The Artist's Way for Retirement

The book I read for the 2021 NONFICTION READER CHALLENGE in the category Self-Help is The Artist’s Way for Retirement, by Julia Cameron, 2016 (subtitled It's Never Too Late to Discover Creativity and Meaning). Although I don’t read – or need – self-help books, I needed to find one for this reading challenge. And this book seemed to offer some ideas that I could use.

Cameron is an artist who has also written many books about creativity and the creative process. I had heard about her book, The Artist’s Way (written with Emma Lively), but have never read it. She explains that it “spelled out, in a step-by-step fashion, just what a person could do to recover–and exercise–their creativity.” Although I didn’t feel that my creativity needed to be “recovered,” it could certainly be “exercised” more vigorously.

But before I looked into getting that book, I learned about this one and decided it was more appropriate for me since I was approaching retirement. In the introduction, Cameron claims that “In this book you will find the common problems facing the newly retired: too much time, lack of structure, a sense that our physical surroundings suddenly seem outdated, excitement about the future coupled with a palpable fear of the unknown.” Again, not all of that applies to me, but I wanted to know more about her ideas (“simple tools”) for inspiring and developing creativity.

She first sets out four exercises that should be practiced regularly. She calls these the Basic Tools.

·         “Morning Pages: Three daily pages of longhand, stream-of-consciousness writing done first thing in morning, ‘for your eyes only’

·         Memoir: A weekly, guided process of triggering memories and revisiting your life in several-year increments

·         Artist Dates: A once-weekly, solo expedition to explore something fun

·         Walking: A twenty-minute solo walk, twice weekly, without a dog, friend, or cell phone”

She not only gives more detailed information about each of these tools, but also explains the reasoning behind their effectiveness.

I found the Morning Pages rather difficult to keep up. I like to write, but I edit myself as I write, so stream-of-consciousness is rather annoying for me. I also like to begin the day quietly, thinking, gazing into the distance and listening to the birds. It’s not easy for me to start writing right away. I tried it anyway, more like a journal entry than stream-of-consciousness, and usually never more than 1½ to 2 pages. But I did find that certain themes kept coming up, and I was able to focus on areas of creativity that I hadn’t thought of before.

The information for the Memoir is in separate chapters that outline a particular theme and have questions and lists to focus on. I started out well in the first chapters that covered memories up to my first ten years, but once I reached the chapters beyond that, there was so much to record that I started easing off on it. I still haven’t finished that part, but I intend to continue working on it.

The Artist Dates were my favorite part. These “dates” can be anything that feels creative – from a trip to an art museum to looking at the colors of paper in a stationery store. Soon after I started, the Covid pandemic limited my choices, but I was still able to try such “dates” as walking through fields of wildflowers, visiting a garden center, sitting by a river, bird watching in the city … I kept coming up with other ideas. And it wasn’t necessary to travel anywhere or buy tickets.

The Walking was probably the easiest to do because it’s what I do anyway. And more than twice weekly. I agree that going for a walk, preferably in a natural setting and without any distractions, is a great way to meditate, reflect, think, relax, and come up with new ideas.

Most of the book is the separate chapters of inspiration for the Memoir. Not only are the sections organized by year increments, but each focuses on a different theme. So each chapter is named, “Reigniting a Sense of …”. And the senses are Wonder, Freedom, Connection, Purpose, Honesty, Humility, Resilience, Joy, Motion, Vitality, Adventure, and Faith. In the epilogue she concludes, “Here, at the end of the book, it is my hope that in finishing the work, you have found yourself to be larger and more colorful than you had imagined. I hope you have reconnected to your own story and come to appreciate all that your unique journey has to offer those you may touch.” And she continues in that vein up to her final task, which is to complete a wish list. She ends by asking, “Wishes range from the petty to the profound—and often fall well within our range of possibility. What do you wish?”

Even though I’ve read through the book, I don’t feel that I’ve come to the end yet. I want to continue the Memoir writing and I want to revisit, redo many of the exercises. It seems that the input that Cameron provides is not just for inspiring creativity, but also for inspiring a very optimistic view of life and of self. In that sense, this does seem like a very useful self-help book.