Week 4: no reading, no social = no fun?
Hi folks! Over the next few months I’ll be sharing my progress with The Artist’s Way, a self-help book for creative recovery by Julia Cameron. You can read more about the decision to start the twelve-week program here.
I’ve made it to week 4—the one month mark! This week was about “Recovering a Sense of Integrity.” The majority of the chapter is a blur; I mainly zone in and hyperfocus on this week’s reading deprivation experiment described below.
This week was an abnormal one (and not just because of the start of Mercury retrograde). Our team at work tried working remotely for the whole week—we could feel free to come into the office if we wanted, but the default was to work from home. I work as a software engineer at a company that already has a pretty lax WFH policy, but having the freedom with zero guilt to work remotely all the time was…really nice??
I thought I might eventually be itching to go back to the office or think that I was more productive there, but I found that I communicated more with others through digital means instead of thinking “this can wait until tomorrow when I’m in the office.” I remembered to take breaks away from the computer because other people were sharing when they were. I took the time to make loose leaf tea and ate hella pungent Korean food. My sister and I coworked in the city together. Best of all I had a lot of quiet time, which I frequently forget I crave and need.
Reading Deprivation
Julia Cameron suggests not reading during this whole week. By “reading” she really means all media, and maybe even all digital devices but I refuse to go that far; I’m not on vacation and this is 2019. I of course have much resistance to the idea of not reading for a week—I love reading! How am I going to learn without reading? What do I do when I want to relax?
It is a paradox that by emptying our lives of distractions we are actually filling the well…We often cannot hear our own inner voice, the voice of our artist’s inspiration, above the static.
I have read many a blog post and article (ironically) about how consumption distracts us from creation. Reading a great novel or watching a great film can make us feel like we’re tangentially artists but we know it’s not the same.
To give this experiment I go, I outline the following guidelines at the start of the week:
No reading books or articles
No listening to podcasts. Music is okay
Restrict Googling—click on one result maximum and no longer than a 2 minute read. Work and project-related searches are okay
No TV or videos unless with others
Instagram okay but only consume photos, save captions or wordy posts for later
And by the end of the week?
I didn’t read any book or magazine further than a casual flip through. Articles are more difficult to avoid but I’d estimate I read maybe ten the whole week.
Stayed away from podcasts—easy, since I typically listen on my walks to work and I worked remotely this week. I probably listen to more music than usual to compensate. It feels nice to fall in love with new songs again!
I stopped consciously keep track of my Googling after three or so days, but for the first half of the week I really do try to only read one result. I am prone to a Google binge without really retaining what I click on so this is a good habit to keep practicing.
I don’t usually watch too much media on my own, so no TV wasn’t a challenge. I do watch a few Youtube clips while eating since I can’t read, which is what I normally do and have done since middle school. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I also spend more time with others watching TV or movies this week than usual…again, to compensate.
Only browsing photos on Instagram felt painful and a bit soulless. I gravitate towards reading friends’ long IG story captions and mental health or astrology meme accounts. With both of those off limits, the platform seemed very transactional.
This feeling was the final push to solidify leaving social media (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter) halfway into the week. I’ll share more about the other reasons in a month or so after seeing what effects this sub-experiment has long-term. But for the few days I have experienced thus far, I am not really missing social media content much! I am surprisingly okay being “out of the loop” regarding friends’ posts, events I missed, or new content to consume. I’ve taken on the mindset I have done in recent years consuming less news—if it is truly important, it will reach me through other means. I do still check in on my profile to see if I’ve lost any followers or gotten new comments, however. The allure of validation does not go away as easily!
Artist Date
I took a personal day on Halloween and spend the day doing yoga, having a call with my project coach (I recommend Hello Walden if you’re looking for accountability launching a new project/venture!) and lunching for two hours with a new friend.
After lunch I had planned on seeing Downtown 81, a re-released movie on Jean Michel Basquiat, but miss the showtime. I pivot to spending some time outdoors since the weather was sunny and nice so I walk to Elizabeth Street Garden…where the gates are locked, six minutes after closing. A lovely stationery shop Goods for the Study is nearby so I walk over there, but the shopkeeper is taking a break for the next hour. Is this what people mean when they complain about Mercury retrograde??
I want to get the artist date over with at this point and head over to McNally Jackson—an indie bookstore, a reliable home away from home. My friend and I had talked about print magazines for a good portion of our conversation, so my feet gravitate to their periodicals. Friends, McNally really has the best selection of periodicals of all the indie bookstores. I flip through several magazines on creators and businesses and walk away with an issue of Good Company (RIP!) and Offscreen. I don’t dive into either this week because of the reading ban but I especially can’t wait to absorb Offscreen, which captures the simple, welcoming tone and in-depth, thoughtful content that I want to embody in my work-in-progress digital interview series.