By Sylvia van BruggenAfter a couple of months of hardly any creativity, I am SO ready to start creating all the time again! Here is a list of 20 things I scribbled down one day to get me there!
There are no rules. I can do whatever I want. Whenever I want. However I want.
Fuck perfection. Trying to make something perfect is so stifling to creativity!
Surround yourself with inspiration. I am working on a digital collection of all sorts of things that inspire me. My phone is always with me, and inspiration is just one click away.
**Declutter. **Can’t create surrounded by junk (unless the junk is scraps of paper for #9)
Learn a new skill. This is where Creative Bug and YouTube come in!
**Don’t limit the definition. **Cooking a new meal from scratch and adding ingredients that want to be added is creativity too!
Set out your tools. I am turning my desk into a creative haven, where every tool I might need to create is an arms-length away.
Make time. An essential one. Can’t create if I keep myself busy with something else.
**Art journal. **My art journal is my safe space, where I can experiment with my wild ideas and silly notions.
Play. There’s no creativity without play for me. Play is letting go of everything, staying in the moment and creating whatever I can think of.
When in doubt, collage! I sometimes can sit and stare at an empty page and not think of anything. That’s when I need to grab my stack of collage papers, a glue stick and have a party 🙂
Limit your options. I always used to have a bag full of creative stuff that I hauled around the house. Now I only have a sketch book, 3 pens and a tiny watercolour set with me at all times. It’s way more than I need!
New toys. Fits with #5 🙂 Playing with something new, even if it is a dirt cheap new watercolour palette is all I need to kickstart my creativity at times.
**Make an altar. **I am slowly but surely collecting stuff for a creative altar in my office, filled with inspirations, quotes to hang on the wall over it, tiny lights. It will be bright and colourful by the time I am done 🙂
Always dance. Even if walking and standing is hard, you can still dance sitting in the chair, nothing like dancing to bring up the positive energy.
List your fears. When fears get to hang around in your head, they can spook you at any time. When you make a list of all things you fear related to your creativity, you are golden!
Keep an idea notebook. I always have something to write on and a writing instrument with me. Also, my phone. Whenever an idea strikes, I grab either of them, and scribble scribble scribble. You never know where the idea takes you!
Limit distractions. I had to take a good hard look at what I do when I procrastinate. It ain’t pretty 🙂 Getting rid of those distractions is key!
Don’t compare. If I start to think that someone’s art is better than mine, I stop creating. Get inspired, but stop comparing!
Have fun. When I wrote this list, I had a huge smile on my face, drawing out everything. That smile is all I need to keep creating 🙂