Week 2 is done. When I first read the chapter for this week and listed the tasks, I felt a bit overwhelmed. It felt like a lot of work was being assigned and this week would test the seriousness of my intent. I’m happy to report, I passed with flying colours. Morning Pages are becoming an essential morning activity. The words flow easily, though one day I was so distracted, it took me three times as long to complete.

My favourite task required me to list 20 activities I enjoy and then noting when was the last time I did any of them. At first, I struggled to list even 10 items (can you believe that?). I always thought of myself as a person of many varied interests. When had I stopped enjoying myself. My first few activities were – cooking and baking. Two activities I do enjoy but are also performed primarily for someone else, i.e. family. What do I do for myself? Somewhere further down the list are dancing, kayaking, concerts, and spa treatments. Only 4 of the 20 activities were mine and mine alone. The remaining 16 were all about others. I have lost a bit (or maybe more) of myself in the last few years. This was a really good exercise to realise how much I had changed in the past decade. And yes, I had an impromptu dance session at home. Lady Gaga’s Stupid Love is stupidly wonderful to just let go.

Once again I had to get creative again with the Artist’s Date. I had the most fun time colouring a book I bought in 2015 in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands while listening to the Berlin Philharmonic play Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at the Brandenburg Gate.

The affirmations and Basic Principles seem more real this week. I feel more connected to ‘me”. I’m grateful to have this program to follow during these uncertain times. For next week, I intend to dig deeper and be more honest and vulnerable.