Back to School, Grown Up Edition

Welcome to Creatives Anonymous, a weekly newsletter that explores creativity, culture, and the trends shaping how we work, think, and make through essays, interviews, and commentary.

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I recently fell onto the “personal curriculum” side of TikTok. 

Originally started by Elizabeth Jean (@xparmesanprincessx), she outlines how she creates a “personal curriculum” every month for herself. It’s essentially areas of study or things that she’s interested in learning about. Her August curriculum video has over 206K views and includes topics such as “a study on cookies,” The Artist’s Way, and “inner alchemy.” She states that the curriculum is based on what she’s interested in learning at the time and what seems silly and fun. 

Personal curricula are designed for adults who are no longer in school but still love learning and want to further their knowledge and skills in adulthood. For those who’ve done The Artist’s Way, it’s like taking yourself on an artist’s date. 

As someone who loves learning, I was immediately smitten with the idea. And I’m not the only one. 

Over the last month, the idea has blown up. Videos of people outlining their monthly personal curricula have taken over my FYP. 

We are at a time where people are yearning for something to keep their brains sharp, especially in an era where AI is making it easier to turn our brains off. As a society, we’re craving learning, purpose, and exploration. We want something that gives us something to do outside our 9-5 that’s mentally stimulating, rather than doomscrolling or consuming brain-rotting content. 

Plus, for those of us who love everything back-to-school season, a personal curriculum scratches that itch. 

Culturally, personal curricula represent a way for us to bring back individualism in an otherwise homogenized society. No two curricula will look the same because no two people have the same passions, interests, and curiosities. And that’s what makes it so cool. 

In other words, it presents an opportunity to follow your own interests, not those of others. 

Personal curricula provide a way to follow our curiosity in a structured way. Creators joke about it being the “grad school” or “master's program” they create for themselves. 

They complement hobbies in that hobbies involve doing, whereas a personal curriculum involves learning (of course, there is overlap if your personal curriculum involves learning how to do something). 

When it comes to building a personal curriculum, it’s so easy to become paralyzed by choice—the world is vast and there is so much to learn. The good news is you can learn anything you want to, just not all at the same time. Just start with what piques your interest now. 

There’s no right or wrong way, and no topic is off limits. People are adding anything from quantum physics to Italian cooking. Some are using it as an opportunity to upskill or hone the skills they use in their day job. Others are using it as a way to explore topics that are just for fun, like astrology or poetry. 

So, how do you build one?

The best part is that your own curiosity drives your personal curriculum, and it can be structured in any way you want. 

So, I’m hopping on the bandwagon and creating my own personal curriculum for the fall semester (which I’m counting from September 1 to December 31, because let’s be real, fall unofficially starts around September 1). I broke mine down into three categories: reading, creating, and learning: 

Reading: War and Peace

I’m really into the idea of “slow reading” books and want to read more actual literature (the focus being on quality and length of the book rather than the quantity read). I saw someone do a slow read of War and Peace, and I was inspired to do the same. So that’s the book I’m going to start with (ambitious, I know, but what can I say? I like to go big or go home. Plus, being able to say you’ve read one of the longest and most prolific books ever is kinda a big flex). 

I plan to read this a little bit each day (if not every day, then most days for sure) and annotate it, just as we used to with books in school. I want to take the time to analyze the story of the book (themes, character arcs, etc.) to understand Tolstoy’s motivation, what he wanted to convey, and how the story relates to broader cultural, historical, and societal events. 

I’m fully anticipating this to take longer than the four-ish months to finish, but I’m excited to at least make a significant dent in the novel. 

Creating: Gouache painting

For the creating portion of my curriculum, I decided to take up gouache painting. I have a set of paints that I purchased eons ago, which are still sitting unopened in their package. 

For this area of study, I’m just looking to use this as an artistic outlet. I will still watch some videos to get up to speed on how to use the medium and different techniques, but I want to play and experiment. As for projects (because I love a good project), I’ll start by taking some of my photographs and recreating them in a painted form to practice. 

Learning: Greek

If you’ve been following my journey here or IRL, you know that this has been on my list for a long time. This time, I’m finally going to financially invest in this goal by enrolling in an official course through a school of Modern Greek. I’ve tried Duolingo and other self-study resources in the past, so I think a structured course might be the best approach for me. Additionally, it will encourage me to immerse myself in the language by becoming comfortable speaking it. 

Again, this is something that will extend beyond just the semester, as there are several courses and levels to take to achieve fluency. 

My goal is to work on these three areas each week. The idea is to learn in a low-pressure way, led by curiosity and passion for what you’re studying. 

For anyone wanting to start their own personal curriculum, but doesn’t know where to start in finding ideas or how to structure it, there are so many great educational resources:

• Free university courses through schools like Harvard, Yale, and more

• Online learning platforms like Skillshare, Coursera, and LinkedIn Learning 

• The library (and its databases, which you can access with your library card)

• Lectures (online and in-person)

• Books and podcasts 

• Field trips (museum exhibits, art walks, etc.)

And for my friends who like to take notes and organize their information: 

• Digital note-taking apps like Notion, Obsidian, and Apple Notes

• Digital notebooks like Notability or GoodNotes

• A good ol’ fashioned notebook 

• A three-ring binder 

What do you think? Would you create a personal curriculum? If so, what would be in yours? Reply to this email and let me know!

Creative Corner

• 🎞️ What I’m Consuming: One of my good friends worked on a production of Much Ado About Nothing for the Whidbey Island Shakespeare Festival here in Washington this summer, so naturally, I had to see it. I’m pretty sure I haven’t seen or read Shakespeare in its truest form since high school, so it was cool to get immersed in his works again.

• 💡 What I’m Loving: The Reserve Roastery at the Starbucks HQ

• 🎨 What I’m Working On: I made fig jam last week, and it turned out SO good

• 💭 Weekly Musing:

Thank you 💕

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Alexa Phillips is a writer, marketing strategist, and multi-passionate creative. She is the founder of Bright Eyes Creative, a Seattle-based brand consultancy and media company.

Where to find me:

• Learn more about my services 

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