Find Your Lost Inspiration

I’m sure at one point in time you’ve lost your inspiration or creative muse. This month, my muses were all about helping you ‘find your inspiration’ because over the summer, I lost my inspiration. It felt like someone turned out the light on my creativity, and I’ve been clamoring to find that switch and turn it back on.

How I Lost My Inspiration

The last few months have been very dark – creatively. Starting with a week’s horrible sickness for my entire family the end of May, followed by the end of school and subsequently, the end of our regular daily routine.

Though I love summer, the chaos that coincides with it wreaks havoc on my inspiration. I usually have an abundance of ideas, too many for me to implement. But this summer, all my ideas dried up, and I felt like I was in a desert searching for water.

Maybe it was that I lost the everyday regimen of school day structure or if it was that the kids were home more (and bickering more) or if work was particularly stressful this summer, but I was in a deep creative funk. I wanted to create, I wanted to draw and write and express myself, but I couldn’t find the motivation or the inspiration to do much of anything.

Ideas to Try – Where I Started

Knowing how to recover or get out of a funk is probably the most valued advice I could give or receive. Unfortunately, I have not found the ultimate answer to that puzzle, yet. When I figure it out, I will share it with you. However, there were several things I tried & found, so I’m sharing those with you today.

But what I did do, was let myself have time. Once I was ready, and I felt like I wasn’t forcing creativity, I started watching some Skillshare teachers and seeking inspiration.

“Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”

— J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

In my case, I could amend this fantastic quote by Dumbledor to say, “inspiration can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”

This month I’ve tried to focus on getting back into routine and creating order in my life. I laid out my planner using time blocks so I can organize my time.

Adding a section in my planner called “One Big Goal” – helped me focus on one big purpose for the month. I find that I lose my creativity if I let myself get too distracted and try to do everything at once.

All these efforts have helped restore my creativity, bit by bit.

Here are a few other things that helped me find my inspiration, again

I hope these things will help you find your inspiration, too!

Inspiration Muse #1

Kindle Paperwhite

One of my goals is to read a book per month (or more!). I love physical books, but don’t like taking them around with me. Reading on my phone became problematic because:

1. It took too much battery
2. I couldn’t see it in the daylight
3. Other apps distract me
4. Reading on the tablet was also problematic because of the battery usage (I never had any juice left to create after using it to read!).

My boss gave me a Kindle Paperwhite for my birthday (thank you to my boss and thanks to husband for giving them that idea). And I LOVE it. It eliminates distraction while reading – no alerts or dings, pop-ups like my phone. The battery lasts like the energizer bunny. Reading in daylight is like reading a book – there’s no glare.

You can read in the bath. Yes, you read that right. It even recommended it on the packaging.

To explain how much I adore this new device, I’m going to channel Dr. Seuss:

You can read on a train, on a plane in a car or at a bar. On a bus? No distraction, only focus. Read outside or in a box, while you take off your socks. Even read in the bath (there’s no aftermath!). The backlight at night is simply a delight! Don’t forget that the device is very light.

-Me

Ok, I’ll stop. I’m excited to read all the Kindle books I’ve collected over the years and borrow many more from my library. If I connect Bluetooth to it, I can listen to my Audible books, too. If you can’t tell, I’m a fan.

You bet I have all of these books queued up!

Inspiration Muse #2

Number Stickers

My creation out of necessity. Because I hated writing numbers over and over again, and when I do, I ALWAYS get out of sequence. But I wanted to use time blocking in my planner, which requires writing the numbers again and again. I created them to fit precisely with a 5mm grid on matte sticker paper. 14 to a sheet – it covers two weeks.

I cut down the sticker to use only the hours in the day that I’m awake – but you could use it any way you want – to track sleep, to plan out your hourly activities or a typical day.

I also have a 1-31 number sticker that I used to create a monthly log. Find them both in my shop!

Inspiration Muse #3

Skillshare

Skillshare is an online learning community where there are literally hundreds of classes taught by many individuals on a variety of subjects. I found it over a year ago, and LOVE it. I just counted and I’ve watched more than 125 classes (some more than once). There’s more than just painting, art and lettering. There are SO many choices. It is one of my most favorite places online.

Try for free – watch as many classes as you like. If you’re new or already subscribe to Skillshare, find me over there – @ChocolateMusingsCreates

Some of my favorite classes:

Liz Kohler Brown – Create Cuttings on your iPad – if you have ProcreateApp on an iPad, she is THE artist to follow. She teaches so many courses and I have learned so much.
Kolbie Blume – Beginner’s Galaxy – I recently found her and simply adore her watercolor classes.
Kiki B – Drawing Consistent Letters with Basic Supplies – Taught by one of my friends (we met lettering – ok, we’ve never actually met, but nonetheless she’s my friend). Want to learn how to create letters from scratch? This is an insanely useful class.
Lisa Long – 3D lettering in procreate – making letters look 3D and simply amazing.
Cat Coquillette – Modern Watercolor Techniques – Seriously inspiring! I’ve learned so much from her.
Yasmina Creates – her Doodle Magic class, Thumbnail Sketching, Anyone Can Watercolor, You Can Draw Anything!

Skillshare inspires me when my creativity flows freely, what’s more, is that it encourages creativity when there is but little more than a small trickle or drip of my inspiration.

Here are some of My Favorite Skillshare Projects

Every single one of these projects (plus all the others I’ve done) has inspired some other thing down the line. It’s ok to experiment, it’s ok to find something new to try. Don’t limit yourself.

In Summary: To Find Your Inspiration & Reignite your Creativity – Try Some of These Things:

• Give yourself time
• Don’t force it
• Follow a daily schedule
• Change your daily schedule
• Create a time to focus
• Eliminate distractions
• Choose one thing
• Solve a problem (like my number stickers solved a problem for me)
• Learn something new that has an assignment at the end – so you feel compelled to create

I hope my muses have inspired you in some way. I’d love to know what muses you turn to, and which ones provide the most inspiration.