The Artists Way Week One...

Have any of ya'll heard of The Artists Way?  I'm sure a bunch of you have.  It does seem a pretty popular book amongst the folks I know.  Some people have only done it once.  Some people come back to it over and over.  Some keep it on hand as a handy reference to come back to.

Welp - I'm hitting it up for a third time.  I did it once by myself, back in the early theatre days when I first heard about it.  Then I did it a while later with a group of friends.  We did weekly check ins with each other.  Now it's been sitting in one of my chests for who knows how long.  I was chatting about it with a friend of mine and she exclaimed "That sounds amazing!  Let's do it!".  She immediately ordered it on Amazon and I dug mine out and dusted it off.

I'm in a big ol' rut right now.  Super unhappy at my job.  About to make a big life change and move in with the boyfriend and his kid and his dog which is causing me all kinds of anxiety.  (Please don't let my cat freak out) I'm out of shape and battling some injuries which are not helping me get back in shape.  And I have NO creative ANYTHING going on right now it seems.  I'm unmotivated, uninspired, exhausted from all the BS going on in our world - I'm quite stuck and fighting off depression with what energy I have left.

Figured this is a great time to give this a go.  I mean - I'm in a totally different place than I was both times I did it before.  Maybe I won't hate the morning pages as much (Doubtful), or maybe I'll get something more out of it, who knows but it can't hurt.  My friend and I plan to check in with each other every Sunday via text or phone call.  I even have another friend of mine who saw my post on Insta (@jamikat1976) is joining in as well, so I'll be checking in with 2 people!  Better not slack off Jami.

I decided to write 12 blogs as well - as kind of a check in for myself.  And to hold myself accountable and any of you out there reading are also holding me accountable.  Plus - this is the only really creative thing I got going for myself right now.  Whether a bunch of people I don't know read this, or just my sweet friends and family - it's for me.  I need it.  And who knows - maybe someone may find some inspiration, or hopefully at least some humor.  So here we go!



Week One:

I re-read the week one chapter over the weekend.  It's mainly about how negative we can be to ourselves from fear, from people knocking our dreams, etc.  We're asked to write down 3 "Monsters" and 3 "Champions".  My monsters ended up being 3 people who bullied me in Elementary School and Middle School.  I couldn't think of anyone currently whose necessarily stifling me, but those 3 certainly live bright in my memories.  Assholes.  My 3 Champions were much nicer to write about.  In fact - I decided to write them all a thank you note.  It may seem corny, but who doesn't like getting mail saying thanks for not thinking I'm insane and believing in me!  Right?!  Practice Gratitude.  I'm working on doing that more.

It also touches on "Blurts".  These are negative thoughts such as "No one reads this damn blog. It's lame."  I need to fight that Blurt with an Affirmation - "Who fucking cares, it makes you laugh Jami."...Hmmm maybe that's not a good one - more like "You write this blog because you love to and it helps you be creative in expressing yourself."  Better?  This is a work in progress.

I'm also supposed to take a 20 minute walk.  Do people have to be told to do that?  I do that every day.  I have to move.  Even if it's just walking.  But maybe with a friend - I'm walking with April on Tuesday night.  Done.

The 2 things we have to do weekly on this journey is the Morning Pages and Artists Date.  Today is Monday and I begrudgingly got up 15 minutes earlier to write them.  You're supposed to write 3 pages.  I know these are going to be challenging for me, so I'm altering the rules slightly and writing for 15 minutes.  I get the point.  I've done them before. I can get the same benefit (if I even get one) with 15 min vs 3 pages.  Fight me.



So we've begun.
I like that I'm going to add a weekly blog to this.  I really do hope this kicks some kind of fire into me or at least brings me some sort of joy while I try to battle my way through this tough time.


I'll come back to this blog later this week and update you on my Week One Progress!!

So, I'm at the end of my week and I've also been trying incorporate meditation back into my life.  I did pretty good!  I meditated Sun - Thur night this week!  Yay! I also did my morning pages every morning except this morning because I stayed the night over at Pats, which is also why I didn't mediate Fri night.  But, we did a really nice hike this morning so I figure that makes up for missing the morning pages.

Starting Saturday off right!

Hi little snake friend we almost stepped on!

 For my Artists Date I took myself out for a pedicure, grabbed myself a quick cache then went to Joann's and bought some little trinket boxes that Pat, Elise and I can paint!  I thought that was a pretty good little date for myself.

I haven't had an revelations this week, but I do feel like I dedicated alot of time to myself and really have made an effort to put time into this.  It is kind of hard, because I'm social, have a relationship and am always going it seems.  This is helping me force myself to not just slow down but to not be lazy with my time but rather work on myself.

So - Week 1 - I'd say thumbs up!  I'll check in with Janna and Christine tomorrow and gear up for Week 2!