Stephanie Affinito: Reading Restoratively

What does creativity look like for you these days?

I was always one of those people who didn’t think she had a creative bone in her body. I never saw my reading, my writing, my poetry and my doodling as forms of art. Unlike true artistic endeavors, such as dancing or painting or sculpting, I felt my hobbies were basic and didn’t count. 

These sentiments followed me into adulthood until I read Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic and realized that we are ALL creative, it just looks differently based on who we are and what we love to do. 

For me, creativity lives in words. Reading and writing has always been a part of my daily life and I realized how absolutely essential they were to my health and wellness when I became ill as a teenager and again in adulthood. Books were my lifeline to experiences that were put on hold in my actual life. Notebooks were the tools that got me through incredibly hard days. 

Today, I lean into reading and writing as forms of wellness and creativity. I read books to help me grow through what I go through. I use notebooks to support my mental health and I infuse both with a sense of creativity about how I can use reading and writing to make life better. I might read a book and then grow my own edible flowers and make a gluten-free lemon meringue pie (true story). I keep track of the good things in my day in my notebook and use that gratitude practice to fill my bucket. 

Reading and writing helps me take inspired action in my life…which often leads me to a new level of creativity that is now a possibility because of those practices. 

Tell us about a day in your life, how do you fit in creative moments?

The most treasured part of my day comes in the wee hours of the morning when the entire house is asleep and there are no expectations for what should be done. I brew a cup of coffee, breathe deeply and recite affirmations, journal, move my body through yoga and pilates sequences and read. By the time the kids are up, I feel centered and calm and accomplished all before 6am.

Once the day begins, I need to get creative in how I fit creativity into my day. I often take a quick walk on my lunch break, take a 5 minute journaling break in the afternoon and return to the book I’m reading once the house is quiet again at night. 

I schedule weekly artist dates, thanks to the advice of Julia Cameron, although they often take place right in my own home in the form of a zoom call: community writing sessions, monthly book clubs, author events and creative lettering workshops.

I’m always striving for more creativity throughout my day, but savor the pockets of time that do appear because when they do, I’m ready with my basket of books, notebooks, lettering pens and stickers.

What’s a dream project for you?

I’ve spent my entire career as a literacy educator, first teaching students and then coaching teachers on how to create joyful literacy communities. 

My own personal health challenges and journey of learning have brought me to an exciting new intersection of reading, writing, wellness and creativity, something I call bookology. I am particularly interested in embracing, teaching, coaching and sharing restorative reading with others. 

Typically defined, something that is restorative serves to restore us to consciousness, vigor, or health, such as restorative movement, yoga, meditation, art and/or creativity. 

Restorative reading is a particular kind of reading that soothes the body, sparks the mind and connects readers together in meaningful communities to make life better. Put simply: it’s the kind of reading that truly matters to who we are, who we become and how we feel. 

My dream is to bring restorative reading to others through workshops and courses, onsite and virtual restorative reading sessions, personalized coaching and retreats. Think breathing and meditation, reading books prescribed for each of us and conversation and journaling to help us take inspired action. 

That is my current dream. 

If you could give everyone a small treat, what would it be?

If I could give everyone a small treat, it would be a personalized book and notebook apothecary created especially for each person. 

What’s a book and notebook apothecary? It’s a carefully chosen stack of books and notebook prompts that are tailored to each reader and writer: their interests and preferences, the challenges they are facing, the dreams they have and what they need in a particular season of life. 

These books and notebook prompts can help us feel seen, gain new perspective and consider new possibilities for ourselves. There’s a particular kind of magic that happens when we take inspired action from the pages of a book or notebook and I love inspiring that magic. 

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Stephanie Affinito is a book-loving, notebook-hoarding reader and writer on a mission to change lives one book and one notebook at a time. She’s the podcast host and head bookologist at Get Lit(erate). and Kidlit Love and blogs about the power of leading literate lives at www.alitlife.com. She lives in upstate New York with her husband and three busy teenagers. Learn more about restorative reading here, and follow Stephanie on Instagram here.

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Hi! I’m Heidi. Writer. Editor. Mother. I’m interviewing 100 creative mothers, because I believe the more we see other mothers making beauty and meaning in small moments, the more we will be inspired to make our own kind of art, whatever that may look like during this intense season of life. Support the project by sharing with a friend.