resonate with the collaborators and audiences it is supposed to reach. But sustaining this trust requires us to create from a place of wholeness, not depletion.

Why This Matters: Breaking the Cycle of Creative Depletion

This blog exists because I believe there's a sacred intersection between faith, creativity, and well-being that deserves our attention. Too often, we give endlessly until we're depleted, forgetting that we cannot pour from an empty cup. This depletion creates a ripple effect that undermines our ability to advocate for ourselves as an essential community contributing to the world's well-being.

When we neglect our well-being, it cascades into illness, burnout, fractured relationships, and toxic environments that can damage our communities in ways we never anticipated. But here's the hope: each one of us has the power to change this cycle. It all starts with ourselves—through cultivating presence, taking ownership, seeking wisdom, recognizing our value, and embracing responsibility.

What You'll Find Here: Your Weekly Bridge-Building Journey

Creative Well-being offers an exploration of how faith, creativity, and personal wholeness converge to create both individual healing and broader community change. Through themes and insights drawn from lived experience and essential wisdom for creative individuals, each weekly edition focuses on deepening self-awareness while inspiring collective transformation. This is where personal growth meets community impact, guided by the powerful connection between spiritual practice and creative expression.

Here's how we'll do this together:

At the heart of everything we'll explore is The Four R's Practice—a transformative framework that guides us from awareness to acceptance:

Reflect (Awareness) - Examining our creative journey and divine calling
Refresh (Alignment) - Aligning our practices with our wholeness
Refocus (Action) - Taking intentional steps toward overflow rather than depletion
Release (Acceptance) - Surrendering what's beyond our control and letting God work

Each post will weave together wisdom applied to creative life, personal stories from my journey, insights from fellow creatives, and practical healing approaches. You'll receive insights that honor your mind, body, and spirit as interconnected parts of your creative gift — always moving from personal wholeness toward community impact.

This isn't just about creative wellness — it's about creating a movement where healed creatives heal the world through the transformative power of the arts.

My Philosophy: Wholeness Through God's Wisdom

I believe in wholeness—that true creative fulfillment comes when we align our artistic gifts with our spiritual foundation, for our gifts are God-given. Every post will be grounded in the understanding that as we heal, learn, and fill our own cups as creatives, we multiply our capacity to fill and heal the cups of others in our communities.

This isn't about perfection; it's about practice. Through mindful, intentional steps rooted in faith, we'll explore what it means to embody well-being as a creative—embracing your enoughness, authentic creativity, and the peace that comes from living aligned with your divine purpose.

Your Invitation to Wholeness

Let's begin this journey together with The Four R's Practice:

Reflect (Awareness): What drew you to your creative path? Take a moment to honor the divine spark within you that compels you to create.

Refresh (Alignment): Consider how you currently care for yourself as a creative. What practices serve your wholeness, and what habits might be hindering your well-being?

Refocus (Action): What would it look like to approach your creativity from a place of overflow rather than depletion? What one small intuitive step can you take this week?

Release (Acceptance): Accept what's not in your control. Surrender it all, create space, Let Go and Let God... period. This will be the hardest, yet most important step.

Remember This

This is a practice, and there is no perfection in embodying well-being. It's beautifully imperfect and requires abundant grace and forgiveness—for ourselves and others. As we fill and heal our own cups as creatives, we naturally overflow into filling and healing the cups of our communities. Together, we heal the world through the transformative power of the arts.

I can't wait to grow on this creative well-being journey together!

Sending you Love and Light,

Angelica McCarthy