Week 5: Recovering A Sense of Possibility

The Artist's Way, Week Five was about recovering possibility and virtue traps.  It proved to be an enlightening chapter and called upon memories of my sociology classes in college due to the labels and roles we fulfill in our lives.  Often we feel bound by what we are to other people- mothers, fathers, bosses, teachers, daughters, sons, coworkers, mentors, friends, lovers, strangers, artists, politicians, students, writers, bodyguards, gas station attendants - and feel the need to play the role and fulfill the responsibilities of such labels.  The social constructs ignore who we really are- our authentic selves- and attempt to place us within several neatly formed boxes all at once (this reminds me of wooden nesting dolls).  It can alter behavior for the better or for the worse, and can ultimately deny a person of their authentic identity.  Have you ever thought about how many labels, or roles, could be used to define you according to social constructs?...besides the naughty slang terms during road rage.

We can feel obligated, and responsible to uphold others' expectations and end up muting our authentic voice within that is there to guide us.  This can lead people to lose themselves and I believe is responsible for the phenomenon known as "mid-life crisis".

A specific sentence in the book really seemed to awaken me, as Julia Cameron wrote, "The true self is a disturbing character, healthy and occasionally anarchistic, who know how to play, how to say no to others, and 'yes' to itself."  Wow. 

Sometimes I let too much stress pile up due to others desires and let my own slide.  I have been trained to please and I believe that it is fair to say that most of our population has (I'm not blaming parents, as it is a part of our social fabric- found within reforcements in schools and all avenues of social institutions and engagements).  It is fine to please others- I'm not calling for an anarchy or an upraising of selfishness, but I am saying that it is a major problem when we aim to please others so much that we forget about our own needs.  We toss them aside and become zombies-shells of our former selves.  We would rather hold onto our virtues and uphold our honor, than be who we were meant to be and do the things we were meant to do.

It's definitely worth some thought and an awakening chapter!