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It’s my intention to write a little more frequently than usual and publish every two weeks rather than monthly, starting with this multi-part series about my 100 Days Project.
As I sit down to write this issue, it is day 101 of my 100 Days Project: Show Up and Share. I’m a little behind many people because I needed some time to consider carefully whether or not I wanted to join. This post is about why I hesitated before committing, why I ultimately decided to take the leap, and my internal process that bridged the gap.
The 100 Days Project Explained
For those who are unfamiliar with the 100 Days project, here is what it means in my understanding. As the name implies, the 100 Days project means committing to making art for 100 days. Typically, the artist chooses a theme. It can be done as part of a special group or as part of the larger art community. Many artists post their progress on social media.
Good reasons to do a 100 Days Project
For the record, this is my first time engaging in a 100 Days Project. So my knowledge of the benefits of this project are based on my own speculation as well as the report of friends.
In my mind, committing to a 100 day project would help me deepen my existing daily art practice and strengthen the “habit” of making art every day. If I picked my theme well, based on an area I wanted to improve, then obviously, after 100 days, I should see improvement in that area. I am also very curious about what I will learn about myself through this practice. Posting on social media would also allow me to benefit from being part of a larger community of artists engaged in the same pursuit. These benefits come in the form of encouragement and belonging. And still, I did not want to rush into my decision.
Why I Hesitated
Even though I knew I wanted to participate, and even though many people had already started a couple of days ahead of me, it was the social media component that gave me the biggest reason to pause. I admit that, although I am aware of it, and although I want to push against it, my tendencies toward perfectionism, of presenting myself well in public are very strong. I knew that if I announced my project publicly, I would need to be ready to deal with this pull. Was I willing to be vulnerable in the way that this project made me feel? Additionally, I gave myself the time to ask and answer the following questions:
Do I have the stamina? or How could I pace myself so I would not exhaust my energies doing this project? I’ve never completed a 100 Days Project before. I’ve done a 5 day project - easy; a 14 day “challenge” - moderately challenging and a 30 day challenge - definitely difficult!
What made the 30 day project definitely challenging was the expectation (whether real or invented by me) that I should come up with something different for every day which led to a little mental exhaustion. My Answer: Don’t make it an expectation to make something different each day. I can make it okay for me to try something multiple times and be okay with sharing this.
What theme do I want to follow and what if I get bored of this theme? I know, it seems like a contradiction to my concern about mentally exhausting myself coming up with something new each day, but this question is about the bigger picture. Because I am still experimenting with different mediums, different topics, different techniques, I worried that I might choose a topic that would start out exciting but would, eventually, bore me! My Answer: Make my theme about my values. I think that practicing everyday and sharing with vulnerability are valuable antidotes to our predominant culture of perfectionism. So I decided to name my project “Show Up and Share.” Under the umbrella of this theme, I could decide at any point to shift in whatever direction I felt I needed.
What other parameters do I need to maximize my success? My Answer: I decided to follow the advice of an artist friend of mine (@anne-murphy-artworks on IG) who completed a 100 Days project last year. She recommended choosing something small and easy to finish in a short time.
Is it okay for me to “fail?” and not make it the entire 100 days? My Answer: I realized that because my theme is “Show Up and Share” the only way for me to not make it the entire 100 days is if I got seriously ill. As long as I made a small piece of art and shared it each day, I would count that as a success.
By now, as I write this sentence, it is day 13/100. I have had a couple of bumps - instances of trying to get my painting “right” before sharing, then sharing the “imperfect” ones anyway - but, for the most part, it is going well for me. In other words, I am enjoying myself and feeling quite brave.
Are you engaging in the 100 Days Project this year? If yes, how’s it going? What’s your theme? Do you deal with perfectionism too? How do you cope? If no, you’re welcome to share about that too. I invite you to share in the comments. I would love to hear from you?
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As always, I appreciate that you’ve chosen to spend your precious time with me here.
Warmly,
Alma
It took me several days to finish this newsletter (perfectionism strikes again!) so it will be day 14/100 when it’s published.
I'm here to cheer you on! I did a 100-day project last year as you know, and overall it was rewarding. The satisfaction of each successful day kept me going. I definitely had a few bumps, but the small scope of each day's work made it easy to fit in my art in just a few minutes at the end of the day. When I was deciding what to do I almost went with a 3x5 size collage each day but wisely caught myself before heading down that path. I KNOW I would have failed quickly. As much as I love collage, I get sucked into looking for the "right" images in magazines or books and it takes a lot of time. It's also not something I'm in the mood to do all the time.
I also knew not to commit this year! Too much going on at work, and some days I'm just pooped. Like today...