Begin where you are.

Say What Now????

Today I begin The 100 Day Project, and it brings up all kinds of emotions. I have never made it to the full 100 day mark, but each year I take it a bit further. As I was preparing for today, I knew that I would be taking bits and pieces from the workshops I’ve taught, the talks I’ve given, and the morning pages journal entries I’ve returned to, surprised at the insight from my half-awake self.

I am also working to get more comfortable with filming myself- both my hands working and my face talking. So you can imagine the amount of resistance I was met with today as I was getting everything set up. To be honest, the majority of wisdom I garner is really just me talking myself through some creative hurdle and finding that it is helpful for others as well.

So today as I looked at my set up with a furrowed brow of disappointment, I simply sighed and said “begin where you are”. So instead of the light and airy watercolor I had originally intended to start the series with, the first installment was more muddy and nuanced to match more of my mood today. I felt so clever until I realized that the words barely even registered on top of the painting. Good thing I have 100 tries to get this figured out.

I know that this project has more to do with building our practice than being perfect. And while I have given up on perfection long ago, there is always the gap between the space you occupy and the space you want to inhabit as a creative. Nothing wrong with that at all- I believe in the power of creative restlessness to drive our search for new ways of being and looking at the world.

My intention with the 100 days this year is to share bits of the the work I am bringing together for a new workshop series called “Tending Our Soular System”. It is built from the Body of Work Workshop Series from 2019, as well as some deeper understandings I have been cultivating since then. I gave a talk at a Creative Mornings event in January of 2019 about the Surreal, and how we can commit to our creative selves when times are strange. Body of Work as built as an extension of these thoughts, and little did I know how useful these tools would be in the coming years. It is hard to admit that we all feel our reality crumbling a bit, not knowing who or what to count on anymore.

I really see a new world being born as the old one falls apart. I’ve been doing my work and releasing the ego in order to align to what is going to work for me and the collectives I am apart of now. For me, this involves shifting how I work and trusting my art and wisdom to share new ways of looking at our place in a changing world. I am excited for what is possible and I hope you’ll join me on the journey.

xoxoMs.AnnaLee