Hey friends, gonna be honest for a quick sec. Creativity block has been REAL recently. Like…I haven't picked up my camera unless I had a shoot for a client or it was absolutely necessary. I always used to be ashamed to admit when I was having a creativity block or was discouraged with my work. Fake it till you make it, ya know? But that's not necessarily always true. Being transparent and honest is totes okay. In fact, people appreciate it. Other creatives appreciate it because every creative goes though one at some point. It just goes along with being an artist. Or a writer. Or a musician, etc. I could blame the season change for my creativity block. Or I could blame my currant circumstances. I could blame anything and everything, but in the end it really doesn't matter WHY. What matters is pushing through. Not giving up. Moving forward, even if it's baby steps.
Every creative’s creativity block is different, but below are four ways I have found to help push through my creativity block….and hopefully you can relate to one or two of them.
-Clean up! If my work space or home or office is cluttered and messy, I cannot concentrate and work…let alone be creative! If my space is cluttered, my mind is cluttered.
-Destress! I have linked stress with my creativity block almost every time. I am a very anxious person and I stress out a lot…not great for the creative juices! If I take action to distress myself and create a routine….I feel SO much better….and confident even! And when I feel calm and confident, that’s when the creativity magic happens!
-Be inspired! Another thing that really helps spark my creativity is by being inspired by other creatives. I’m not talking about scrolling through your Instagram feed….that usually ends up in me feeling insecure and incapable….causing more harm than good. I’m talking about looking up work from a few of your favorite photographers that you admire….or getting on Pinterest or Google for a great idea to bounce off of. Both of those things have helped me get out of a creativity rut more times than I can count.
-Just wing it! One of my biggest problems is that I overthink stuff. Thinking stuff though is good, overthinking stuff is bad. Nothing stifles creativity more than overthinking. Sometimes, you just have to take a little spark of creativity and run with it! You don’t have to have it all figured out! Many times my best work has come from impulsive and impromptu photoshoots!
Creativity block suck. It's discouraging. It's frustrating. And It's just plain annoying. It happens to different people for different reasons. No two situations are exactly the same. But….the important thing to remember is that you are not alone and you are not a failure! Every creative and artist gets them at some point in their life. So calm down, don’t stress, and just relax. There’s no pressure. Just wake up each day and do the best you can do. And before you know it, the creativity block will begin to crack and inspiration and creativity will begin to slowly leak back into your mind and soul. Louisville photographers or any other photographer should check out my other posts to build creativity.
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