Monday I started another creative challenge again.

The challenge: Start your own radical self love bible

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What was difficult?
In a way this challenge was somewhat more confronting and personal than most of my creative challenges. I did experience it as a ‘good kind of difficult’ though, if that makes sense.

What was fun?
I had a lot of fun with this challenge. Using collage as a medium is much faster than drawing, which makes you feel like you have results immediately. It feels quite gratifying. The pages I finished so far give me a happy vibe and started functioning as a good reminder already. There are many things about ourselves we know to be true in theory, but which are hard to experience all the time in practice. These pages make me feel good about myself, and I can’t wait to creatively capture other aspects I am struggling with. I also love that each page or spread has a theme of its own. One reminds me that it is OK to listen to my needs and relax a bit more (even though I feel like I must be productive 100% of the time if I ever want to achieve my dreams). Another one reminds me that just because others don’t always see my vibrance or beauty, doesn’t mean that it isn’t there. As an introvert I sometimes feel scared that people won’t be able to see all the wonderful things about me that I feel hesitant to share with them al first. I also put in a beautiful letter I received and a card that makes me feel good about myself. You might also recognise my ‘rejection chart‘. For every rejection I faced in the past months I coloured in one ‘no’. This way I tried to celebrate my courage and encourage failure for the sake of growth. I love how each page speaks to a different part of me that needs to hear some encouragement every now and then.

What did I learn?
Although settings time and quantity for challenges helps to push myself, it can also feel like another commitment. For example my ‘illustrate your love history’ challenge felt more forced time wise, compared to the normally relaxed state I feel in when drawing. So for this week I consciously didn’t set a number of pages I needed to finish or amount of time I needed to spend on it. This decision resulted in a more fun and relaxed way of working, which I think a challenge (especially this one) deserves. I do think that pushing yourself can help to overcome your normal excuses and obstacles, but it shouldn’t feel like another chore. Balance is the key, as always.

One last thing: just a quick reminder that if you want to participate in my Creative Kindness Month Link-up, you need to hurry because March is almost over!

What loving message should you tell yourself more often?

5 Comments

  • Reply

    nikkiana

    March 30, 2014 at 15:13

    Oooh! Yours have come out fabulous so far! I’ve admittedly not dove into the prompts so far…

    *hangs head in shame*

    Largely because I’m having one of those moments where I’m part of a different group that uses prompts for visioning a lot, and I’ve already started a book for that group and I can’t decide whether I want to combine the prompts in one book or keep them separate.

    • Reply

      magicaldaydream

      March 31, 2014 at 12:15

      Haha I tend to start different books and journals for different projects. In the end I think it matters less if you combine then or not, as long as you feel like you are taking action and doing what you want to do. I intend my creative projects in a way that you can pick them up any time you wish. So if now doesn’t work, you can always try next week or next month or so!

  • Reply

    iHanna

    March 30, 2014 at 19:19

    Oh such yummy beautiful pages, thanks for sharing them online! Totally makes me wanna dive into my art journal right now!

    • Reply

      magicaldaydream

      March 31, 2014 at 12:16

      I always feel inspired by seeing other peoples art as well. it just makes you want to get our your pencils and start!

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