A Return To 'The Artist's Way'

When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Tools

Photo by Wilhelm Gunkel on Unsplash

After nearly a year of relentless creativity, I finally hit a wall a couple of months ago.

I’ve tried to deny and ignore it’s happening, but that’s not working. So I’ve decided to use one of the most powerful—and simple—tools I know of to address the problem head-on: Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, a creativity workshop in book form.

As I started “turning my light back on” in my personal life, creativity and work took a back seat. And now all it wants to do is take a nap.

But I love creating and curating too much to sit around and wait for it to wake up from its siesta, so I’m off to refind my mojo…while I’m working. My pace may be a bit slower, but creativity is not a race.

Finding a more realistic and reasonable pace is a big goal of mine, helping me not fall into the burnout trap…yet again.

Even with my weekly Studio Saturday practice, I forget creativity isn’t a machine I can just keep turning off and on. It’s a delicate process that requires balance, grace, and patience…with myself and others.

For a while, I let the pressure of creating and curating content overshadow my need to recharge. That’s when the blocks started to form—every new idea felt forced, every project seemed like a chore, and the joy that once accompanied the creative process felt like a distant memory.

So I’m revisiting an “old friend” in the form of Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, a guide that reminds creatives that taking care of your mental and emotional well-being is as essential as the work itself.

This isn’t my first rodeo. Over the past 20+ years, I’ve completed the program four times…and referenced it for quick fixes more times than I can count. This is my fifth round of “Morning Pages” and “Artist Dates” and I love how each time I develop a new understanding of my own personality and preferences. For better and worse….

Slowly but surely, I know my creative spark will soon return to full bloom. Like Stella Got Her Groove Back, I’m looking forward to creating again without the unrealistic expectations of my oh-so-perfectionist tendencies.

From past experience, I know creativity, like most things in life, is cyclical. The key to thriving through these ups and downs is self-compassion and patience.

So, if you’re feeling stuck too, remember: it’s okay to pause. Your creativity will find its way back—just give it the space it needs to breathe.

Keep calm and get your creativity on!
Clint 🌈✌️

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FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

• Mining Of Authors’ Work Is Nothing New – AI Is Just Doing What Creative Humans Do (The Guardian)

• Autism Acceptance Art Show Celebrates Creativity, Inclusion, And Opportunity (Oakland Press)

• Rediscovering Creativity In The Age Of Generative AI (Psychology Today)

ON THIS DAY = APRIL 7

BIRTHDAYS

• 1891 = Martha May Eliot = American pediatrician 🌈

• 1897 = Walter Winchell = American journalist and radio host

• 1901 = Christopher Wood = British painter 🌈

• 1908 = Percy Faith = Canadian composer, conductor, and bandleader

• 1912 = Harry Hay = American activist and labor advocate 🌈

• 1915 = Billie Holiday = American jazz and blues singer 🌈

• 1916 = Oreste Pucciani = American academic 🌈

• 1920 = Ravi Shankar = Indian-American sitar player and composer

• 1928 = Alan J. Pakula = American filmmaker

• 1928 = James Garner = American actor, singer, and producer

• 1933 = Wayne Rogers = American actor, investor, and producer

• 1937 = Charlie Thomas = American singer

• 1939 = David Frost = English journalist and game show host

• 1939 = Francis Ford Coppola = American filmmaker

• 1944 = Julia Phillips = American film producer and author

• 1948 = John Oates = American singer-songwriter and producer

• 1951 = Janis Ian = American singer-songwriter and musician 🌈

• 1952 = Dennis Hayden = American actor

• 1954 = Jackie Chan = Hong Kong martial artist, actor, and filmmaker

• 1964 = Russell Crowe = New Zealand-Australian actor

• 1965 = Bill Bellamy = American comedian, actor, and producer

• 1968 = Jennifer Lynch = American actor and filmmaker

• 1985 = Ben McKee = American musician, songwriter, and record producer

EVENTS

• 1724 = Johann Sebastian Bach's St John Passion, BWV 245, premieres at St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig.

• 1805 = German composer Ludwig van Beethoven premieres his Third Symphony, at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna.

• 1906 = Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples.

• 1927 = AT&T engineer Herbert Ives transmits the first long-distance public television broadcast from Washington, D.C., to New York City.

• 1933 = Prohibition in the United States is repealed for beer of no more than 3.2% alcohol by weight, eight months before the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution.

• 1837 = “The Little Mermaid,” written by Hans Christian Andersen (possibly as a love letter to Edvard Collin), is published.

• 1940 = Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.

• 1948 = The World Health Organization is established by the United Nations.

• 1966 = Founded by The Society for Individual Rights (SIR), America's first gay and lesbian community center opens in San Francisco.

• 1993 = The Bad News Bears is released in theaters.

• 1993 = The Sandlot is released in theaters.

HOLIDAYS + OBSERVANCES

• National Beer Day

• National Girl, Me Too Day

• World Health Day

PORTRAIT + QUOTES OF THE DAY

“I knew that I was gay in every bone of my body. So I did the only thing I could do. I started the movement.”
Harry Hay

“Give yourself permission to enjoy being gay. You do have to give yourself permission. You have been told you may not. Give yourself permission to be free.”
Harry Hay

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