MORNING PAGES & MEDIA FREE DAYS | THE ARTIST'S WAY WEEK FOUR

Hi! welcome back to the series of blogposts i' m making to capture my journey with The Artist's Way! If you haven't caught up with the journey so far, i'll leave some links for you to check out on how week 1, 2 and 3 went. Take a quick peek, and then hop right back here for a delightful scoop on week 4! i will wait 4 u :)

I will be honest, i was not excited for this week, even though i pretty much knew how much i actually needed it. The biggest activity for week 4 in The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron is the task of media deprivation for the whole week. Originally, Julia Cameron called it "reading deprivation," but as we waltz into the digital age, it's more like "media" deprivation. Can you imagine a whole week without media? No social media scrolling, no Netflix binges, no reels... nada!

Now, let's talk about "morning pages." If you're not familiar, these are the secret sauce of creativity in The Artist's Way. It's like your daily brain dump, a chance to clear out the cobwebs and make room for some fresh, innovative thoughts. Morning pages are like your morning coffee for your soul, and they've been my trusty sidekick throughout this journey.

Okay, but back to Week 4. It feels like a teeny-tiny milestone, right? I mean, we're already a month into this incredible creative adventure (not in real life, im actually on week 6 at the time of writing this. whoops.), and I can't wait to share my experiences and insights with you all. Welcome to the tour of my media-free week, where i spill the beans on how my media deprivation week went, how morning pages have been changing my life, and give you a sneak peek into the magic that "The Artist's Way" has been weaving for me so far.

“Does “I feel okay”mean I feel resigned, accepting, comfortable, detached, numb,

tolerant, pleased, or satisfied? What does it mean?”

a refresher on how they're making me feel so far

i think morning pages will stay with me forever. much after i finish the artists way too. i have always been the kind of person to journal and write. so this is something i truly enjoy doing. getting my head clear first thing in the morning, and just letting all that gunk out - no better feeling than that.

im quite prone to letting things build up in my head and stay there and rot. so using this stream of consciousness writing as a tool to let all that out on paper is a precious thing.

just incase you're curious, ive recently started to journal in 2 places - my physical "morning pages journal" where i do stream of consciousness writing and reflection, and the the journal entries like a day summary in the Day One app. Yup, I've also hopped on the digital journaling train.

Now, I used to be all about the physical journals, but this app has won me over big time. Templates, tagging, media features, multiple journals – it's like a journaling wonderland. I can organize my thoughts into different digital realms, add photos and videos directly from my phone (how cool is that?), and even do weekly and monthly reviews.

i know this isn't really related to morning pages, but its just another journaling tit-bit i wanted to share with you. Day One has become my "night pages"- where i summarize my day and have a way to remember it.

anyways, back to morning pages. i do genuinely notice how being able to do morning pages or not affects my mood. if i dont get to write them in the morning time or dont get to write them at all during the day, i begin to feel annoyed. i can actually feel my thoughts building up inside me and eating me up from within. i know that the days that i sit down with my journal will regardless of the circumstances be a slightly bit better than if i didnt write them at all. even though some of my entries in the morning are rambly and complainy and incoherent and angry and annoyed (,,,very annoyed,,,), once i have it down on paper it brings in a sense of calm. its like, ive put this odd feeling out into the universe and a weight is now off of my shoulders.

As the book suggested, whenever i do miss a day or curse the morning pages when i wake up (which is quite a rare occasion for me), i like to remind myself that "i didn't write them, so I am crabby.” is a much more accurate thing than “i was too crabby to write them.” .

Alright, here's the part I wasn't exactly thrilled about. And it's not because I thought it was unfair to be separated from my phone or because I'm secretly admitting I might have a teensy addiction (which, okay, maybe I do, but that's beside the point). It wasn't even about being mad at the book for "taking" my phone away. No, what had me hesitating was the fact that the week leading up to this activity had been a stress-filled rollercoaster. Work had piled up so high that I felt like I was drowning in to-dos. Every week, I'd check off a couple of tasks, only to add a whole bunch more. I kept telling myself I could delay this media detox for a week and tackle my mountain of work first. But then it hit me – a break was exactly what I needed. ya' girl could actually really use this.

When you're feeling burnt out, taking a breather is one thing, but diving back into the same old routine just doesn't cut it. You need a change when you return to it, right?

So, I made a conscious decision to make the most of this opportunity. I was ready to lighten my workload, cut back on the social media scroll-a-thons, reduce my research and "inspiration hunting" (which, let's face it, can turn into hours of overstimulation). And trust me, that list was quite long.

I sat down and wrote out what was absolutely essential for me to keep doing this week, like my current client projects that I had already committed to. And then, I jotted down the big "no-no" list – the things I couldn't touch, like Pinterest or Instagram.

how media deprivation made me feel

the first day was incredible. genuinely. i felt like i was on top of the world and i was extremely productive. it felt like i had more hours within my day. Now, I won't deny that the urge to check Instagram did pop up every now and then.

I mean, it's crazy how ingrained that habit can become, right? but the important thing is i recalibrated every time i had this urge. i closed instagram and moved on with my day. so proud of myself.

the media deprivation week actually turned out to be such an experience. it was hard, i wont lie, but it was also so freeing. i was afraid that if i didn't look at Pinterest for inspiration, I COULD NOT POSSIBLY CREATE ART. like it was my fuel or something. but that is untrue. pinterest does provide inspiration, but the source for this inspiration is within me always. I'm making it a practice now to remember that every day going forward.

One of the most remarkable changes I noticed was during mealtime. I used to be the type who needed something on the screen or in my ears while eating. But not anymore. Well, okay, I won't pretend to be perfect – as I'm writing this (once again, I'm in Week 6 now), i do occasionally watch a show or a YouTube video while eating. But the amount of it has dramatically reduced.

It wasn't a walk in the park, I'll admit, but it was liberating.

Ah, let's talk about Day 2 – a day that didn't quite go as planned, but hey, life throws curveballs, right.

Here's the scoop in a nutshell: I was knee-deep in editing a mammoth 14-hour video when disaster struck. Somehow, I managed to mess up my SD card, and poof! Almost all of my precious footage was gone. Heartbreak city, let me tell you. I had a full-blown meltdown, shed tears for a solid two hours, and tried every trick in the book to recover those files, but nothing worked.

Naturally, panic set in, and I tossed my media deprivation plans out the window. I mean, come on, this was a need, a desperation. I had to figure out how to salvage my work. I resorted to Google and YouTube for help on fixing the SD card, but, alas, it was a futile quest.

Now, here's where I stumbled. I used this incident as an excuse to let myself go and dive headfirst into scrolling and watching stuff online. It felt like my way of numbing the panic that was slowly taking over. I had put so much effort into creating visuals for that video, and now it was all gone.

Tuesday was a tear-soaked marathon of watching random YouTube videos, an attempt to keep the sadness at bay. And then, the inner critic chimed in, asking, "Why am I tying my self-worth to a bunch of camera footage?" Emotions were all over the place, like a rollercoaster ride.

But, as I crawled into bed that Tuesday night, after a somewhat restless sleep, I woke up on Wednesday with a fresh burst of energy. I revisited the media deprivation chapter, dusted off the unfortunate incident, and decided to shift my focus to the present moment. I was reminded of something from the previous chapters – "In this very moment, right here, right now, I'm perfectly okay." And you know what? It was the perfect mantra to get back on track.

Now, let's chat about how things went a little wonky towards the end. i have to admit, I caved in a few hours before my "deadline," and I honestly can't even tell you why. It was like a momentary lapse of judgment, and I regretted it deeply afterward.

So, Tuesday wasn't exactly a shining moment, and neither was the tail end of the week. But you know what? I didn't let those blips overshadow all the moments in between. I picked myself up and soldiered on as best as I could. And even after the Tuesday setback, the rest of the week continued to be a journey of freedom, fulfilment, and a whole lot of fun.

heres a few things i did over the week~

i'm absolutely determined to weave this into my monthly routine – a whole day without social media or any kind of media at all. I've tasted that sweet sense of fulfilment during this week, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can carry this feeling with me into the rest of my life. It's like discovering a hidden treasure, and I want to cherish it forever.

Anyway, that's a wrap for this week. I know im really late with this one, but I genuinely hope this week's blog leaves you with something meaningful to ponder after. Can't wait to catch up with all of you in the Week 5 blog post! Until then, lets keep the positive vibes flowing :)

sending lots of love 🤎