A couple of weeks ago, I found myself in a seriously daunting creative rut. With working full time and preparing for the school year, I just couldn’t seem to find the time to create content that I was satisfied with. I didn’t know how to claw myself out of the hole I found myself in, and nothing was changing. So, I decided that when I did finally see the light (even for a second) I would write down what got me there to see if I could conjure up some tricks to get inspired.
So here they are, tried and true – my tips to get yourself inspired again when you just can’t fathom creating anything:
Leave the house. I don’t care if you have nothing to do out there, just get out and walk around. Just catching onto the energy of the environment outside your home can be enough to light a spark.
Go somewhere where there are either lots of people, or nobody at all. Surrounding yourself with people surrounds you with tons of different energies – feed off of the vibes of others, and translate them into creativity. Having nobody around you, on the other hand, envelopes you in calm. Reflect on yourself or your environment, bring together those thoughts, and center yourself.
Buy yourself some good-looking and good-tasting food, and accompany that food with some coffee. (Honestly, the crappier the coffee, the better. I can’t come up with a real explanation for this trend, but there’s definitely an observed correlation).
Bring a camera with you – any camera. This can be anything from the camera on your phone to a fancy SLR. Then, take at least 20 pictures. These pictures could be of anything – they don’t even have to be pretty! But I find taking pictures can shift me into a creative mindset after only a couple of shots.
Wear your oldest, dirtiest, sneakers. They’ll make you feel real again and bring you back down to earth.
Play music. I find that it helps to have a pre-prepared playlist of music that inspires you – sometimes when you’re in a rut, you can’t decide what to listen to and this trick ends up contributing to the problem.
These steps (any or all) have definitely helped me recently, and combining them with the changing season has me finally feeling like I’m going somewhere again.
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