Without a creative outlet, my soul slowly withers. This is a truth that hit me only after I deprived myself of creativity and found myself in an emotional depression. After conceding to the fact that I am, in fact, fueled by creativity, I have tried to spark my creative spirit in many different ways. I am here to share with you a few tips that have helped me reignite my creativity and make my soul happy.
A creative spirit can be hard to detect or pin down if you don’t know what you’re looking for. Creativity manifests itself to different degrees. Personally, I am absolutely sure that my soul craves creativity (and accomplishment…and chocolate…but we’re just going to focus on the creative aspect right now). I love making something from nothing; I love transforming an inner part of me into something tangible or shareable; I love spending lots of time on intimate details that eventually create a greater whole.
If you’re naturally creative or currently exploring your creativity, this post will apply directly to you.
If you don’t think you’re particularly creative, then you can read between the lines and apply these suggestions to things that do feed your soul.
And if you’re not sure whether or not you’re the “creative type,” don’t fret – you don’t have to define yourself one way or the other. For most people, this is a huge grey area; creativity ebbs and flows. The good news is that you don’t have to fit into a box. You’re allowed to feel creative one day and then totally the opposite the next day. Try to listen to your instincts and don’t be afraid to test something new to see if it fits.
Now, on to the suggestions.
1. Join a Social Challenge
At the beginning of the year, when I was struggling to pin down a creative outlet, my mom couldn’t tell me enough about this creative photography challenge she joined. She’s a professional photographer, so it made sense. I was happy she found an activity she was so excited about.
However, I was somehow irked by her raving about this photography group all the time. It took me a moment to realize that I felt left out.
So, I decided to join!
I only had my phone camera and a slight desire to learn about photography. Luckily, the challenge – called 52 Frames – was open to all. The participants range from complete beginners to professional photographers. The organizers provide weekly prompts and challenge photographers to take a picture that same week based on the prompt. It’s a great way to get inspired and learn from others.
Since starting, I’ve uploaded a photo for 33 weeks straight – which I am so proud of! Yeah, sure, there are people there who have never missed a week in years, but they’re not my competition.
Another social challenge I participated in this year was Inktober, where participants on Instagram submit a drawing each day of October following a prompt. This year, I submitted two pieces each day: a comic and a drawing. There were some prompts that did not inspire me at all and I painstakingly came up with something at midnight before going to bed. Most prompts I at least found interesting. Overall, even though it was hard, it was invigorating.
Social Challenges Reignite Creativity
From my experience, there are a number of benefits that come from taking part in a social challenge:
- Inspiration from other creatives’ interpretation of the same prompt
- Accountability and support from the community
- A finite commitment
- Something you can look back on and be proud of accomplishing
- A structured way to get out of your comfort zone
- The freedom to put your own spin on prompts
- No fear of failure or doing the “wrong” thing
Some challenges require more commitment than others, so do some exploring and see what suits you best. If you happen to join something and realize it’s not for you, that’s okay! Keep searching, and once you find something you like, challenge yourself to see it out until the end.
2. Surround Yourself with Tools for Learning
Have you heard of Creative Live? That’s another one that my mom obsesses over – mostly because they have really great photography courses. My parents gifted me a one-year access pass, and it opened my world to an abundance of creative professionals.
They offer a whole range of cool courses, both free and paid, like the power of negotiation, how to unf*ck yourself, and learning brush lettering (all of those I have taken and stand behind).
I leverage it as an addition to YouTube and Instagram (which I mostly use to discover other creatives). I like to have easy avenues to follow my creative tangents. That way, it’s just as easy to explore a creative topic as it is to get sucked into watching pointless YouTube videos.
Overcoming Information Saturation
The reason why I started off by recommending Creative Live over something like YouTube is that it’s much more intentional. By signing up for Creative Live, I indicated to myself that I have an interest in pursuing the topics I can find on that site. That means when I’m in The Zone, I can log in and stay in The Zone.
YouTube, on the other hand, is distracting. I often find myself more discouraged after exploring suggested videos on YouTube than when I started – often because I end up in a place I never intended on going.
I’d recommend surrounding yourself with people and things that interest you around a certain topic. That way, you allow yourself creative freedom within that space and you don’t end up getting sucked into the black hole that is the internet.
3. Don’t Be Afraid to Drop Some Dough
Jake and I recently took up acrylic painting, just for fun. It started with us wanting to do an at-home paint night (ya know, because of COVID). To start, we bought a few paintbrushes, some paints, and two canvasses. Then found a YouTube tutorial and set off into the magical land of being frustrated with our lack of skills.
After that, we invested in more paints, more paintbrushes, different tools…and now we’ve done four different paintings that haunt our apartment walls.
It’s good fun!
But it’s also not cheap.
We place a much higher value on experiences over material objects, so we decided we were willing to drop some money to explore an interest. Ultimately, we were purchasing tools for the purpose of having the experience of painting.
It wasn’t extremely expensive, but the first haul of tools (starting with zero painting tools) was about $70. I may or may not have accidentally bought the higher-end heavy body paints…
Oops.
Anyway, because we made that initial investment, we then had the freedom to keep painting and exploring that interest with little additional investment. Did you know you can buy a canvas for really cheap? Like $2?! I had no idea.
Basic Tools Open New Avenues for Creativity
In addition to painting on canvas, I started expanding into painting things around the apartment. If you’re our landlord reading this – calm down, we’re not painting anything we shouldn’t, just our own knickknacks.
It’s great to have basic art supplies at my disposal because now I can paint on a whim. I also bought a basic set of inking pens, some sketch paper, and a few basic brush pens to explore the world of inking. I really enjoy it and can do it with relatively simple tools.
Keep It Simple – Don’t Spend Unnecessarily
Of course, you don’t always need as many tools as people will try to sell you on to do something creative. You can create a cool painting with only a few paint colors and one brush (or maybe a Q-tip, some aluminum foil, or a sponge). How many tools you want to get depends on what you want to create. Personally, I don’t like accumulating stuff, so I aim for the minimal amount of tools and then use my resourcefulness from there.
That being said, even if you’re super resourceful, there’s a good chance you’ll need to make at least a small investment into a creative hobby to get started. Don’t be afraid! Spending less than $10 on one tool isn’t a lot and it can open a whole new world of creativity for you.
Follow Your Intuition
It’s important to feed your soul. If you neglect it, you’ll take all the fun out of living – and what’s the point in putting in the work to live if you don’t enjoy it along the way? (You don’t have to answer that – it’s just a question I ask myself often to keep things in perspective.)
Stop trying so hard to find your purpose and follow your intuition, instead.
Listen to that inner voice of yours and explore the things that fill you with purpose and joy. Don’t expect the path to creativity to be easy; you’ll get frustrated and that’s okay. Instead of seeking happiness, seek out the things that interest you. Ultimately, if you leave no stone unturned, you’ll find the fulfillment you are seeking.
