Sophie Maxwell
Me for a Moment
Describe yourself in one word.
Strong.
Tell me more.
This last year has been really difficult. I’ve been doing a lot of healing… of my inner child.
Who’s the sloth?
This is sloth and cheetah. They don’t have names yet. It’s important to feel supported in a child like way. People should get a stuffed animal if they want to feel comforted!
What’s the first thing you do every morning?
I usually paint or do pastels. I try to create as being the first thing I do… in a meditative way, not trying to make a product.
What’s your primary outlet for self expression?
Music.
What inspired you to start playing guitar?
This was my brother’s guitar and I’ve always wanted to play. I’ve been holding onto it for awhile and at some point last year I picked it up and decided I was going to start playing it similarly to how I play piano.
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When I picked this up I was in a very dark headspace. I was sick of piano and I was really hitting a wall, so I thought let me just try something else. I just started plucking and I would make songs out of that.
Do you come from a musical family?
My sister is a beautiful singer. My brother can sing too. My mom and dad cannot sing for their lives… My mom’s side of the family are all artists though; they have rhythm, a lot of dancers.
When did you start singing?
I’ve sung from a young age, but I was really shy about it. I didn’t sing in front of anyone until high school. I would always sing in the shower, or really quietly, or when no one was home I would just belt it.
What have you discovered about yourself though playing?
It shifted my focus on how creativity was helping me heal parts of myself. I would keep a drone going and go into a meditative state, and talk out loud; lyrics would come from that. It allowed me to work through a lot of emotions and a lot of thoughts. I’ve always used music to work through emotions, but guitar is where I’ve really felt it in a different way, a trance like state.
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There was a very long period when I wasn’t writing. It was during the pandemic, I was nannying a lot, and I was in a relationship that I was focusing all of my energy on. Now I’ve been doing the work to try to figure out who I am and how I can live more authentically to that.
What do you do after you create?
I try and move my body a bit to wake things up, or I journal! Sometimes I really need a shower to get out of dream land and enter into earth. Then I have a glass of lemon water.
Do you like to cook?
Cooking is my connection to my family. My mom’s side of the family cooks a ton and that’s the main way they express love. I think it’s a beautiful way to express love, to nourish someone. There’s a whole show and ceremony about it in my family - on the Italian side. I channel my mom and my grandma when I cook. They are really good at improvising, making something out of nothing. We don’t really follow recipes.
I get shy when you pull the camera out…
Why?
I don’t know I get in my head about, oh gosh, how am I being perceived? What do I look like? Where do I look? Where do I put my hands? But I can do it when I’m alone. I always do photoshoots when I’m alone.
Do you want to take a selfie?
I’ve done a lot of my creative self portraits in high school and into college, and even in the last few years, in the bathtub and the shower, so that’s a place I go back to. I spent a lot time in my bathroom as a kid… and even now.
What’s special about the bathroom?
The bathroom is where I felt guaranteed comfort as a kid.
What are you most excited about right now?
Gosh. Everything in my life right now is changing and turning into something that’s exciting to me because I’m following my inner child, that heart space; because I’m creating that comfort for myself. It's leading me to find so many things - using creativity as a modality to heal has helped me find so much beauty and joy.
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I also identify as non binary and queer, so I’ve been finding a lot of beauty and joy within my community. I feel like I’m finally in a place in my life where I’m doing things for me, from a place of true and pure unapologetic love for myself.
If you could speak to your past self, what would you say to yourself?
Give yourself all of the compassion and grace you need as you heal and grow. We are all learning and figuring it out. The human experience is a wild one, so you have to first validate what you’re going through.
From there, just keep going! Even if there’s fear or doubt, keep showing up for yourself. Keep trying, even if things don’t seem like they are working out, put your effort towards what you want, because it will work out, even if it feels like it’s moving at a snails pace, which it often does in this fast paced society.
How does this home make you feel?
This home is what I’ve been working towards, what I’ve been dreaming of, what I’ve been wanting to cultivate. This space feels really special to me.
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I’ve lived here a year and six months now. This is the first place I’ve had the chance to root. It’s given me the opportunity to look within, instead of constantly going and achieving. Where am I going? What am I going to do next? I feel like we are all trying to go somewhere in this city, but where are we all trying to go? We are all here now.
Can you tell me a little bit about how you’ve decorated?
I have a lot of skulls in my apartment. I also have all these little yogi skeletons. I have a lot of death symbolism in my house, but I feel like that’s a good thing. I hold a lot of dark and light.
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I saw myself as this snake in our meditation today. This is for the throat chakra, which I feel like I need the most help with. It’s lapis lazuli.
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It’s really difficult to speak authentically. I don’t know how I’m doing, but I’m trying, and we keep going!
What does your life look like when no one is looking?
Like this.
