When I am feeling stuck in life my immediate response is to push myself to work harder and think of something, or get stressed that I have no ideas. However, that response typically always makes things worse. After this week I’ve realized the better thing to do is to let go. I go in phases of feeling down and stuck and this week I had a newfound sense of inspiration, creativity and motivation. And what did I do right before that boost in creativity? I took a break and I went on vacation.
Sometimes I wake up early and immediately try to force ideas out of myself and “be productive”. When I am not being productive - my guilt complex acts up telling me that I SHOULD be working and that I am not doing enough. But when I’m over-pushing myself I am not thinking to the best of my creative mind. Creativity cannot be forced, it flows through you.
Sometimes I am my most creative self in the middle of the night - and I have 20+ ideas pouring out that keep me up. Sometimes I don’t have one good idea for a whole week. Creativity ebbs and flows. If I am trying to push myself all day, it is going to exhaust me and that creativity is not going to naturally flow. I am really trying to prioritize honoring my creative brain, and wanted to share some practices that reignite creativity and allow it to begin flowing freely again.
Wisdom Wednesday: How To Reignite your Creative Flame
Taking a break. Literally walk away from what you are trying to do when you feel stuck and relax. Seems like the exact opposite thing you want to do but it is often the most beneficial. If you have been working on a project for a while, sometimes even a week or more break from the project is necessary for YOU time. Whether that is a vacation, working on something else, or doing the things below, you deserve that. Your brain may immediately say “ugh I am not being productive I am not getting any work done,” but reality - that break is contributing to your work. It is healing, recharging and refreshing you so when you come back re-inspired, you have a newfound sense of motivation. It allows you to get out of your head and look at things from a new perspective.
More creating, less consuming. Get away from scrolling!!! This is taking away from your voice. You need to tap into your own unique creative voice instead of getting caught up in others. So many people on the internet are doing the exact same thing and by trying to keep up with trends they are losing their own voice in the process. I find this happening to me when I spend too much time scrolling. I always have SO many more ideas when I shut off my phone versus when I am on it.
Reconnecting with nature. This goes hand in hand with above, the more time we spend reconnecting with the earth and nature away from technology and screens, the more we are able to silence our mind and tune into our unique creative voice. Things like walking, grounding, laying in the sun, having trees and/or the sound of the ocean in the background resets you on a cellular level. It is healing.
Reading. Even though this is technically considered “consuming”, for some reason it has a different, positive, effect on my creativity than watching TV or scrolling does. Ryan Holiday believes that reading should come as natural as eating and breathing to you, that it is one of the most important things you can do for yourself. I think so too. Reading gives us access to new ideas, new thoughts, perspectives and ways of thinking that expand our minds further and lead us to new opportunities.
Get out of your comfort zone. Most of us work from home nowadays, we wake up in our comfy beds, we make breakfasts in our kitchens, we sit down at our desks in our living rooms, we make lunch in our kitchens, maybe go outside for a walk, eat dinner in our kitchens, watch TV on our couches and go to bed in our comfy beds. We are spending SO much time in our comfort spaces, and this is restricting creativity. It is so important to prioritize getting out of your house, getting out of your routine every once in a while and doing things that challenge your comfort zone.
Journaling. Putting pen to paper is a wonderful way to get out all of your thoughts that may be subconsciously blocking your creative ideas. Journaling is a healing process that lets you release pent up feelings and emotions, it has helped me a lot not only with creativity but also with my internal health issues.
Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way: This is a wonderful book for your journey in beginning to reignite your creativity. There are two things Julia recommends that I try to implement into my week as a way to reconnect with creativity (& please read her book to expand on these ideas)
The Morning Pages: Each morning, free write your thoughts for three pages. No rules, no prompts, just WRITE whatever comes to mind.
Creative Date: Take yourself out on a creative date once a week
I hope this helps you to reconnect with your most creative & inspired self <3
Fav Food of the Week: Heirloom Tomatoes (+ special seasonal recipe)
I am OBSESSED with tomato szn it has me in a chokehold. Especially heirloom tomatoes. They are literally a work of ART. Each one is so beautiful, colorful and unique. Everytime I go to the market I have to fight the urge to buy another. I literally don’t think I have not (is that a double negative I am confusing myself?) bought an heirloom tomato when I have gone to the store - basically I always have to buy one. I stand there and stare… one more can’t hurt. They are juicy, flavorful, and gorgeous. If you don’t know what to do with heirloom tomatoes - I have aggregated some of my favorite heirloom tomato recipes this season so you have some ideas of what to do with them (& I saved the best for last).
This recipe was so fun to make (a great Sunday recipe). You can also add more fresh herbs and fruits and whatever you’d like to put your own twist. Highly recommend inviting a few friends over, pouring a glass of natural wine, playing some games, laughing and enjoying this.
This just melts into your mouth. I love a loaded toast and this is just EVERYTHING. The perfect breakfast, lunch, or even dinner.
This is summer in a bite. The perfect mix of creamy, sweet, herbaceous and savory. So light and refreshing.
BLPT
We all know the BLT - everyone’s favorite sandwich of the summer. Universally loved yet underrated. Well I just did something. I cannot believe I have not thought of this before, BLPT. A bacon, lettuce, grilled peach, heirloom tomato sandwich. My mouth is watering just writing this. This may just be the best sandwich I have ever created. The single most amazing thing to ever land on my tastebuds. Flavor. Explosion. So juicy, as soon as I ate this I wished that I had 5 more lined up waiting for me. This is the type of sandwich that will change your MOOD for the better. Like the type of thing that my body loves so much my stomach would make extra room for. I am …. Obsessed.