A midlife DJ and polka enthusiast reminds us it's never too late to start something new
Creative Dialogue #1
I’m so excited, y’all. For the last several weeks, I’ve been gathering interviews from an astonishingly wonderful variety of creative individuals (and I still am! DM me if you’d like to participate).
Today, I’m thrilled to release my very first Creative Dialogue with Stacy Harbaugh (aka DJ Shotski), a Wisconsin-based DJ who returned to music in her mid-40s. I loved Stacy’s story about finding her own path and rediscovering a youthful passion in midlife, and I know you will, too.
Stacy Harbaugh — under the name of DJ Shotski — is a passionate collector of records and lives in Madison, Wisconsin. She shares her collection with others — particularly Dutchman-style recordings from Wisconsin and the upper Midwest — at events and on her radio show, Polka Time. When she’s not playing polka, Stacy works for River Alliance of Wisconsin as their communications director. She also spends her free time traveling in Wisconsin to enjoy our priceless woods and waters. You can find Stacy online at djshotski.com and on Substack at Shotski’s Lodge.
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When did you first realize you were a DJ?
When I bought turntables and started practicing playing records more cohesively at home, I knew I wanted it to lead somewhere. It was during the COVID crisis, so the dream was to be able to play records in public and be an active part of creating an atmosphere with good music. It all felt theoretical while we were staying safer at home. I struggled with imposter syndrome and didn’t know when we would be able to make that leap from the thing I did for pleasure in my living room to having the guts to do it in public.
At some point, something clicked when I started calling myself a DJ. I considered if I had friends who were in a band that dutifully practiced in their garage but had yet to perform in front of an audience, I wouldn’t ever say they weren’t real musicians. I’d be a terrible friend to suggest that they aren’t real until they have an audience. The click happened when I applied that to myself. It was having passion, a vision, and a commitment to practice at home that allowed me to call myself a DJ. It wasn’t the existence of an audience.
This is the same thing for writers and readers who buy their books or painters and patrons who buy their art. It’s nice to have an audience, patrons, or buyers. But your identity as an artist starts earlier than that. The choice to identify myself as a DJ changed my whole path and gave me the confidence to say “yes” to creating avenues for this music to be heard.
It was having passion, a vision, and a commitment to practice at home that allowed me to call myself a DJ. It wasn’t the existence of an audience. The choice to identify myself as a DJ changed my whole path and gave me the confidence to say “yes” to creating avenues for this music to be heard.
What encouragement would you give to someone who’s struggling to get in touch with their creative self?
For me, the best remedy for burnout or creative blocks is nature. I’m blessed to live in Wisconsin where we have the most beautiful rivers, lakes and woods. All the things I think are barriers to being creative tend to melt away when I get some quality time in nature. I need to walk long enough that my shoulders drop down from my ears or my belly relaxes and lets me take full breaths. I also truly believe water talks to me and gives me clarity on my priorities. Paddling is a conduit for that clarity.
It helps to ask for a solution to whatever is blocking your creative flow before you head out on that hike. Ask it out loud. Then forget it. Just start walking. Listen to birds. Look at how the sun filters through the leaves. If you start dwelling on a problem, take a deep breath, let it go, and go back to bird chips or leaf studies. This is practice for being present, welcoming ideas, and opening that creative channel.
For me, the best remedy for burnout or creative blocks is nature. It helps to ask for a solution to whatever is blocking your creative flow before you head out on that hike. Ask it out loud. Then forget it. Just start walking.
What keeps you going when you feel discouraged?
I try to remind myself that “I get to do this” or “I’m the one who gets to do this” (with a deep, respectful nod to Toni Jones’ music). I have way more ideas than time or money to do what I want to do. It helps to keep returning to the basics of what brings me joy in sharing this music. It also helps to produce a radio show every week. That’s the touchstone that reminds me of that feeling I’m trying to evoke.
I also try to remind myself that my uniqueness has value. No one else is doing quite what I’m doing, and no one else has my personality. Just because I haven’t reached all of my lofty goals doesn’t mean that the road to get there can’t be filled with enjoying the process and appreciating the sparks of “I get to do this” and joy along the way.
I try to remind myself that my uniqueness has value. No one else is doing quite what I’m doing, and no one else has my personality.
What is one thing you’d tell your younger self about building a creative practice?
When I was younger, I thought sharing music by being a DJ was expensive and was something men did. In the mid-90s, I embraced Riot Grrrl culture and music on one hand, but on the other, I only saw men playing records in public or on the radio. My feminism told me to be confident and break into male-dominated spaces. But I also saw men talking about expensive gear and bragging about their record collections and thought being a DJ was out of reach.
It took twenty five years, the COVID crisis, and a little disposable income to realize that I had to just start and define my own progress and success. A mentor and visible women in music would have helped me in the 90s, but I’m grateful that returning to music in my mid-40s is making a path to being creative and following inspiration in my effort to build community around a niche musical sound and format.
When I was younger, I thought sharing music by being a DJ was expensive and was something men did. It took twenty five years, the COVID crisis, and a little disposable income to realize that I had to just start and define my own progress and success.
What is one thing you believe about creativity that most people would disagree with?
Everyone is creative. Every human being is creative. We have big, complicated brains and we create our own subjective realities every day. All of our human experiences are creation in action. Experiencing the world through our senses is a deeply spiritual act. Once it clicked for me that we are conduits for the universe to be alive and experience life, I started seeing inspiration and support for my musical mission everywhere.
For me, it means playing music that evokes feelings of happiness, nostalgia, good memories of family and tradition, and a Midwest coziness and camaraderie. All of the barriers I thought I faced have been erased by patience, time and practice. We can all experience the spark of creation and the flow of being present whether we are painting, playing an instrument, hiking in the woods, kneading bread, or scrubbing the bathroom floor. I’ve learned that having experiences that open us up to flow is more important than producing a product.
Every human being is creative. We have big, complicated brains and we create our own subjective realities every day. All of our human experiences are creation in action. Experiencing the world through our senses is a deeply spiritual act.
What is one thing this community can do to support you and your work?
I want everyone to keep walking on their own individual path toward self love and letting go of worries, pain and ego triggers. We can support each other best when we do our own work to be better humans and see how we are all connected to each other.
Any final thoughts on creativity you’d care to leave us with?
It’s never too late to take up a new creative venture. I wanted to do this in my 20s, but only came around to it in my mid-40s. When you get older, it’s possible to care less about what others think of you. If you cultivate a sense of self-love, there is a lot of creativity that can flow from just following what you think is cool. Letting go of being concerned about what other people think keeps getting easier as I get older and has been key to building this quirky niche that attracts people who get what I’m trying to do.
It’s never too late to take up a new creative venture. When you get older, it’s possible to care less about what others think of you. If you cultivate a sense of self-love, there is a lot of creativity that can flow from just following what you think is cool.
So excited for this series!! As a fellow Wisconsin-born, the imagery of this filled me with home. 🧡 So inspiring. I especially loved (and needed to hear) the bit about what having an audience does and doesn’t do for us.