Self-care and self-discovery

If you are looking for some creative inspiration in terms of a journey in discovering and recovering your creative self, I highly recommend reading ‘The Artist’s Way’, a course by Julia Cameron.

One of my favourite concepts within the book, is the idea of taking yourself on an ‘Artist Date’.

The artist date, is a protected block of time, for example 1-2 hours per week, that is especially set aside for YOU. Not for you and your partner. Not for you and your children. Not for you and a friend. Time set aside purely for YOU. Time for you to take your inner artist, or your ‘creative child’ on an excursion.

For a lot of people, taking time out by themselves can feel selfish. There can be feelings of guilt, thoughts such as ‘but I could be using this time to do activities with my child’, ‘There are so many household chores to catch up on’, but the reality is, time to yourself can prove essential, in order to ‘fuel up your tank’, ‘fill up your bucket’ and ultimately, build your sense of self-worth and self-esteem.

Your artist date doesn’t have to be anything fancy, examples might include:

• a walk in nature listening to your favourite playlist

• some time spent on the beach gathering sea shells/sea glass

• a visit to that gallery you have walked past a million times but never have time go in

• chilling out in a cafe reading a book with a hot beverage

It just needs to be a time slot, even once a week, that is dedicated to you.

If while reading this you are feeling some resistance the idea, it may just well be that it’s exactly what you need! Give it a go. Initially it might feel a bit strange, in time, it may just feel like an absolute must. When I first played with the idea many years ago I wasn’t too sure what to make of it. Now I find it so rewarding, enjoyable and healing.

A beautiful piece created by Jayne Stokes, a landscape artist. An exhibition inspired by Jayne’s journey to Shetland in March 2025. A piece I came across during an ‘artist date’ in July 2025.