When was the last time you went on a date? Not a date with your spouse or a date with your girlfriends, but a date with yourself? Probably can’t even remember the last time, right?
OK, maybe you’ve never gone on a date with yourself; but what if you could have a weekly “date” with yourself that was just for you to go explore and do something fun or silly? Would you do it?
What if I told you it could improve your creativity?
The Artist Date
One of my other favorite creativity tools from The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron is the Artist Date (AD). An Artist Date is a weekly date you make (and keep!) with yourself. The goal of the Artist Date is to explore something that interests you.
That means if you want to attend the orchestra concert posted on your local community college board, you do it. Or if there’s a brand new store you want to check out, you do it. Or if you just want to finally get around to making that necklace you saw in last month’s Vogue, but haven’t had time for yet, you do it.
Your Artist Date is all yours and it’s up to you to use it to its fullest.
When I first started doing my weekly Artist Dates I wasn’t sure where to begin, so I started by visiting a home décor store that had just popped up near my house. The week after that I spent my AD at the local Michael’s shopping for and purchasing acrylic paint for the canvas paintings I was making for my bedroom. The week after that I had an AD right in my living room, where I spent three hours writing a short story.
The point isn’t to do something that costs money (although it’s OK if that’s what you choose to do). The point is to get you to do something you normally wouldn’t do. And on a regular basis.
As Cameron points out on her website:
“Artist Dates fire up the imagination. They spark whimsy. They encourage play. Since art is about the play of ideas, they feed our creative work by replenishing our inner well of images and inspiration.”
What could be better than that?!
Getting Started
Here’s how you can get started making the weekly Artist Date part of your routine:
- Set a date and don’t go back on it–
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