Creativity is one of my core values. It makes me feel fulfilled and brings great richness and joy to my life. However, sometimes it can feel like I’m peddling uphill. The wheels are turning, I’m working hard, but I’m just not going anywhere – it’s been one of those weeks.
As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been doing Ali Edward’s “one little word” challenge for the year. In summary, the concept, if you haven’t heard of it, is that you choose one word each year to focus on and explore. The word I chose was “ease”.
I knew when I chose this word, I could learn a lot from it. Determination, and the ability to work hard on things that matter to me, is a strength of mine. However, as Albert Einstein said, “with every action there is an equal opposite reaction” and I think the same can be said of traits. The flip side is that sometimes I have hard time slowing down and re-balancing – even though that’s what it sometimes takes to create the space for creative ideas.
Although I’ve become better at this over the years, every so often I need to re-calibrate and it’s been interesting to navigate a creative rut like this with the word “ease” at the forefront of my mind. Over the past week, I’ve noticed how much I resisted slowing down, even though I knew that creativity would flow more easily if I took a step back and came back to my projects with a fresh perspective.
Finally on Friday afternoon, after a scattered and unproductive day working on my novel, I took my husband’s sage advice and went for a run without my phone (usually running or walking is the time I catch up on my favourite podcasts but I knew today silence and the sound of my breath would serve me better). It was amazing how this simple act made such a difference.
While I was on this run, I began reflecting on how I could incorporate more things into my life which inspired me and helped me to be more creative when I felt like I was in a rut. Below is a list of things I came up with and over the next week I’ve decided to choose one thing on this list to do each day to help cultivate more creative “ease” in my life. I’ll be sharing what I get up to on my Instagram stories.
If you’ve also been lacking inspiration recently, I’d love for you to join me for the week.
- Getting into nature
- Getting away from a screen
- Pinning or creating a moodboard of things that inspire me
- Exercising / practicing yoga / mediation
- Reading / listening to inspiration (podcasts, books, audio-books)
- Connecting with friends and family
- Really taking time to cook a delicious meal
- Admiring the sunset or sunrise
- Admiring the little things – the way the shadows and light fall and the colour of the trees and sky
- Day dreaming
- Watching a feel good movie
- Tea and Chocolate
- Taking a hot bath or shower
- Re-evaluating my to-d0-list
- Sharing the problem with a friend or family member
- Singing a long to some up-lifting music on loud
- Journalling.
I hope this list inspires you. I’d love to know what things help you to cultivate more creativity in your life or help you get out of a creative rut?
