1. to fill with an animating, quickening, or exalting influence,
2. to produce or arouse a feeling, thought, or action,
3. to give rise to, bring about, cause, etc.
The question I get asked most, whether it's about cards, or art, or writing, or music, or cooking, is, "What inspires you?" Of course, given the crowd I generally hang out with, it comes out as, "Where do you come up with this shit?"
Anywhere. Everywhere. All the time. Lack of inspiration is something I rarely ever experience, and when I do, it's very short-lived. Truly, there is so much that surrounds me, from the natural beauty of where I live, to the people in my life, to objects, to dreams, that I'd have to be brain dead to ignore it.
I used to think I was crazy for having so many ideas in my head. Literally. Crazy. As in Insane. Only I didn't feel insane, I felt "normal." I was just on the wrong planet, is all. Back then the question (What inspires you?) was usually met with me shrugging, glancing sideways, and muttering, "I don't know. It's just there."
Looking back, I know how it all originated. My childhood was a little on the rough side. My only means of escape was to daydream, to pretend things, to make them up. As I grew up, it just became a standard - more than a coping mechanism, it was the only way I knew how to exist. I had to get the hidden stuff out in the light somehow, and the easiest way was to turn it into something else. Put the devils in disguise.
So, I'm not an alien, and I'm not so very different from anyone else. I just know how to tune into myself and pay attention to what's going on around me all at the same time. It happened by accident, much like a person learns to fish when stranded on a deserted island.
Still, I'm skirting around "What inspires you?" Because I'm trying to tell you that anyone can be inspired. All you have to do is look around you. Be aware. Make comparisons. I challenge you, go look at a tree for five minutes and then start a sentence with, "That reminds me of..." Really, it's that simple.
It doesn't matter what you do with inspiration, as long as you do something, even if it's as simple as writing it down in a journal, even if you're the only one who's going to see it.
What inspires me? Doing things. Because as I'm working on stuff, my head fills with 20 other projects.
Inspiration. Get some. The possibilities are endless.
Most of the time, i'm like you - i have more ideas than i have time to act on them. The times i don't have the inspiration, i know it's simply a matter of me opening my eyes a bit wider, because you're right, that inspiration is everywhere!
ReplyDeleteWhen I look at others, or their progress...I suddenly feel that I'm no way close to "any" of them in "any"thing whatsoever..and feel demotivated.. When left to myself, and what I have to do, I get inspired to do it :)
ReplyDeleteGuess I should stop this weird comparison and learn to do what is important for me....
Great post
following you from A-Z challenge!
Ju, I can understand that. I grew up with that - my Dad was an artist. I stuffed my artistic side away for 45 years because I "knew" I'd never be as good as he was. So silly. I missed out on so much, especially giving my mind the freedom it needed.
ReplyDeleteSo yes, do what you need to do for you. It's hard at first - to give yourself that latitude - but I promise, it gets easier and it'll take you places you never thought you'd go.