Lesson's Learned; the artist's way, morning pages, solo dates and creativity
A series about relearning how to live in my 30's.
I have managed to follow The Artist’s Way for a whole week and here is everything I have learned so far.
Writing morning pages appears to be a somewhat laborious and wasteful task but I am 21 morning pages deep at this point and there is nothing more pleasurable in life than making a coffee the moment I wake up and settling into the day writing my pages lounging on my pink stripy armchair.
Realising that no one’s work starts off perfect or even good is one of the most life altering realisations you can have. Letting go of perfectionism has allowed me to start scrap book journaling and write the beginnings of a short story. These are both things I have been thinking about starting for the better half of this year and have never dared because of the fear of them being shit.
Creativity is more about the process than the product and if it’s only about the product then you’re missing out on the joy of being creative.
Taking yourself on an Artist Date is the most wholesome self care you will ever experience. I put on my favourite midi dress and took my leopard tote bag for a browse around an indie book shop and an exhibition at my local museum.
You will cry a lot. The point of morning pages is to get all the crap that’s blocking your creativity out onto paper, this isn’t in a conscious way but just via the act of doing morning pages. I have come to realise that I keep my emotions quite guarded and the act of writing my morning pages has unleashed my emotional beast. Sometimes I drive to work and Coldplay comes on and I burst into tears, other times I think about an old man I saw on a documentary who died on the operating table and I have a big cry - it does feel needed and quite good though, its not a depressing cry but a release of something that needs releasing.
I’m actually doing things I never thought possible. Today I deactivated Facebook and Instagram and deleted the apps from my phone. It’s been weighing on me for some time now that I don’t think it is healthy to see what my friends are up to on an almost constant basis or to have any inkling of what some random girl I met on a holiday is 2010 is eating. I actually don’t think much good comes from scrolling these apps and I doubt anyone will even notice I’ve left them - until there is a birthday collection at work where the preferred method of communicating this seems to be via a Facebook messenger group.
Spending time with yourself isn’t always easy, writing my morning pages is the first time I have sat with myself for a long time. Even when I get ready in the morning I have a podcast or YouTube video running in the background. I don’t think I have ever been alone with my thoughts in my entire life and that’s quite a scary thought. How are we supposed to figure out who we are or what we want when we are surrounded by constant noise?
You will start doing the things you never have time for. Doing this has shown me that we do have time and we often waste it, refer back to point 6 about doom scrolling. One of the reasons you’re reading this is because I gave up some social media to commit to another.
I would love to connect with anyone else who is sharing my journey so don’t be shy to chat in the comments.
Love these reflections! I’m currently doing TAW with a group of artist/writer friends (after failing to complete it on my own years ago)
It really is search an insightful journey into the creative process.0