Week 2 of The Artist’s Way is focused on recovering a sense of identity as a means to further tap into our creativity (as a reminder I’m working through The Artist’s Way not as an artist working to unblock my creativity in the literal sense, but to help me create a fulfilling life). Cameron writes, “self-definition [is] a major component of creative recovery.” This self-definition often includes setting new boundaries for yourself as you discover your needs and desires while working through The Artist’s Way. I have found that I need boundaries around the structure of my day. My day tends to get away from me if I do not spend at least five minutes the night before planning what I want to accomplish for the day. I write a list, but do not assign a specific timeline to when I will work on those things during the day. I still need some flexibility to attend to my toddler’s needs since I work from home and am a primary caregiver. Overall, I have seen that I am more productive when I at least write down my goals for the day, but I do practice grace and allow myself to move to do list items over to the next day if necessary. Through this practice I’m really mastering the skill of prioritization.
Flexing my prioritization muscle feels great and has allowed me to free up time to explore what I want my life to feel like. “Often, creativity is blocked by our falling in with other people’s plans for us,” but that also applies to just how we live our lives and what we consider as accomplishments. So often we prescribe to the American Dream – do well in school, graduate from college, get a corporate job, get married, buy a house, and have kids – but reaching these goals is not the only formula to happiness. None of this is revolutionary, but a nice reminder that in life “the process, not the product, will become your focus.” That is where the joyful moments of life can be found, in paying attention to the now.
Some of my favorite tasks for the week included: listing twenty things I enjoy doing and when was the last time I did those things (a great list for future artist dates) and drawing a pie chart of life and placing a dot where I am feeling fulfilled in six areas of life (spirituality, exercise, play, work, friends, and romance/adventure). I think these exercises are a great place to start to help us figure out where we can add more joy into our day-to-day lives.
My artist date for the week was researching and deciding on paint colors for the nursery. I found so much inspiration scrolling through Pinterest and Instagram for nursery themes and colors, it was a lot of fun!
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