10 Days of Morning Pages: The Unexpected Shift
I'm starting the Artist Way, baby! And I can already tell, it's going to be exactly like bodybuilding, but for creativity!
A couple weeks ago, I posted this shortly after stopping by the local mom ‘n’ pop, used book store downtown:
And the damn book I’ve been reading.
So begins the next series of posts of me typing furiously amidst a crash out that will be sent to your inbox! The Artist Way — if you don’t already know from the trending social media posts — is a 12-week “book-course” that helps you recover your creativity and unblock your inner artist. I read through the first part of the book and watched a few videos on how to use the book and go through the course so I could start it immediately after my prep was over.
But I have already started one particular habit as soon as I picked up the book: Morning pages.
What are morning pages?
How bodybuilding and the Artist Way go hand in hand!
What morning pages alone has done for me
Online Content: a playground?
What are morning pages?
I was influenced
And I’m so happy that I was!
It started with this video on the Dopamine Detox for Artists. And if I remember correctly — and I could very well be wrong — but morning pages were mentioned in there, which I already knew were a part of the ‘Artist’s Way.’ Sure enough, the next recommended video to watch was this one:
Morning pages are 3 “pages” in your notebook (still unsure about the size, but I’m finding somewhere between letter and A5 is just right for how small I write) of an unfiltered stream of consciousness shortly after you wake up! Even if it’s, “I think these morning pages are dumb, I want to go back to bed, blah blah blah, this is so dumb. I am writing in a journal but UGH,” then write that. It’s PURE brain dump. Write ANYTHING on your mind. If you don’t have anything to say, write, “I don’t have anything to say,” over and over again. Something will come up. Something always comes up.
I think I have only missed one day since starting these a couple of weeks ago, and that was because it was mother’s day, and I was with my mom.
I have so thoroughly enjoyed Morning Pages! It wakes me up, and it’s like stretches but for my mind. I even do it before I have any (or much) caffeine! It is freeing and forgiving and it allows me to play. It’s 30 minutes of pure me time. Before Nico wakes up, and before the world wakes up … well, not the cats. The cats demand to be fed before I sit to write.
However, I have noticed that it is clashing with my early morning workouts. I already wake up 2 hours before work to do my hour of lifting and 30 minutes of cardio…so I’d have to roll out of bed at 4am to get my morning pages done, get to the gym, do my workout, get ready for work, and then get to work.
Sometimes I don’t get to my morning pages until 8 am or 10 am! But they get done.
Vespertiliu also has a SubStack, go check’m out!
Artists Way on SubStack
The Artist’s Toolbox has a great post on the “Magic of Morning Pages” right here on SubStack! It really is magic. To everyone who has ever said, “I never have any good ideas in the morning,” have clearly never done morning pages. I have most clear and bright thoughts when I’m writing my morning pages. Think of it as a butterfly net, but for your flitting memories and notions!
How bodybuilding and the Artist Way go hand in hand!
I came across this quote from the book and I could only think of how it exactly resembled my bodybuilding journey.
This entry stage is followed closely by explosive anger in the course ‘s midsection. The anger is followed by grief, then alternating waves of resistance and hope. … This choppy growth phase is followed by a strong urge to abandon the process and return to life as we know it.
You get so excited for your new body and preparing for show day, but somewhere along the way…you want to give up, then get back up again, then get kicked down by some unrelated noise from life, and so on and so on. Even at the tail end of my prep, I wanted to say, “eh, good enough!” I had those moments of wanting to avoid my commitment entirely.
I’m very intrigued about how this book will apply to not only my reverse-prep, but also my identity as an artist.
Total side note, but I love how this book has margins with quotes and space for the reader to write on.
What morning pages alone has done for me
It has allowed me to PLAY. It has allowed me to surrender and literally word vomit. I didn’t realize how much anxiety I start my day off with until I turned my anxious mind upside down and shook it all out on the paper. Then the paper is where I leave most of my worries, because I realize how silly or how certain things are just non-issues.
I get ideas. I get great ideas! I plan out my day or my week and jot down grand schemes. One of the rules is that I’m not supposed to revisit these morning pages, yet. But it brings me peace of mind that I do have them down on paper.
It helps me surrender. Every “um,” and “man…” and “blah blah I don’t know what to write because I’m still waking up,” breaks me out of this shell little by litter. It breaks me out of perfectionism. It made me realize I HAVE this expectation of perfection that keeps me from completing any art or task.
Much like how when I started bodybuilding, I thought, “Who could possibly eat past being full??” Me. I have that problem! Because I discovered this “all or nothing” mindset that’s been hiding in my old habits.
Morning pages are like the gym for the mind — whether you’re creative or not.
Online content: a playground?
On the notion of perfectionism…I’m going to do something creative that will force me to be okay with imperfection: social media. Yup. You read that right. I have ALWAYS loved going to Pinterest or Instagram for fashion and beauty inspiration. So I want to put my own fashion and beauty looks on my own social media!
Why is this the perfect form of imperfection? Not everyone is going to see it even though you put out for everyone to see. The algorithm won’t push it, because there is more content than people. I’ll have to be consistent to grow — and I’m going to fail that, because creating content, whether it’s video or photo content, takes a surprisingly long time. I get to take some time to play in makeup and make photo/video shoots. I get to uplift small businesses and artists. AND!!! It’s forcing me to see it for what it is: low stakes creativity.
I think putting practice and research into a skill like drawing and developing a piece on canvas requires more care and “seriousness” than the social media I want to create. In an over-saturated world such as Instagram, I can easily eliminate the unrealistic expectations of reaching thousands of followers by a certain time, because I won’t be putting the pressure of a full-time content creator on my shoulders.
Because at the end of the day, the makeup look is going be wiped off, I’m going to change back into sweats, and I’m not even going to be going anywhere in the outfits I put together. I’m not going for a huge following. I’m not wanting to sell anyone anything. I just want to play.
I’m now wrapping up Week 1 of the Artist way, so I’m thinking I’ll write my reflection on that next Monday and get this Artist Way Series out to you goblins on Wednesdays.
So. Until our next encounter, goblins. Go git after it! ✨⚔️