Welcome to Chapter Three of The Artist's Way
And how did you get on with Chapter Two?
Hello, and welcome to Chapter Three!
Well, blimey, what did you think of Chapter Two?! For me, it hit really hard. I have lived through a lot of what Julia talked about. “Poisonous playmates”, “crazymakers”, “needy friends”. My goodness have I lived that - but I didn’t quite realise what was happening at the time and now, well, put it this way, I feel understood. Less alone. Seriously, I cannot emphasise enough how much of an impact this chapter had on me.
There were a number of quotes that really stood out for me:
“We must learn to place our artist with safe companions.”
“Blocked friends may find your recovery disturbing.”
“Be alert to subtle sabotage from friends.”
“Be particularly alert to any suggestions that you have become selfish or different.”
The entire section on “crazymakers”.
And the few paragraphs on page 50 that suggests we are allowing ourselves to be involved with the crazymakers’ life and drama in order to self-sabotage our creative recovery. That was food for thought.
It’s fair to say this chapter brought up lots of memories with the friend that I eventually had to let go because the drama was too much for me. It was having too much of an impact not just on my regular life but, specifically, my creative life.
Funnily enough since then I have surrounded myself with friends who are ambitiously creative, who inspire me regularly and who understand and crucially respect the work that I’m doing.
I have talked more about this in a video (below) that I’m including for paid subscribers. In this video I share the notes I’ve journaled in my notebook (don’t worry, I’m not sharing my morning pages!) This feels incredibly vulnerable to share which is why it’s behind a paywall. And it’s also inspired me to write about this further in an essay that I hope will be written and uploaded soon.
Incidentally in the notebook video I’m sharing I felt a bit guilty for taking my time with the note-taking and journaling. For writing quotes on post-its and scraps of paper and sticking them in and using washi tape. Until I read in The Artist’s Way that “self-nurturing is important”. This note-taking and journaling feels so self-nurturing. I look forward to doing it and it brings me a lot of joy and satisfaction. It’s simply another form of creativity so why was I feeling guilty about it?
So, from today we are reading Chapter Three or Week Three: Recovering a Sense of Power. I like the sound of this one although Julia warns “you may find you are dealing with unaccustomed bursts of energy and sharp peaks of anger, joy and grief.”
I actually felt a little bit of nervous fluttering in my tummy when I looked through the chapter, which suggests this one might also have an impact on me.
How are you getting on? Dates, Morning Pages, the reading and the exercises? I love to hear your stories, even if they’re negative. Remember, Julia said it’s going to bring all sorts of emotions out in us.
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