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Gratitude + Celebrations!

’m currently working through a 12 week program to help me tap back into my creativity and inspiration via the book: The Artist’s Way at Work: 12 Weeks to Creative Freedom by Julia Cameron, Mark Bryan, and Catherine Allen.

This is the business version of the very famous original book, The Artist’s Way also by Julia Cameron.

I started this project after feeling like I’ve been in a bit of a rut when it comes to working on my own, non-client-related work.

You can read more about this in my intro post right here.

I’m going week by week and reporting on the tools that were most effective for me from the book. There are always way more exercises and information in the book, so please get a copy and follow along!

Week 12: Resting in Authenticity

Tool: Trusting Trust

Exercise

  • Take out a sheet of paper
  • Number 1 through 5
  • List 5 emerging interests
  • Number 1 through 5 again
  • List 5 actions you would take if you had faith in them/yourself
  • Pick one and do it. 

My Experience

It certainly felt easy to pick 5 emerging interests. I’m not clear if the 5 actions were supposed to be connected to the emerging interests or not. I did make mine related to the interests. And it felt good to pick out a class to take related to one of my emerging interests – gardening. 

Tool: Mining Our Mystery

Exercise

Pick some symbol for yourself  – a patron saint, animal, plant, person, etc. and begin to collect representations of that symbol. 

My Experience

I’ve got a couple – one is the hummingbird because my grandma decided it for me (in a good way. I appreciate it!) and since then I’ve always noticed them around me and the places I live and think of her. So, I’ve got a hummingbird tattoo and some little figurines. I also have a small collection of swans. 

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Tool: Playing at Play

Exercise

Go to a toy store and play for an hour.

My Experience

It is still COVID city around here so I did not go to a toy store. I did color for several hours. It was fun and much nicer than scrolling the internet all evening. I’m continuing to look for other ways to add more play into my life and I think it helps my mental state. 

Tool: Every Picture Tells a Story

Exercise

The official exercise is to make a collage out of magazines and put it on poster board for what you want your life to look like in the next 5 years.

Don’t limit yourself to what you think is realistic.

My Experience

I don’t have tons of magazines and the ones I do I like and I will not cut up. So, I made a pin board and it was fun! I pinned solar panels and lots of other things that don’t seem realistic right now but who knows. 

Tool: Gratitude

This is the last exercise of the 12 week project!! No matter how imperfectly, there is a lot to celebrate and be grateful for. 

Exercise

List as many things as you can think of about this work that you’re grateful for.

My Experience

So grateful! Making the list showed me how far I have come even if I did take longer than I’d hoped to originally.

I’m grateful that this project got me to post on my blog again, that it gave me lots of tools to move forward and take baby steps when I feel frozen. I’m grateful to have a consistent 3-page Morning Pages practice back and feeling more confident and clear. I’m grateful for the Time Outs or Artist Dates that helped me learn and try new things. There’s so much more. But whoo hoo! Just happy to say today I complete the project. 

RELATED POST  How to Give Yourself a Time-Out

Check In

  1. Morning Pages. I’m committing to keeping them up since they’ve been so helpful.
  2. Artist Dates. I’m re-committing to my Time Outs/Artist Dates this week. I did slack off on them a bit or squeezed them in without a lot of care. I’ve got one scheduled for this week.
  3. Celebrate – really! I’m all for celebrating! I blocked off Sunday for a home spa day to celebrate the completion of this 12 week project + I will do the works all day. No chores allowed.

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LONG BEFORE I WAS A VA, I WAS AN ESTHETICIAN. And LONG BEFORE I WAS A VA, I WAS AN ESTHETICIAN. And I thought it would be my "forever" career. Except for one tragic flaw. I could not do a Brazilian wax to save my life.😱 

This was 2005/2006 so that was a big deal.

If I could go back to that time, I’d have a few things to tell my young self that are probably important for any service provider. Things that might have helped prevent me from burning out, getting frustrated (and honestly scared I might get sued), and ultimately giving up completely. 

GO INTO BUSINESS FOR YOURSELF NOW
As an esthetician, I’d planned to start my own business all along. But I told myself I needed to work in a spa or salon first, observe, and then I could do my own thing in, like, 5 years.

That was just not true.

Other estheticians skipped the traditional spa and salon jobs and went directly into working for themselves, renting out cute rooms in local buildings or even setting up mobile practices. They were able to offer exactly what they wanted to offer and decide on their own pricing.

** I am NOT saying “jump and the net will appear/quit your dayjob now without a plan” because I think that is terrible advice. I’m saying if you know, like I did, that you want to work for yourself eventually, you have what you need to get started and you don’t need to “learn the ropes” for years on end.**

DO THINGS YOU SUCK AT – BUT ONLY UP TO A POINT
Since I did not enjoy providing Brazilians, I sucked at them, and since I sucked at them, I did not enjoy providing them. I had no business providing such a personal service that I sucked at. Leave it for the estheticians who are great at them!

It is important to let yourself be bad at things and be a beginner, but at a certain point, if you're not into what you're trying to get good at anyway, I don't think it is going to work. 

DON’T DO THINGS YOU HATE
Even if that service is in high demand. This might seem like a “no duh” to you, but it really wasn’t to me in the beginning. 

Trends come and go but if you’re seeking ways to be of service in ways that feel good to you, you’ll find your people.

Those 3 lessons I think made me a better #virtualassistant.
Last week I made myself a big batch of very beige Last week I made myself a big batch of very beige soup. It tasted okay but made me sad to look at! It got me thinking again about this #joyfulbook by @aestheticsofjoy I read a couple of years ago... Vibrancy is a nutrient!

PS I should give Alex his props because he always plates our meals beautifully. I just want to step it up when I prep my own meals. 💗
Toasting to the new year! Hope you are staying saf Toasting to the new year! Hope you are staying safe and cozy. We made it to the end of this crazy year!
Happy Monday and Election week! Been waiting 4 yea Happy Monday and Election week! Been waiting 4 years for this one.

I picked up this beautiful and well-organized #VisionaryJournal planner created by @starchasersonly a while back... but I just haven't been able to plan. But I don't know... I'm feeling optimistic? I may be ready to make some plans again. 

Also, I hope you all voted already or are going to tomorrow! I voted early on the first day I could.
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