Alone Again

One of the central tenets of The Artist’s Way is that you take yourself on a weekly “artist’s date,” which is basically spending two hours, alone, doing something you like to do. The idea, as I understand it, is to make time for fun and not be beholden to the wishes of others.

I took myself off to Mishka’s, a coffee shop some blocks from our house (there are certainly lots of closer coffee shops, at least five, not counting Starbucks which seems to have closed down), but this one makes excellent coffee, has a great European vibe, and has a lot of outdoor seating. I got my cappuccino and worked on a project for an hour or so and then went across the street to the Avid Reader, our local independent bookstore which changed hands a few years ago and is now one of the gems of Davis.

Intensely social, I have not often sought my own company, but it turns out I like it. Maybe this is a function of age or that we all got used to isolation during COVID or something else, but I am finding myself planning other ways to spend fun time alone. I have to go to Berkeley next week; this is an excellent opportunity to spend a couple of extra hours doing something fun: it’s about building a restorative practice.