Sometimes, a date with ourselves could be just as exciting as a romantic date. It’s the time we allot every week to know more about who we are, what are we thinking about, and it’s the time we use to inspire ourselves. In 1992, author Julia Cameron wrote the now bestselling The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. It was supposed to be a self-help book to teach people techniques that aim at unlocking their highest creative potential. In the following decades, it has become a handbook for artistes who are hoping to get inspired, and break free from the rut.

One of these techniques is the “Artist Date”, which Cameron insists is a must for creative recovery. It’s a weekly (or monthly if you don’t have the time) solo expedition to engage in hobbies, or endeavours that interest you. In her own words, an artiste date is “is a block of time, perhaps two hours weekly, especially set aside and committed to nurturing your creative consciousness, you inner artiste. In its most primary form, the artiste date is an excursion, a play date that you pre-plan and defend against interlopers. You do not take anyone on this artiste date but you and your inner artiste, aka your creative child.”