Unleash Your Creative Soul

The tree branches are stretching to their fullest potential, the birds sound joyous, the flowers are in full bloom and my kids have settled into actually enjoying each others company. Unleash your creative soul this summer. June can also be a time of needing a little kick start to get us over our creative summer hump. Find out how Bound to be Creative can help unleash your creative beast.

The Rack of Inspiration
Whether you’re painting a rock, rearranging a room or curious to know the latest fall fashion trend, we all need a little gentle nudge sometimes. Personally speaking, my nudge often begins with me idly standing in front of the magazine rack at my local grocery store. While shoppers rush by me with their grapes and watermelon I lock eyes with this magazine rack as though it’s a beacon on the hilltop of major slumpness. While scanning all the options the voices inside my head start to question things like “why don’t I knit?” or “skinny jeans are not in style anymore, whaaa?” to “will I actually be able to look as good as her in two weeks?” to “why am I even standing here? magazines are so yesterday“. Nonetheless I will slowly reach for the magazine that:
1. catches my attention
2. is under $5 (usually)
3. interests me

A simple nudge can ignite creativity!

Realistically You
Take a look at this garden shed photo. It’s totally adorable and it caught my attention without a doubt. However, realistically I can’t even walk into that little shed with all that stuff sitting there! Keeping it real real puts me back into the world of “it’s a magazine cover photo and I bought it to be inspired“. Now granted, you may be asking if I actually fluffed my garden shed with gorgeous flowers and made a hose wreath adorned with antique garden tools? No. However, it was just what I needed to rearrange our master bedroom and design new dining room curtains, nothing to do with cute garden sheds, flowers and perfectly posed dogs.

Be realistic to yourself and what you find creative.

Close Enough
My flowers will never look like the professional shots in the magazines, my outfits will never be red carpet worthy, my curtains will always look like I made them and I actually want to get into my garden shed.

A “close enough” attitude allows acceptance

There’s an old, revamped fire tower down the road from us. It’s an iconic tower for many and one heck of a way to get an incline workout, not to mention the view is breathtaking (it’s said that one can see 200 or more silos from up there – insert popping eyeballs). Before getting to the actual tower there are 500+ wooden steps that wind their way to the base of the tower. At arrival there’s eight very narrow flights of dangerously open metal terror that has my knees, thighs and hands shaking and sweating (not even kidding). It towers above me like a wannabe friendly enemy from Star Wars and I have now literally forgotten about my kids climbing steadily and anxiously to the top wanting to greet the view and breeze….hence the term “club” at my house. (Writing this makes my heart skip a beat, again – not even kidding).

So, quite possibly I’m being a little drama llama about connecting creativity and this magnificent tower, but my point is:

Accepting that NOT making it to the top is close enough

For some, being creative can be as daunting as climbing this tower – some say “it’s just a tower” and I say “you’re flat outta your mind!” Creativity is all relative – it can mean something different to everyone. If you find rearranging your wardrobe based on seasons is creative – carry on woman! If you find that giving new life to a 1980’s brass lamp shade is creative – you go girl! If you find a simpler way to open those tough sealed jars is creative – may the force be with you! (literally)

Unleash your creative soul!

Here are some other inspirational nudges:

Take a walk outdoors – keep focus on nature and not your cholesterol numbers
Stroll your local boutique shops – window shop, don’t purchase just browse
Flip through a free paint flyer at your local hardware store – envision a room in some new colors
Converse with a friend that inspires you – take what you need and leave the rest
Clean out a junk drawer or closet – a feel good sense of cleanliness does wonders
Journal in a quiet place – take a minute to write down your thoughts and clear your mind
Start a conversation with a stranger – see the world through a different lens
Color a picture – there’s a gazillion of those adult coloring books out there, go get one
Take a clothing inventory – you can work with more than you think