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Help! I’ve lost my creativity. How do I get it back?
Have you ever lost your creativity?
Many of my Kinesiology clients have told me that they feel like they’ve lost their creativity at different points.
They might be referring to the passion they once felt around their business and the way they express themselves.
They might be talking about creativity in the form of drawing, painting, singing, writing, photography or dancing.
Or they might be referring to having lost a sense of inspiration and curiosity around their world which might be sparked or expressed by wearing interesting pieces of clothing or jewellery, exploring local markets or galleries, noticing beautiful moments or being creative about daily routines and being open to possibilities and opportunities.
Why do we lose our creativity?
Of course there are many reasons. For a lot of my clients, creativity has been lost because there is no space for it. Other things have been prioritised or workload doesn’t seem to allow it.
However creativity can add a sense of richness that can make life feel far more fulfilling. If you’re in business and lose your creativity, things can start feeling very dry and lacklustre, and that can then be reflected in what you’re putting out into the world.
If you want to stay connected to your creativity, you need to see the value it brings to your life, prioritise it and give it some time and energy.
Five ways to get your creativity back
1. Move your body
You might feel that you’re being more productive sitting and working. However if you find you’re getting stuck, research conducted by Stamford suggests that walking stimulates creativity both during the activity and for a short time afterwards:
“A person walking indoors – on a treadmill in a room facing a blank wall – or walking outdoors in the fresh air produced twice as many creative responses compared to a person sitting down, one of the experiments found.”
So don’t feel guilty about stepping away from your desk and taking time for a walk while you think about your projects – it’s a proven way to boost your creativity.
2. Get off social media
It can be a fine line. Social media can be a source of creativity, with Instagram a current fave for many. I love it too!
However we all know how easily social media can go beyond inspiration and become a source of procrastination, comparisonitis, distraction, frustration or envy. And the fun and creativity of sharing photos, videos or anything else online, can also cross into pressure, or occasionally, into a carefully curated online image which conflicts with reality.
Be honest with yourself: if you check your social media accounts or share photos or videos and feel creative and inspired – great!
If you know you’re spending a lot of time on social media, and feeling creatively blocked yourself, or other unhelpful feelings and thoughts are being triggered, maybe it’s time to take a break. You might remove a few of your favourite social media apps from your phone for a while, or create some guidelines for yourself about how you want to engage.
It’s hard to feel creative if you’re filling every moment of downtime with images and stories from other people’s lives.
3. Plan or write on paper
If you usually work and create at a computer, it can be easy to sit with numerous tabs open in your browser (guilty!) and flick between different sites while you’re also creating or working. Needless to say, it can be distracting to create in such an environment.
Quite aside from the ability to be distracted, there are actually clear benefits to getting offline and handwriting some of the time.
Writing or taking notes by hand is so simple, but this Wall Street Journal article suggests that “writing by hand engages the brain in learning… (and) research highlights the hand’s unique relationship with the brain when it comes to composing thoughts and ideas.”
I often take a notebook to a cafe or park to write or plan. You might otherwise write on big poster paper, or use post it notes. According to this Fast Company article, writing in different colours can make you a more efficient thinker and has benefits for creative thinking and organising your thoughts.
Take breaks
Sometimes clients tell me they are struggling to stay productive and focused as they work – and then they admit they don’t take breaks and expect to sit at their desks and stay productive indefinitely.
If you have developed bad habits around this, you might find it useful to develop a list of short, life-enhancing activities that you could incorporate into breaks during your day to boost your wellbeing, focus and overall happiness.
It can be a mental shift to realise that taking these breaks can make you far MORE effective and productive.
Examples of short breaks:
- Do a goal alignment using my DIY Kinesiology Kit
- Take a quick walk and listen to my Align + Attract podcast episode: Feeling Stuck? Quick Ways to Create More Alignment
- Set yourself a creative assignment and Use Your Creativity to Create More Alignment (podcast ep)
- Do a short guided meditation (Insight Timer app is great)
- Turn up some of your favourite upbeat music and dance for 5 or 10 minutes
- Make a green smoothie
- Take a walk around the block
- Do fifty squats, or push ups, or burpees (50 is a lot of burpees. Maybe 20!)
- Stretch, or do some restorative yoga
It’s pretty easy to see how incorporating any or all of these “breaks” into your workday is going to have positive flow on effects. Start your own list!
5. Re-fuel
Get conscious about how you’re fuelling yourself, in all ways:
- What kind of nutrition are you feeding yourself?
- What are you reading or listening to?
- Have you been to any concerts, live music, art shows, Festivals or great movies lately?
- Could you spend some more time in nature or at the beach?
- Are you spending enough quality time with those you love?
- Is it time to initiate some new relationships?
- Might you explore a new hobby or short course, or devote some time to an interest that brings you joy?
- Might altering your work environment help?
For a regular burst of creativity and inspiration, you might enjoy my podcast, you can find Align + Attract on your podcast App:
