The Artist's Way, consistent exercise, mindfulness, French, YouTube, and finally leaving my house! What's Up? Since it's the end of the first quarter of 2025, I wanted to give a progress update on what I've been implementing into my life right now. Currently Reading The Artist’s Way
I’m currently reading The Artist’s Way. I know, I know. A lot of people are reading that book right now or have read it. I’ve had it since 2021, but once I got to Week 2, I stopped reading and haven’t picked it up again. I guess I wasn’t ready for it. That is, until recently, almost a month ago.
I’ve initially been slow about showing up to the pages, but now I look forward to them. The morning pages are tough sometimes, and the Artist Dates are forcing me out of my comfort zone. More on these two later.
Currently Maintaining An Exercise Routine
I started exercising again. Well, I started last year towards the beginning of autumn. I figured there was no need to wait until the new year to start a routine. I’ve been on and off my routine since traveling, but now I feel like I’ve found a groove. Currently, I exercise every other day. That works for me right now, so I’m sticking with it.
One exercise machine that has always been one of my least favorite things to do, but has become an integral part of my routine, is the Ski Machine. It’s been tough for me, but my consistent use has made it more manageable each time I show up to use it. This is a good time to mention that I’ve finally gotten my (level 10) 2000 meter Ski Machine time under 11 minutes. That’s a PB for me! I’m happy about it and have done it for multiple sessions. So, I’m looking forward to increasing the distance on my next cycle.
Currently Breathing and Meditating Daily
I’m currently on a daily meditation streak. One of my goals for the year is to meditate daily for 100 consecutive days. I reached that goal last week since I also started this last year. My streak is currently 112 days for meditating and 111 days for breathing. I usually do these meditations unguided while listening to sounds.
My longest streak of meditating was over 1000 days. I am nowhere near that now, but reaching 100 consecutive days after not meditating consistently for years is something I wanted to acknowledge.
Currently Reading For At LEast 20 Minutes Each Day
I’m also currently on a reading streak! Thanks to my library card and my Kindle (I like reading in the dark; I don’t always like using my phone, and I enjoy adjusting the word sizes). My current streak is 128 consecutive days of reading, my longest streak so far! I set a daily reminder to read for 20 minutes to maintain this streak. My current goal is to finish 30 books this year. I’ve read way more than that in the past, but I’m being a little more gentle with myself this year since so much is going on. If anything, I’m off to a great start!
I’m currently on Week 4 of The Artist’s Way, so I may have to get creative in maintaining the streak since one of the tasks calls for reading deprivation. (The nerve! How dare she challenge one of my favorite forms of escapism…)
Since I won’t be reading any other books or materials, I figured I could use a few minutes each day to review the assignments I didn’t finish from the previous weeks. It’ll allow me to complete them and review other areas I may have overlooked. During this task, I’m also deciding not to watch TV or YouTube (only when necessary) or use social media for this week. It’s only for a week; how bad could it be? It’s a good thing F1 is on a break this week!
I’m from the future, and we are absolutely bored right now. But I had a revelation. I was becoming even more confused by constantly wanting to distract myself with so much noise and information. This confusion led to frustration and, unfortunately, stagnation. I’m currently working through this cycle, but I wanted to acknowledge this.
Currently Working On a New Video Style
I will also try a different approach for my next video on YouTube. Something I haven’t explored yet, but I feel is worth trying at least once. I’ll see how it goes.
Currently Learning French
Since I’m taking a break from many distractions, I figured it’s a great time to restart learning another language. (This is also one of my goals for the year.)
So, I’m officially learning to speak French again. Whenever I want to distract myself or crave watching some mindless video or TV show, I set a 10-minute timer and open the language learning app on my phone. I keep going until the timer finishes, and the time usually goes by pretty fast. I’ve been doing that all day today, and I’ve already spent at least 1 hour learning and relearning French words and phrases. Better than nothing.
Using Sugar Cane Paper For Morning Pages
Back to the Morning Pages.
I was using an old notebook to write them in and ran out of space two days ago. But, instead of using regular copier paper, I’ve decided to switch things up. I found some paper made of natural sugarcane pulp that’s unbleached to use for my morning pages. I wanted something that wasn’t too bright, so this seemed perfect.
It is a lot coarser than the average copier paper, which was something I didn’t consider. So, writing on it is rough, meaning you feel the page as you write. It caused my hand to cramp the first day I used it. For this paper to work for me (since I don’t want to return it), I switched how I write and the way I hold my pen. I find it much easier to use when writing lighter rather than trying to feel the pen impression marks on the other side of the page (though I do love how it feels on this paper). This allows me to finish these pages faster and not have my hand yelling at me for the rest of the day. A win-win for all aspects of me!
Making Progress With The Artist Dates
Finally, the Artist Dates.
We love them. Just kidding; we don’t love them right now. You see, I’ve been in a period of isolation for multiple years. So, coming out of it using this book has made me a bit anxious. But I’m slowly leaving my house and venturing to new places. I’ll have to find another place for my Artist Date this week. I usually think of places I’ve never been or have thought about going to at some point. But I may switch it up to something outside of my norm. I’m not sure where that will be, but I’ll post an update somewhere on the internet.
So, that’s my progress update for now. I want to do these to help me stay on track and monitor my progress. Hopefully, you’ll find something useful in them, even if it’s just being entertained by my first personal blog post and seeing what I’m up to.
Either way, I hope you’re doing well. I’ll see you on the next update or with my next creative project!
Did you catch the Blood Moon that happened this month? Check it out here! Crimson
“Currently” is the keyword for this update.
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