3 Ways to Get Inspired

If you have a creative mind, you are constantly looking for inspiration. It's sort of involuntary in my opinion (or maybe that's just me lol), but there are times where you need to work for that inspo and times when it comes naturally. For me, I'm looking for it even if I'm not meaning to.

I recently went on an adventure to find some inspiration, and I thought of three unique ways to seek, find and be creative with what inspires you. I wasn't having a creative block or anything, but it occurred to me that it will probably happen one day lol. I'm sure it happens to all the creative minds out there where their creative senses aren't tingling, but that's where all the opportunities are hiding!! You just gotta find them :)

This can apply to the artistic world, your job, day-to-day activities, sports... literally anything can be tackled with a little inspo. This in turn can help you approach things in multiple different/creative ways.

At the end of this blog I'll go into more detail about the actual trip and where we went to explore. There's pictures too! A lot of them are of Harper... need I say more?? :)

Here are three ways to get inspired and how you can be creative with it!

This is for those that are not feeling like creating that day, or it has felt like that for a long while. That being said, there is one thing that ANYONE can do and that is think. Literally sitting with your thoughts and giving yourself a little pep talk, meditate, whatever you wanna call it. Inspiration is unique to each person - it's connecting to your emotions and trying to feel that "spark" where you feel like you have to take it and run with it.

If you feel like you're in this rut, lack creativity all together, start having negative self talk, ect., the first thing you need to do is take think about a few things in your head (write it down if you need to!):

1. Why did I start in the first place?

2. Who am I doing this for?

3. What makes me feel connected? (i.e., nature, reading, watching my favorite movie, praying, etc.)

The third one in the list above can be looked at in many different ways - connection is what breeds creativity. Especially in the artistic world, every famous piece of artwork has a story that it is connected to. Find what story you are trying to tell, and always remember to come back to it. Come back to what makes you feel connected.

Some other things that spark that "connected" feeling are my pup Harper and my fiancé, Brooks. He encourages me to keep creating, which on those hard days reallyyyy helps :) and Harper is the happiest pup in the world. I don't think that anyone could look at her and not smile lol

This is what helps me to SEEK inspiration. Now simply seeking the inspo may be just enough to go ahead and start creating - and when this happens, immediately start creating! Anything. BUT, if you need a little bit more creative juice after this first step, read step 2 to learn how to find the inspo after you sought after it :)

After seeking your inspiration, the next step is to take a breath, and ACTIVELY FIND inspiration. Remember that list above of things to think about while you're in a creative block? We're going to go back to the third one again because it's probably the most important one! "What makes you feel connected?"

For me, I have a lot of things that inspire me, a few of those things being: 1) The incomprehensible love God has for all of us, 3) Animals (specifically my pup, Harper), 4) Nature (big one - I feel most connected to God when I'm in nature), 5) Seeing my friends and family work hard to achieve their goals (helps me to look at things from a different perspective). There are probably a lot more things for me personally, and this list isn't in any particular order. But when I'm still, and seek these things to inspire me, how do I "actively" find it... What does that mean?

For example, I listed "nature" as one of the top things that continuously inspires me. Welp... one way to actively find that inspo that makes you feel connected is to physically GO to that place (if it's a place that inspires you). The adventure I recently went on was in nature itself, and I've never felt more connected to my creative side.

Being disconnected from the world, helps me to tap into a mental realm that is uniquely my own. No one can ever experience EXACTLY what I'm feeling when I find my inspiration. The closest thing that others' can get to that is by perceiving my artwork, and even that will ultimately be a different experience for anyone that is observing my art - or anyone's art.

Now, I mentioned earlier that seeking and finding inspiration can have an impact on different parts of anyone's life (artistic world, your job, day-to-day activities, sports, etc.)... but how? Do I need inspiration for these things? What's the point? Seems a bit much to put THAT much meaning behind miniscule things, doesn't it? Yadda yadda. Of course you don't need to find inspiration to make a bowl of cereal, do work tasks, and other things. While you don't NEED to seek and find inspiration for EVERYTHING, for those that are looking for 1. a change of pace in their day-to-day, 2. a different perspective on problem solving, 3. a creative outlet (the list goes on and on) I think that it helps to BE ABLE have a creative approach to ANYTHING.

That being said, I want to talk about the third and final way that came to my mind while I was on my nature adventure some time ago. Here it is!

After seeking and finding your inspiration, the last thing to do is to bring it to life! Take that amazing next step and CREATE something... anything! It doesn't have to be the most amazing thing that this world has ever seen, but there's a chance that it could turn out that way! You won't know until you create it!

Tying this final step into my most recent "nature adventure", the art piece I created literally had nature aspects in it. This picture was a commission for one of my soccer teammates, and it brought her to tears when she saw it. Which made me cry too :') I felt so inspired being physically IN nature, painting, loosing track of time, putting my heart and soul into this piece, and seeing her reaction when I presented the painting to her reminded me of my "why".

It's a viscous and beautiful cycle that creative minds go through haha. We all get on a "runners high" and can create create create. Then we all go through lulls (sometimes really really long lulls). We feel lost. Then we seek and find our inspiration. And after we create something awesome, we are thoroughly reassured of why we're doing this in the first place. Peaks and valleys. It's the name of the game.

There's no formula, and this is just based on my personal experience and how I stay creatively motivated. In short, almost all creative minds have creative waves that come and go, but it's important to know that IT IS OKAY! Depending on what that list you come up with while you're seeking inspiration is comprised of, I encourage you to really dig and lean on those things that connect you to your creativity that is like NO ONE ELSES :)

Creativity isn't meant to stay stagnant, it's meant to change, it's meant to be diverse, and it's meant to be interpreted in multiple different ways. If creativity were the same for everyone, then it would simply just be the status quo. Could you imagine the marketing world... the artistic world?? Those things would essentially not even exist if it weren't for the brilliant minds that God blessed this earth with to tell his story!!

With all that being said, go on an adventure, find some inspiration, and create something! Even if you still don't feel like creating something after seeking and finding inspo, there are so many ways that you can be creative - how you move your body, what you read, pen to paper, draw, write poems, anything! It doesn't have to be good to everyone else, it should only add fuel to your creative fire :)

Tell me about what keeps you inspired! Comment and like this blog post <3

The pictures below show what our Getaway trip was like! It was one of the best experiences I've had in a long time. Brooks and I had been wanting to go camping for a long while, and this was more so "glamping" lol but it was nice to get away to the North Georgia mountains and get out of the city. They provided a lot of things to make the trip extremely easy to just go and get there. I chose a forest view because, duh, natureeee haha but it truly was an amazing experience and I'll definitely be going back.

Here's a link to their website if you want to book a Getaway trip of your own!