The Artist’s Way for Retirement aims to bring structure and purpose to the life of the retired person. Inevitably, when faced with a structured approach to anything, there is the potential temptation to plan everything rigidly in your diary. This can bring a certain sense of satisfaction. I smiled knowingly to myself as I recalled the comic heroine from the 1990’s, Bridget Jones, and her obsession with recording in her eponymous diary, calories, number of cigarettes smoked and glasses of wine downed. I wondered whether I should start a similar system as I dived into the Artist’s Way for Retirement, for example, my last week’s tally would read:
Walks 2 Memoir 0 Artist’s Dates 1 Morning Pages 6.5.
Unlike Bridget, I had no problem keeping my alcohol tally down, well on this week’s Artist’s Date, at least. Having plumped for the Alan Rouveure Galleries at Todenham near Moreton-in-Marsh for a Sunday afternoon foray into the countryside, I failed to check in advance if the café would be open. It turned out that it wasn’t! Having envisaged spending some time enjoying a sandwich or snack of some sort, accompanied by a cup of tea, this turned out to be a major disappointment, especially as I had not yet eaten!
However, it was fascinating to discover, in this remote gallery in the heart of the Cotswolds, a treasure trove of paintings, jewellery, Tibetan rugs, hand-made paper, singing bowls and other assorted items. Everything is made by skilled craftsmen and women in the Himalayas, where Alan Rouveure has travelled twice yearly since 1979! Whilst there, I purchased a little silver heart.
There was a further unexpected element to this Artist’s Date… in the tranquil gardens, I encountered a strange selection of arms and legs embedded in the bushes. Rather like Bridget and some of her spectacular failures, perhaps they had seen me coming, and sought to escape..?!
So, back to the process of planning… clearly, as in the case of closed cafes, planning can be of great importance to the quality of a date! As, on an Artist’s Date, we only have ourselves to take care of the details, we need to plan carefully. On a positive note, the loo at the gallery was open! However, it is also important not to get into a situation where we over-plan, or fail to fit in all of the expected activities, and potentially end up beating ourselves up. On returning from meeting a friend today, I decided to make an impromptu stop to enjoy the sunshine and surroundings of Abbey Fields in Kenilworth for one of my two weekly walks. This turned into an unexpectedly pleasant 90-minute stroll, and allowed me to benefit from blue skies and floral displays.
Similarly, whereas I had envisaged that I would get stuck straight into the memoir questions that form part of the weekly tasks, so far, I have fallen well behind! I confess, I feel a little self-imposed pressure around this activity, rather like Bridget would if she had failed to exercise sufficiently to lose calories… However, I recognise that, at the end of the day, it is in my hands, and for my enjoyment that I have chosen to embark on this creative journey…
Looking back over the first three weeks, I feel it is a case of so far, so good. My diary scores very high overall on morning pages completed (20/21), Artist’s Dates are proving to be a great motivator for trying something different (3/3), and the walks get easier as the weather brightens! So, where memoir is concerned, perhaps best to empathise with Bridget, and note that:
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that when one part of your life starts going okay, another falls spectacularly to pieces.” ― Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones’s Diary
How spectacularly this proves to be, will depend on my progress with memoir in week 4… Watch this space!
I would also love to hear how you are getting on with your own journey with the Artist’s Way for Retirement? Please post on the blog to let me know. Of course, also let me know if you are planning to start soon!