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Img Source: https://www.wikiart.org/en/pablo-picasso/untitled-1938-4

I had just obtained my first visa to go to Australia. My first opportunity to live abroad (or, what at the time was “abroad” anyway). I was leaving behind a job, a career that had barely started, friends and family.

I didn’t know exactly why I needed to do this, but I knew that there was no other option and that I needed to do it now. It was scary and a bit absurd, but my life had been for a long time very predictable and logical - so why not?

In the midst of uncertainty, a book found me, as if it was waiting for the right moment for a long time: The Artists’ Way. I wasn’t leaving home to become an artist - I just wanted to find a job and improve my English. But why was this book so important to me then?

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.

– Pablo Picasso

Leaving home opens a lot of pathways in our brains. I’m not going to pretend I understand what happens exactly, but I do know that creativity comes in handy when we face a new environment. I think The Artist’s Way is not only a great tool for artists experiencing a creative block. It is a wonderful tool to help us excel in life, to be happy and to know ourselves better.

Parenthesis here: there is a lot in the book. I think following all it says passionately can also be a bit too much. Simply applying between 20 and 30 per cent of the activities the book proposes can already make a difference. I only write “morning pages” now and then, but when I do it, it grounds me - I never do it with pressure.

So I followed the course explained in the book and got ready for a new world. I didn’t write a great song or paint a piece of art. I just survived. I survived a new country by myself, made friendships, found a job, fell in love, got heartbroken, and fell in love again. And the book helped me with all of that. Still in Australia many years later.

And why this article: well, as happens with many things, I forgot what I had learned. Last week I was having trouble being creative, and I had to start applying The Artist’s Way techniques again. And it made wonders. So I wanted to share it 🙂.