How do you find inspiration?

b0s (71)in The City of Neoxian • 3 years ago

Photo by Nicholas Sampson from unsplash

For the last few days I've been feeling weird as regards writing. Normally even though it's not noticeable (at least that's what I think) I'm very critical of my writing, but these last few days it's felt a bit worse. Almost as though I can't write at all. I've barely been able to come up with any topics on my own, which is why I deflected towards doing challenges and contests. Don't get me wrong, challenges and contests are great, but once in a while I enjoy writing about some random idea that just flew into my head on its own. I also noticed that I am a lot less self critical when I write those posts that just came to me. Probably because there's no judge. Or perhaps it's simply because it came to me on its own and I wasn't prompted to do it.

Anyways, I was able to jump that gap, and I got inspired to write about how I find inspiration. I'm sure you know I didn't just go from being uninspired to being inspired. I took some steps first. Steps which may not work for everyone, but it's how I search for inspiration, so why don't I share them with you.

What is inspiration?

We all know what inspiration is and we've all felt inspired in one way. It's that thing that makes us want to do something. Be it writing, singing, dancing, drawing, and all that. It's basically an idea that comes as a result of certain factors. For example, everyone's suffering from tooth decay and you make toothpaste, or you see a beautiful flower and you draw it,or you're feeling sad and you write your feelings down. It could even come in at the weirdest of times. You could just be in the shower and your mind wanders off and comes back with an idea. Inspiration can come in a thousand and one ways.

How I find inspiration

Now this is not my first time having writer's block. The ol block and I are very familiar with each other now. But I've been able to find the things that inspire me and I often find myself going back to them whenever I start to feel less inspired.

The first thing I do when I'm not inspired is to back off. This might seem like a lazy approach to things, but I've realized that trying to force things only makes things worse for me. So whenever I feel uninspired I simply just try to relax, and at times after relaxing fresh ideas creep in. Sometimes they don't, but sometimes they do.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao from unsplash

Afterwards, or during my rest period I start to do things I enjoy, take a walk and receive some fresh air, I read books, I play chess,I hang out with friends, listen to a lot of music, watch movies and shows, I even go back to play the mobile games on my phone.

Then, when I finally feel relaxed then I go to my notepad and begin scrolling through the various notes, scribbles, jottings, and ideas I've had in the past. Some of which I refused to write about because at the time I couldn't, or even some I've written before, but didn't cover a certain aspect. Usually this is the time when the ideas start to come in. Then I watch videos, read articles, and do my research to know what I'm truly talking about.

Photo by Kaitlyn Baker

At the end of the day I end up discussing not even what I was looking to talk about but another aspect which I found more fascinating.

And that's about it. It doesn't seem like much, but whenever I do all this I always come up with an idea. I've also realized that coming on hive and reading and interacting on other people's posts also helps with ideas. Remember there's no such thing as a completely original idea, ideas come from your interaction with people and your environment.