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As you might know from my “Out of Office” recaps over the past few weeks, I recently read The Artist’s Way. If you’re not familiar, The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity is a book/program for people trying to “unblock” their inner artist and overcome various hang-ups related to creativity and making art.
This book is very hyped in certain circles. I’ve heard it’s basically required reading for creative people. I’ve heard it’s life-changing. But I tempered my expectations and approached The Artist’s Way the same way I approach all self-help books: with an open mind and an attitude of taking what works for me and leaving the rest.
I opted to listen to the audiobook over the course of two weeks rather than adhering to the pacing of the prescribed 12-week program. I did one or two activities from the (long) list of “homework” tasks at the end of each chapter. You might say I did The Artist’s Way Lite™️.
Before this turns into a full-on book review, I want to tell you about one of the sections that was so accurate to my experience, it felt author Julia Cameron was speaking to me, personally:
You’ve cleared a morning to write or paint but then you realize that the clothes are dirty. “I’ll just think about what I want to paint and fine-tune it while I fold the clothes,” you tell yourself. What you really mean is, “Instead of painting anything, I will worry about it some more.” Somehow, the laundry takes your whole morning.
Most blocked creatives have an active addiction to anxiety. We prefer the low-grade pain and occasional heart-stopping panic attack to the drudgery of small and simple daily steps in the right direction.
Think about it instead of doing anything? Worry about it some more? Who, me??? 💀 I’ve never before encountered the concept of an “addiction to anxiety,” and it’s haunting me. I hate that I’m anxious. I’ve never considered that I might also be hiding behind it or using it as an excuse for inaction.
And then came this image:
A creative life is grounded on many, many small steps and very, very few large leaps. Rather than take a scary baby step toward our dreams, we rush to the edge of the cliff and then stand there, quaking, saying ‘I can’t leap. I can’t. I can’t…’”
No one is asking you to leap. That’s just drama.
Me, listening to the audiobook: Hahahaha HOW DARE YOU 😤
My tendency toward introspection, perfectionism, and analysis can be a strength, but it can also be a stumbling block. At some point, I have to stop curating and optimizing and just do something. I even have to risk… making the “wrong” choice 💀
Here’s Julia’s advice, summarized:
Work with what you have and don’t complain about what you don’t have
Take one small daily action instead of indulging in the big questions (ouch)
Remember: large changes occur in tiny increments
This tough love message came at the right time. I’ve been wallowing and waffling about my creative dreams, and I needed someone to call me out on my bullshit. I need the mindset shift of stripping away the drama and the stakes and just taking one small, imperfect step in the right direction. And then another. And then another.
The Artist’s Way wasn’t life-changing, but it was inspiring and highly encouraging. I will warn that you need some degree of tolerance for eyeroll-inducing woo-woo language and 90s self-help cringe. Once you get past that, you’ll find plenty of nuggets of insight.
See you next week,
Kara
Out of Office
What I do when I’m not at my desk
Reading: I just finished The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 3! I’m loving this series, and I’m delighted that there are so many more books in it ♥️
Watching: Dawson decided he wants to see the whole Fast & Furious franchise, so we watched the first two. They are…not good movies, but they are pretty fun and entertaining so far.
Doing: We did some rearranging last weekend. One corner of our awkwardly long upstairs “bonus” room/home theater/living room is now dubbed the “cozy corner,” featuring a new-to-us leather chair and electric fireplace 😍 Dawson is going to build a(nother) bookshelf this winter, and I’m going to source my own cozy chair for this space 😈
Kara Detwiller is a writer and artist based in small-town Saskatchewan. She specializes in long-form content writing for enterprise SaaS, cybersecurity, and manufacturing clients. She is also working on her first novel, among other creative pursuits. To connect, reply to this email or find Kara on LinkedIn.
