On Taking One's Own Advice

An Unscattering

In my drafting of the “books that prompt you to do creative things” post, I started thumbing through the new copy of The Artist’s Way that I bought myself for my birthday in March. It has been about 10 years since I worked my way through the copy I borrowed from the library, and I figured it would be nice to have on the shelf in case anyone wanted to borrow it. Last night, however, this line stopped me in my tracks -

“Do you tell yourself that if only you took your creative potential seriously you might…stop waiting until you make enough money to do something you’d really love.”

Ahem. Maybe it’s time I took my own advice and worked through it again.

To be clear, I’m generally happy with my creative life. I regularly make time not only to write but also to chase other creative pursuits, such as music, dance, knitting, etc.

But I’m also so, so scattered these days.

This is probably due to the transition to my new job. I’m trying to learn a whole new set of responsibilities while still being on the same team. This means in meetings I’m having to sift through “Oh, that’s not in my lane anymore” and “Hey, I should probably not zone out during this part.” And then I go back to my office where I get all of that, but in 3D. This consumes eight hours of my day, so it makes sense that it bleeds over a little bit after I leave the office (also, this is my first day back after taking some time off and I just want to eat ice cream and cry a little. It’s fine. Everything’s fine. I have so much to do, but it’s ok. *breathes into a paper bag*). 

What that looks like is that I will start on one creative project and get an idea for another one. Instead of just jotting it down on the notepad I keep for such instances, I immediately switch to the other project because I can no longer focus on the one I was working on. Other times, the distraction will so derail me that I will start journaling and then get up and dance or run in place or do a plank (ugh why) to release some of that energy, and then I’ll see something that needs to be organized or rearranged and also remember that I meant to bag up those clothes and here are all the errands I need to run so I have to make a list.

My neurospiciness is in overdrive. 

I’m not sure if it’s just the transition at work or if there are other things going on, but I am sure that, to unscatter my creative life, I need to go back to basics. And if anyone can help, it’s Julia Cameron.

So I’m going to work through The Artist’s Way again over the next 12(ish) weeks. I may share snippets from morning pages here if something sticks out. 

If you are feeling blocked in some way too, I encourage you to find a copy of The Artist’s Way. It is a remarkable tool to help you get unstuck, no matter what your creative pursuit may be.