As I’ve been working my way through 20 days of prompts from Writing: Finding Everyday Inspiration, a WordPress Blogging U e-course, and getting my blogging groove back, I’m reminded of all the things I need to do to get my fingers on the keyboard each day. Some days are easy, but most days there are any number of obstacles to overcome:

• Time
• Lack of inspiration
• My inner critic, who has any number of lovely things to say ( :

Whether you blog, or write, or create in some other way, you’ve probably encountered one, or all of these challenges. Creating can be like that cactus flower, incredibly beautiful and inspiring, but you have to watch out for the prickles!

Some things I do to work with the “prickles” and not let them stop me from writing and creating are:

Commit

We all keep commitments for different reasons. For some of us, it’s enough to make a commitment to ourselves. For others, being accountable to a friend, colleague, or coach keeps us on track. For others, a financial investment in a class, space, or supplies makes us show up. For others, making a game out of it, or having some kind of goal or structure, like challenging yourself to take a photo every day for 30 days does the trick. Only you know what will make you commit to create. Sometimes you have to try a variety of things to figure it out.

Tap into what gives you joy

A wise friend once said, “If you’re tired all the time, you’re probably bored and need to do something fun.” If I’m not feeling inspired, or everything I create feels flat, it probably means I’m bored, trying to force a piece of writing or image to look like an idea in my mind that it doesn’t want to be, or am creating something in the way I always have rather than taking a risk and trying something new. One way I remedy this is to tap back into what gives me joy. For example, I love taking photos and editing them with Instagram. Sometimes when I feel stuck writing a blog post, I’ll pick the image for the post before I write it, or go out and take a photo, or create a post with more images than words.

Use your creativity to be of service

I’ve always liked this quote by Rabindranath Tagore:

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.”

Creating for the benefit of someone else whether it’s to give what you made as a gift, or just reminding yourself that what you’re making will most likely entertain, inspire, inform, or help at least one person in some way can help you move through the perfectionism prickles. If you wait till what you are making is perfect before you share it, or don’t make it at all because it might not turn out exactly how you envisioned, you are potentially withholding something valuable, or healing from someone who needs it.

Your turn: How do you navigate creativity’s prickles?

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Photo by me ( :