Chapter 7: Recovering a Sense of Connection
The Artist's Way Journey
Welcome to the seventh 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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Chapter 7 confronts the ego and challenges our inner perfectionist.
“We turn this week to the practice of right attitudes for creativity. The emphasis is on your receptive as well as active skills. The essays, exercises, and tasks aim at excavating areas of genuine creative interest as you connect with your personal dreams.”
Reflecting on Chapter 7
Chapter Seven tackles a sore point for many creatives: perfectionism. Yes, that dreaded, nagging voice in the back of your head that criticises every idea before it’s even left the realm of possibility. It tells you everything you do is wrong, everything you create sucks, that everyone else can do it better, and that your work is never good enough. It’s a talented liar and the Achilles Heel of many — myself included.
“The perfectionist writes, paints, creates with one eye on (their) audience. Instead of enjoying the process, the perfectionist is constantly grading the results.”
— Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way, p.120
Instead of focusing on the myriad of reasons we each turn to perfectionism (I’m sure, should I ask you to think of yours, a few would come to mind), I want to focus on the freedom, joy, and authenticity shifting your mindset away from a perfectionistic one allows.
In many ways, perfectionism is akin to intellectualising. It keeps you spiralling, anxious, overly logical. It’s rigid in nature and prevents genuine connection to the present — in this case, the present being the work of art you are trying to create and the world and people who inspire it. Instead of writing the book, you brainstorm indefinitely and pick out all the reasons it “won’t work” before even giving it a chance; instead of saying yes to time spent in nature, with friends, or pursuing hobbies, you tie yourself to a rigid, unrelenting, “perfect” routine; when you receive brilliant feedback on a new project but someone makes a suggestion for improvement, you jump to the conclusion that, despite the overall positive response, you suck.
Perfectionism is fear of failure. It is fear of the discomfort that accompanies genuine growth. It is a refusal to let yourself play — a refusal to acknowledge your humanity.
“Usually, when we say we can’t do something, what we mean is that we won’t do something unless we can guarantee that we’ll do it perfectly.”
— Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way, p.121
I knew Chapter 7 was going to take me two weeks to complete from the get-go. Personal circumstances drew me away from my usual routine as I spent my sacred spare moments with loved ones. The perfectionist would tell me to prioritise my schedule: I have an audience to cater for and The Artist’s Way is supposed to be done in 12 weeks!! Self-compassion tells me that doesn’t matter — connection is paramount to my heart and my art.
Cameron reminds us that, while “we’ve all heard that the unexamined life is not worth living”, it is worth considering too that “the unlived life is not worth examining.” For how can one write of the glittering, choppy, sea if one has not been to the beach? How does one write of love and community if one neglects to foster genuine connections? Perfectionism dies in the embrace of connection (to ourselves, to each other, to the earth) because we are repeatedly reminded that nothing is perfect at all.
“A painting is never finished. It simply stops in interesting places.”
— Paul Gardner
I have a long way to go when it comes to booting my perfectionism, but I’m getting there. This course has freed me from my ego in many ways already, but slowly letting go of my perfectionistic tendencies has been the most impactful.
Chapter 7 Check-In:
Are you still writing your morning pages?
Did you have an artist date this week? What did you do?
Do you struggle with perfectionism? How does it manifest for you?
Yours in imperfection,
Caitlin ❧