How do we re-engage when things feel off track? It's day 26 of the 100 Day Project. Or is is day 27? Holy crap, maybe it's even day 28. I know for sure that it's not day 30, because if it were, I'd be doing a check-in with Andrea and BB. Soooooo.....that's my 100 Day Project current moment snapshot. I'm not even totally sure what day I'm on. Because somewhere between the Day 20 check-in that we did (as part of #100DaysWithABC), and today, I've sorta stalled out. It's been weighing on me, but not in TOO terrible a way. I've been able to come back to my Day 1 commitments: to be gentle to myself, to give myself grace, to remember that this is supposed to be a chance for FUN and a daily dose of creativity, NOT 100 Days of Beating Myself Up. I think I'm doing a pretty good job of reminding myself:
So what is this information telling me? That's what I want to figure out. So I sat down to do some journaling and self reflection, and as with so much of this project, it is both challenging and also enlightening. When I can stay in gentle, mindful self study, it's actually really helpful and offers a lot of insight that I can apply not just to this creative project, but to so many other aspects of my life. Maybe you are also feeling a little stuck, stalled out, de-railed, or paused. Need some help gathering information? Let's go! First off, what's the source?(a.k.a. let’s figure out what flavor of stuck this is) You don’t need to answer all of these. Let one or two tap you on the shoulder. Then take a few minutes to free write your answers. (new to free writing? There's a quick definition and some tips at the bottom of this post)
A few more questions to help us zero in
Some categories to considerHere are some categories I've identified that seem to be many of the basic reasons someone might stall out or subconsciously push pause. There are probably many more, but these are a starting point. Take what you've written and re-read it. (be sure you aren't wearing your judge-y pants!) Just notice themes, words that reappear frequently, emotions that are simmering under the words, or common threads. Do they fit into any of these categories? (and if they don't, maybe a different category comes up for you, that's great information!) 1. Loss of Spark (a.k.a. the Middle is Boring AF) The beginning had novelty. The end has payoff. The middle is… oatmeal.
2. Misalignment / Drift What felt right on Day 1 might not fit Day 42-you.
3. Too Many Micro-Decisions This is like decision fatigue’s annoying cousin. Not big overwhelm—just death by 1,000 tiny choices.
4. Invisible Rules / Perfectionism in Disguise You've told yourself that you're to be messy… but secretly you don't believe it.
5. Disconnection from Why You started for a reason… but you’ve lost the thread.
6. Energy Mismatch / Real Life Shows Up Your project asks for a version of you that doesn’t exist today.
7. Fear of Being Seen (or Not Seen) A spicy paradox, sometimes with a side order of imposter syndrome.
8. Being a Lone Wolf Or maybe a Sad Panda? Either way, doing it solo can SUCK big time.
Prompts to begin to gently unstickOk, we've gathered some info. We've begun to identify the roots of the pause. Let's shift into revving back up again. If it’s emotional (avoidance, fear, comparison, loneliness):
If it’s structural (your rules are the problem):
If it’s capacity (energy/time mismatch):
If it’s disconnection (lost your why):
If it’s boredom / middle slump:
Prompts that become your map to the on-ramp
This entire post was (selfishly) created for ME and shared with you in hope that it is helpful if you are also feeling stuck. No shame circle, no judge-y pants. Just me reminding myself and you: a pause is not a personality flaw. It's not about catching up, it’s about finding my spark and re-engaging in a way that feels good to me. So if you’ve drifted away from your project for a few days (or a few weeks), here’s your permission slip: You don’t have to catch up. You don’t have to make it good. You don’t even have to make it make sense. This is your invitation to just touch it again. Was this helpful to you? I'd love to hear! Share a comment here on the blog, or on social media, or get in touch. I always appreciate the company on the journey, and the solidarity of knowing that I'm not alone.  What is "free writing"?Free writing for journaling is a stream-of-consciousness practice where you write continuously for a set time (for prompts like those shared here, I would typically use about 3 minutes) without pausing, editing, or worrying about grammar, spelling, or coherence. It is designed to bypass the inner critic to tap into raw emotions, clear mental clutter, and get at thoughts and emotions that can sometimes wiggle out of our grasp when we try too hard.
Guidelines for Free Writing
I do my free writing with prompts like these right in my art journal. Later, I might come back to those pages and circle words, create black out poetry, or layer with paint, gesso or collage papers directly over the words. Sometimes some of those words peek out here and there, sometimes they all get covered completely. Free writing like this is about getting the words and ideas out of our brains, but not really about any intention to preserve those words or do anything with them. I really enjoy the process of using prompts like this and then letting them become a layer in my art. Hang out with us for the 100 Day Project!The Day 30 Check-in with Andrea and BB will be Monday, March 23. You can find all the dates & times for 100 Days With ABC here (we're going LIVE every 10 days) and you can sign up for email reminders here. 
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Journaling Prompts for the 10 Day Check-in I came up with these prompts for Day 10 of the 100 Days Project, with my answers posted below. If you want to, take a minute to write out some thoughts for yourself. These journaling prompts are great for checking in as we are about 10 days into the 100 Day Project, but could also be good as a check in and reflection for almost anything that you have in progress. On Tuesday of this week, Andrea, Brooke, and I went LIVE for our 10 day check-in on Instagram for our 100 Days With ABC. Check out the replay here if you missed us live. You can comment here on the blog post, or over on Instagram if you want to share your answers to any of these questions. I'd love to hear what you are doing for the 100 Days Project if you're participating, and anything else you feel like sharing. If you're playing along with us, you can add the hashtag #100DaysWithABC.  MY ANSWER: Feeling proud of myself for getting this far in. Definitely feeling connected and grateful to my community of Andrea & Brooke as we are doing this together. I'm feeling more connected to my new(ish-to me) art space and having more reasons to be in the space and creating. I'm also feeling pressure at times and sometimes a little anxiety about making sure to keep up. I'm able to stay out of guilt and negativity on the days when I have needed a break, and that feels a little surprising and also really great to give myself the grace and kindness that I had committed to.  MY ANSWER: Things that are feeling easy are having clear parameters around what I'm going to do every day. I like knowing exactly what my project is, not having to make a lot of choices as those are either already made for me (doing gel plate printing) or are spontaneous in the moment (pulling a marble to choose my color for the day). I had told myself that I wanted to pull out and use supplies that I hadn't reached for in a while, so it's felt super fun to rediscover old favorites. A fun surprise is how much I've enjoyed choosing the music that accompanies my social media posts, I didn't expect that!  MY ANSWER: A huge challenge that I didn't anticipate is just how much energy it takes me to do gel plate printing. I didn't really think it through, but in the past I have done a lot of creating in big batches. Pulling out both gel plates and all the supplies, plus the time to just work and the fact that when I'm printing I stand and move my body a lot - these are all factors that I just didn't think through completely before getting started. So I found that it took more time and energy than I really had on some days and was probably a little more complicated than I need it to be moving forward. I also didn't think about the sheer volume of paper it would create if I planned to keep going at the pace I had for a full 100 days! Remembering to take photos &/or videos and then finding the time to edit and post to Instagram is not really my jam, so that has been something that I feel goes in the "not working" category.  MY ANSWER: I don't know if it's a new learning, but maybe a reminder or reinforcement: I am NOT a "content creator". I don't like the pressure of trying to remember to document everything, I don't like editing videos or pics and trying to organize them into posts. It's not all bad because I definitely like to have some of it documented and I have been meaning to create some of the things (like my masks & stencils post) for my followers and community. But the added step after I'm done creating or before I get started of trying to take pics or get set up for a video or edit often takes a lot of the fun out of the creating for me. So I think I'm learning that I'd like to continue to see how I can find balance with creating some content and documenting my process without losing my mind (or all the fun!) by trying to do that.  MY ANSWER: I'm doing this for ME. I'm reminding myself of this - because of my answer to the previous question. I'm still doing the creating even if I don't take a million pics or create a video. I want to remember that the 100 Day Project, for me, is about feeding my creativity and having some consistency, not about creating a curated feed of content. My reasons for continuing are that I'm having fun creating and being in my art space. I'm thankful for the pics and videos I have created and posted. I'm loving the connection with Brooke and Andrea and also with the wider creative community. There's something very hopeful and positive for me in knowing all these people are out there creating and just imperfectly TRYING at something. I want to continue because I'd really love to get through the full 100 days and know what that feels like to stick with it.  MY ANSWER: Barriers I could remove are to let myself off the hook of posting every day, knowing that the creativity happens even if it doesn't make it onto social media. I also need to simplify or change up what I'm doing for the next 10 days. I'd like to be doing something that can fit a little more tidily into 15-20 minutes and that can be done seated if I want to not be standing or need to conserve energy.  MY ANSWER: I know for sure that sticking to just one color is SO HARD for me! I want MORE COLOR!! So whatever I do next, I know I'll be giving myself permission to expand beyond just one color.  MY ANSWER: I'm still figuring this out. I'm unsure of what I want to do for the next 10 days. I absolutely love watching both Andrea and Brooke's videos, so I've been thinking about setting myself up with a framework of working in a journal or on small works, but I just don't know yet. This question is actually giving me a little anxiety because I feel like without some guidelines for myself and a plan, I will feel too overwhelmed by options and it will be more difficult to do something every day. When the choices are that many - make something....anything! - it feels very overwhelming to me and my brain and creativity bones just shut down completely. So I really would like to come up with something that feels right for the next 10 days.  MY ANSWER: you can see my handwritten note in the pic at the top of this post Holy moly, my friend! It’s Day 10. You did the thing!! You stuck with something important to you for 10 whole days! In THIS world, with YOUR life, that’s not always easy. I truly hope you can pause and recognize how you are showing up for yourself. Was it perfect? Nah. But maybe that would’ve been boring. Was it just what you needed? Yep. and you did it! I’m proud of you. I’m proud of you. I’m proud of you. ❤️ I’m really fucking proud of you. You are showing up and doing the thing...in your messy and authentic way. Good job, you. ❤️ XOXO  Helpful Links
It's not too late to join us, just jump in whenever it works for you!
Journaling Prompts to Get Us Started These are the prompts that I came up with for Day 1 of the 100 Days Project, with my answers posted below. If you want to, take a minute to write out some thoughts for yourself. I liked the idea of getting some of these things out of my brain and onto paper so that I could move forward confidently. Today, Andrea, Brooke, and I went LIVE for our first check-in on Instagram for our 100 Days With ABC. Check out the replay here if you missed us live. If you want emailed reminders about the days we are going live (every 10 days), as well as other random ideas, inspo, and cheerleading, you can add yourself here. You can comment here on the blog post, or over on Instagram if you want to share your answers to any of these questions. I'd love to hear what you are doing for the 100 Days Project if you're participating, and anything else you feel like sharing. If you're playing along with us, you can add the hashtag #100DaysWithABC.  MY ANSWER: What it means to me this time around is a commitment to myself and my creativity, a commitment to my friends to show up and be there for them as well throughout our check ins, and a commitment to my community of other creatives who are on this journey of tapping in to our beautiful artist selves! What it does NOT mean: performing (especially performing perfection), doing all 100 days, having some kind of finished project or collection, creating polished posts, emails or content. MESSY and AUTHENTIC are 2 words that I wrote down that feel like important guides for participating across these 100 days.  MY ANSWER: I'm planning to use my gel plate to create collage pages with just ONE color. I tend to use ALL THE COLORS and I want to have more paper available that is monochromatic. I put colored marbles in a little drawstring bag - 3 each of pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Each day I will draw out one marble, and then make a collection of paint, markers, etc. in just that one color to work with. As a back up, I've got an altered book art journal that I may work in on days when I don't have time to do a full gel plate sesh. At a very minimum, I'm committed to at least scribble in my book in the color of the day each day. In order to get back to my practice of using art journaling for personal growth and healing, part of my process will be to do a quick, mindful check in each day before I start. For me, this looks like taking a couple of deep breaths and then noticing what's happening in my body, mind, heart in that moment. Usually I'll do a little bit of journaling in one of my books using simple prompts such as: What emotions feel present with me in this moment? What's happening in my thoughts right now? What sensations am I noticing in my body?  MY ANSWER: I had a really short answer to this one and I'm appreciating it as I type it out. Success for me this time around looks like being kind and gentle to myself throughout the process, and showing up even when I don't want to.  MY ANSWER: What I really need/want is firstly structure. But then after that, I need permission to break the "rules" and the ability to be flexible. I want to give myself kindness, love, care, grace, as I show up in new and old ways. I want the consistency of doing something every day, and to remind myself that it's only for the next 10 days (which feels soooooo much more doable!).   Want to be sure to get reminders so you can tune in LIVE? Let me know that you want to be added to the #100DaysWithABC email list! The 100 Days Project starts this Sunday and I'm planning to participate! In the past, I've barely made it through 10 days. I tend to get very all-or-nothing, and give up when I miss a day or two. This year, I'm giving myself the gift of doing it WITH FRIENDS to help keep me engaged and accountable. My pals Andrea Chebeleu and BB Henry (the 'A' and 'B' to my 'C' - aren't we clever??!!?? lol) and I will be cheering each other on, sharing ideas, helping each other make it through the tough days, and just generally doing the 100 Days Project together, in community. Because, ya know what's better than making cool arty stuff?? Doing it with other RAD humans!!! Maybe you want to give it a go with us. We'll be going live on Instagram every 10 days for a check-in and you're invited to play and create right along with us. #100DaysWithABC I'll be sending out some reminder emails and I'm thinking there might be some fun happy mail on offer for folks who are participating. I'm still noodling on ideas to make it fun for me AND you, but also to keep it doable and accessible (and not let the so-many-big-ideas gremlins get me carried away). So definitely stay tuned! I'm still deciding what exactly my "project" will be. Right now, I'm leaning toward doing something with my gel plate and COLOR, and I have a few ideas, but more to come! I know Andrea has a fun plan involving creativity DICE and making some spontaneous combos, and I think BB is planning to work in some simple art journals. The bottom line is that what I really want is just to HAVE FUN and get myself creating and showing up consistently. How to participate:There are no official sign ups for the 100 Days Project or for #100DaysWithABC, just YOU deciding to give it a go. If you want to play along with us, here are some basic steps:
Here's a great article on Tips & Tools for Creating a Successful 100 Days Project. Spoiler alert: one thing that is recommended is to do it IN COMMUNITY!! Dates & times for the LIVE check-insMost of the live check-ins will be at noon (PT). But we have a few that are different to accommodate our schedules. All of them will stay up on Instagram and you'll be able to view them later if you can't make it live. All times are Pacific.
Want to be sure to get reminders so you can tune in LIVE?
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AuthorIt's me, Crystal. I need a place to put all my extra words. Archives
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