Originally published on Substack after updating my publication name there from Debit This, Create That (same as this blog) to The Creative Reconciliation. Although everything is archived here at debitthiscreatethat.com, I renamed my Substack as I began developing a distinguishable voice there. Substack began housing my more reflective, unfolding writing about the space between corporate and creative lives.
You’re welcome to subscribe to The Creative Reconciliation there to receive these types of posts when they go live, and to participate in the wonderful community there!
Hello, everyone!
I’d like to reintroduce this space under a new name. Welcome to The Creative Reconciliation.
Previously, Debit This, Create That — which is still very much alive, just perhaps not here. I’d love to explain why, and how I’ve redefined this space.
If you’d like to join me for a brief history of the shift, read on!
Debit This, Create That
Before joining the Substack community, I had been blogging for a few years at Debit This, Create That.
I attempted to playfully present my premise here: Debit This, Create That: A New Venture in Balancing the Books and the Creative Life
That blog started out as a creative outlet after hours. Watercolour painting had been my main hobby, but I’d always loved to write, and I’d been thinking about starting a blog for years… Truthfully, about eight years between the first “gosh, it would be fun to write a blog”, and actually hitting publish for the first time.
I didn’t know exactly what I’d be writing about. I might have started with irony — when one hears Creative Accountant, it typically points to trouble. (Or opportunities; no, just trouble.) I began musing about being a creative soul in a public accounting firm, and how I managed to nurture my creative side while advancing my career (and becoming a mother).
As writing became more central to my life, I was pulled to reach all the other creatives out there struggling with corporate life. I wanted to help them both find ways to thrive at work and to nurture their creativity. Because beneath that, I was learning that creativity is far more important than is generally given credit for.
Creativity is a way back to ourselves.
Through creativity we can stand confidently in our authenticity, cherish both our own uniqueness and that of others, discover the song the heart wants to sing, cultivate empathy and compassion for fellow humans, and innovate from a place of resonance instead of fear.
Creativity is healing, individually and collectively.
I started writing Debit This, Create That like a toolbox:
🛠️ For the ones running meetings and dearly missing playing music, to help them find time and make space for it.
🛠️ For the ones burning through overtime and lamenting how they don’t have a thing, to help them reconnect with their creativity and find that thing.
🛠️ For the ones who knew they had to create to feel balanced — like me — to help them stand confidently in their authenticity.
The toolbox is meant to guide readers through a creative reclamation, from reclaiming their energy through to developing and tending a creative practice that keeps them connected with themselves. It’s meant to be part of the greater movement encouraging more folks to awaken to their own creativity — without having to uproot their lives and leave their demanding day jobs.
(If you’re curious: Choose Your Creative Path)
Debit This, Create That has always had a reflective, introspective undertone — there are very few quick tips in there that don’t also come with a look at our own patterns and belief systems… Which brings me to Substack.
Creative Unfolding and the Substack Shift
I came here partly because it felt like a better fit for my more reflective writing.
But also, I wanted to bring the work I’d been creating to more people. I wanted to see if it could make a difference. But my posts have never been terribly SEO-friendly, and I’m not very active on social media, so my reach was limited.
I thought Substack might be a happy compromise, where perhaps a few more people could find my work if it resonated — and perhaps more importantly, I could immerse myself in the online writing community.
I wrote a bit more about my experience joining the platform here: I Resisted Substack, But I’m So Glad I Finally Joined
I’ve since brought some of my work from Debit This, Create That over — and I’ll continue to do so when a post feels relevant. (It’s amazing how often I circle back to themes I’ve written about in the past!)
But something else happened… This place started tugging at my inner voice.
Not the creative with the accountant’s polish, nor the guide who writes organized blog posts, nor the writer who’s learned to be useful.
🌱 The creative who heals through writing.
🌱The human who notices, and just has to share what she sees.
🌱 The writer who’s learned to be more deeply authentic.
I noticed I was gravitating more toward processing than guiding… And I liked writing that way.
Topics have shifted away from work-life balance and creative hobby consistency, leaning instead toward exploring identity, embracing the unknown, and the magic and mystery of the creative process itself.
It’s about the creative life I’ve been building atop the foundation of the corporate life that held me for thirteen years.
A reconciliation between an old life and a new one, you might say.
The Creative Reconciliation
One common but perhaps overlooked challenge of leaving a career you so closely identified with is discovering who you are without it — and that’s what writing here has helped me do. Actually, continues to help me do so, while giving me space to share it in real time with a community of other writers who are doing the same or similar.
It just so happens that I’m publishing this post exactly one year after I left public accounting! 🎉
The tides have shifted as I’ve learned to lean into self-permission: to be, to express, to show up unpolished, and to let go of the rulebook, the urgency, and the need to always be five steps ahead.
Debit This, Create That still exists on the web because I still want to continue building the toolkit, filling it with more useful tips and guide-style blog posts to meet the people that could use them. They’ll occasionally make their way over here. Who knows who it could help?
I’ll also continue to write my monthly letter just for that blog, which is meant to be a bit more digestible than the posts that go out from here.
But here on Substack, The Creative Reconciliation is where the deeper work happens in real time:
✨ Identity.
✨ The creative process.
✨ Creativity as the way back to ourselves.
✨ Writing life.
It’s the fieldwork, the soulful experimentation, and the spur-of-the-moment writing that wants to be shared.
I’m so glad you’re here for it.
