Writer Heather Larson

I’m on week eight of The Artist’s Way now. So I thought I’d share what this program is doing for me as an artist, writer, etc. It’s the “etc” that I didn’t know was there. There are many issues TAW brings up that you never quite knew were there. I knew some of the issues obviously, that I was a blocked creative and that this needed to be fixed. I also knew this was likely due to a few life experiences that stood out in my mind. But I had no idea how far this would take me and I love it!

I’m great at morning pages and awful at artist dates. I choose to do my pages on 750words.com.

Yes, I’ve dealt with some of those unsavory life experiences and early childhood scars that became on barriers to my creativity. Fun stuff!

I’m allowing myself to play again. Play guitar, play in general… I’m unemployed, so you’d think this wouldn’t be a problem. But like a typical blocked artist and recovering addict, I quickly moved to fill up my schedule. I have a part-time job at a recovery center, I have my own freelance writing business now, and I am still running You Deserve Reiki.

I have found my creative energies seeping into YDR. I have redecorated my therapy room:

I have new ideas for the blog. They are not posted yet. I’m deciding to take the blog into a new direction and write more posts about self-care, which is the idea behind me getting into Reiki in the first place three years ago. Self-care is the idea behind the name, “You Deserve Reiki.” I also believe self-care is essential to our survival as human beings! So more posts about it are about to happen. I can give people Reiki, but I think I will give clients more if they receive some self-care ideas as well.

Like I mentioned, I am giving myself more time to play guitar. I am even seeking out some lessons.

I also found this fun app I am just getting into called Yousician.

I haven’t gotten too far into it yet. I think when I do, it will require some in-app purchases. That may be OK. The point is to have fun and enjoy playing the guitar without my pesky perfectionist tendencies popping in. Also, the point is to get back into playing like I did in college when I was 18 — right before quitting the guitar altogether for a full-time radio job. I had to drop out of guitar class because of the hours I worked, so I put it down completely. Total black and white/all or nothing thinking! I got carried away in career, life and addiction. Now it’s 18 years later. I AM GOING TO PLAY GUITAR NOW.

There are other silly things too. I’m putting a lot of creative energy into a new wardrobe because I have a new life that requires a dress code for my job at the recovery center. I’ve also lost 30 pounds since September by eating an auto-immune-friendly, anti-inflammatory, mostly-Paleo diet. I’ve had a lot of fun hitting thrift stores to create a new look. It’s risk-free since I’m being thrifty about it. I’ve found some really awesome clothes for a fraction of what I’d pay for brand-new. It takes the anxiety out of rebuilding a wardrobe since I don’t have to worry about the money aspect of it. This is all a part of self-care too — especially the diet which is presided over by a doctor.

I put a lot of energy into organizing my writing space at home. Sometimes, the closest thing to an artist date for me has been coloring a mandala (adult coloring is a trendy new thing now) or watching Orange Is The New Black on Netflix. Giving myself time and space to play has been one of my biggest challenges!

One of the most important things is the writing. That’s the reason I am doing this. I am tackling issues about the creative writing (or lack thereof) in my life. Now I’m actively working on one of my three novels. I just started a short story. I’m always writing poems. In an effort to get more serious and focus about where this is all going, I also purchased a stack of books from Writer’s Digest.

I fiercely defend my writing time. I’ve turned inward a lot because of this. I’m hyper focused on myself in a selfish way. But recovery is a selfish act. Yes, this is creative recovery as described in TAW. But I see this also as a larger part of my recovery from addiction as well. There was a point where I lost myself. More likely, I lost myself again and again over the years. Now my job is to get myself back more and more (I thought I had already but more was revealed). My job is to give myself back my hopes, dreams, my ability to play, and those original yearnings I had towards fulfilling my purpose.