6 Ways to Get out of a Creative Rut
I wish creativity came in a box and all you had to do was add water and stir but it doesn't--not yet anyway. While we all hold our breaths and wait for Nestlé to come up with this fab beverage, we need to find ways to manage our creative lags/ruts.
This is a list of 6 things that I hope will be beneficial to you whenever you feel a little lethargic with your creative work. Here goes:
1. Rest
Your mind is a living, breathing thing that likes to laze around on sunny beaches and sip piña coladas, contrary to general perception. It deserves to relax, considering the fact that it gives you more than a hundred percent of performance everyday. Take time out to relax-an hour, a day, a week. Even God is an advocate for rest days. #NotEverytimeCreateBotanicalGarden
2. Change your routine
Same chair, same wall, same noises, same voices in your head. Sometimes it helps to shuffle things around in your living and creative space to create more creative urges and stimulants. Rearrange your desk or work area. Something as little as a newly hung piece of wall art or changing the position of your desk could kick start that creative process.
3. Do something else
PGI girl, Laju says whenever she is stuck in a creative process, she leaves it alone and does something else. If you are running around in circles, consider stopping what you are doing and going for a walk or playing a game or going hang-gliding. Shrug.
4. Open yourself up (not to everything, of course)
According to Alice Laplante, you need to keep your mind open to be able to create new things. If your mind is shut up, your creativity will be relatively stunted and who wants that? Of course, not all things are beneficial (think drugs), so have all your necessary guards up to the things that would be harmful to your well-being and spirit but also learn to appreciate new things and experiences.
5. Eat properly
Food helps creativity. However, a lot of creative people seem to "forget" to eat. Artists like MichaelAngelo and Van Gogh were also meal skippers because they were fixated on their tasks and meeting deadlines, I can't say I blame them. For the impressionists of the 1800s, absinthe and tobacco were their creative foods for some reason--those are not on the top 15 creativity-enhancing food list by the way. A good, consistent diet helps to enhance creativity as well as maintain good physical health.
6. Toss your work to God
It's a good idea to pray about your work. Commit your works unto the Lord and it will be established (Proverbs 16vs3). I love it when the bible gets explicit. Wink.
If you know anyone struggling with their creativity, this could help! Please share!
Hey! Did you read my short-story feature on Tope Owolabi's blog? Not yet? Read it here!
OMS- I Laugh At These Skinny Girls
Off my shelf (OMS), today, is Tolu Akinyemi's exquisitely crafted poetry collection, "I Laugh At These Skinny Girls." Poetry for People Who Hate Poetry.
He literally just made poetry accessible to those of us that zoned-out and nodded our way through Ulysses in Literature class. Wait....did we read Ulysses? I can't even remember but we read a bunch of JP Clarks, I think.
I can assure you, if Tolu's book was a literature book in SS2, my arm would be permanently raised in Literature class.....instead of the eye-dodging professional I became with my Lit. teacher. The fiction selection was a bit zone-out-friendly too...
Teacher: Have you all read chapter 1 to 3 of Anthills of the Savannah?
Students (chorus of lies): Yesssssss!
Teacher: Ike, mention 5 themes from Anthills of the Savannah.
Me: *Zoned out already, thinking about Britney Spears new song* Errrrr.......Ants?
*Blink*
Rough times.
Anyway, if you love poetry, you'll love it and if you hate poetry, so would you! If you like being amused, it's packed with wit, while touching on significant and current issues in our society, so get a copy here or there!
This is not a sponsored post. I just read like a nerd.