Chapter 10: Recovering a Sense of Self-Protection
The Artist's Way Journey
Welcome to the tenth post in a 12-week series dedicated to exploring creativity and artistic identity through Julia Cameron’s 1994 course The Artist’s Way! Whether you are completing the course alongside me, joining us in the future, or here to learn from my insights and reflections, the following series of posts will remain a safe space for discussion and reflection wherever you are in your artistic journey.
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In Chapter 10, we identify the subtle ways we keep our creativity blocked.
This week we explore the perils that can ambush us on our creative path. Because creativity is a spiritual issue, many of the perils are spiritual perils. In the essayss, tasks, and exercises this week, we search out the toxic patterns we cling to that block our creative flow.
Reflecting on Chapter 10
In Chapter 10, we circled back to the idea of creative blocks. Although unique to each of us and our circumstances, they often manifest as bad habits, self-limiting beliefs or mindsets, and, for lack of a kinder word, excuses. Whether it’s the drink you pour yourself after work that numbs your creativity, or the self-pity you indulge in on the couch instead of working through at the easel, creative blocks create a false sense of self-protection by keeping us stuck in what we know.
“It is always fear — often disguised but always there — that leads us into grabbing for a block.”
— Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way, p.165
Fear of trying new things is a newer block for me. I’ve always been known for my sense of adventure and my love of change. It’s not unlike me to commit to new ideas at the drop of the hat, move to new places I’d never been to or heard of before, or rock up to my hairdresser with one style in mind only to leave with something completely different.
This intrigue has often carried over into my creative endeavours; I had the idea to write a book and suddenly it was happening; I had the idea to begin Ruminations and, just a few weeks later, I launched here on Substack. But things get tricky when they get more vulnerable. I have so many ideas that never reach fruition for fear of judgment or failure. I pause the pursuit of a new venture because the self-imposed stakes are too high. Self-protection as an artist is about protecting your connection to yourself and your art, not shielding yourself from the vulnerability of trying new things and (inevitably! humanly!) failing at them.
“We are the origin of our art, its homeland. Viewed in this way, originality is the process of remaining true to ourselves.”
— Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way, p.174
Competitiveness and fear of making a fool of myself are other blocks that get in the way of my writing often. They suck the joy out of creation or prevent me from creating entirely. Combatting the insecurity at the source has been a lifelong battle and something I’m working on to this day. With social media pitting each of us against each other at every opportunity, I sometimes wonder why I bother at all. As Cameron aptly notes, “The desire to be better than can choke off the simple desire to be.”
When we’re so busy comparing ourselves, numbing ourselves out, beating ourselves up over the mere potential for future failure, and avoiding our crafts to avoid vulnerability, we are the only ones who suffer. Denying ourselves the opportunity to create, to fail, to learn, to be, is far more hurtful than anything anyone could say to us about our work.
“Only when we are being joyfully creative can we release the obsession with others and how they are doing.”
— Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way, p.172
Cameron teaches us that the best way to overcome artistic blocks is by interrogating why we enable or enact them in the first place. Often a drift in our focus from ourselves and our art — the two most important things in the creative process — is to blame. Instead, the concern is with others; their judgements, their skills, their numbers. Ultimately, shifting the focus back to just you, just today, and just your craft is one of the most empowering actions you can take today.
In the words of Lao-Tzu, “He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.”
Chapter 10 Check-In:
How are your morning pages going?
Did you have an artist date?
What blocks continue to serve you? How are you going to let them go?
Yours in self-protection,
Caitlin ❧
A very vulnerable way of tackling vulnerability. Well done😊