If you have ever had to write a paper or write a song or be creative in any kind of way, then you know the frustration of having a creative block. You know what it's like to be slumped in your chair in a death stare between you and your blank computer monitor and that flashing little vertical stalk on the screen that almost seems like it's toying, teasing, and taunting you blinking on and off ..then on and off and on and off. You understand what it feels like to lose your muse or have your inspiration drain out of you and evaporate like moisture on the ground of the mojave in the summer.
Its no fun.
frustrating.
crippling.
absolutely and utterly annoying...
I have had many moments and seasons in my life where my creative juices flowed to where I almost couldn't keep up with ideas and thoughts and "things I wanted to try and explore". Yet most of the time there have been days of banging my head against a wall and feeling like a hamster on a wheel..moving fast but going nowhere. In this past summer I have been going through such a time. Craving inspiration or to be inspired by something or someone yet always coming up short and disappointed. Yesterday I realized what my problem was and I hope maybe in some way it will help you too if you find yourself in a rut in your life or creatively. I was watching the launch of a new website by one of my favorite photographers and she mentioned something that I seemed to have missed at least for over a year now. She said the best way to get inspired is not by looking at what others are doing, the best way to get inspired is simply by....wait for it... living...your....life. She gave the example of being super frustrated about how to rebrand her website. She'd sketch an idea and then crumple the paper and toss it aside. Then sketch another idea then crumple the paper and toss it aside and she even lost sleep racking her brain trying to figure out what her new site should look like or feel like or what fonts to use etc..etc. Then one morning, she simply threw up her hands and quit trying and then went out for coffee with her husband and while they were having a cup of coffee..she noticed a book on the shelf. As she locked her gaze at the cover and started thumbing through the pages of this book ( that wasnt even in English mind you )....it was completely in Swedish or Danish...the lightbulb and a thousand alarms went off in her head and she knew in an instant what she wanted her site to look and feel like. She saw everything she needed for inspiration within the pages a foreign language book on the shelf of an obscure coffee shop. She found her inspiration where she least expected it and at a time when she least expected it as she was just living her life. Her advice to us and my advice to pass on to you is simply this...Get out of the house today and do something random. For example, where you normally would drive down the street and turn right... go left instead. See all the places you would've missed because you "always" turn right. If you normally turn on the TV right when you get home, try picking up a book and read a chapter or two first and you might be surprised what you see and what you find or discover and consequently you could find the inspiration that you lost.
Be blessed.
Marlon