Tuesday 8 January 2013

Living life creatively

'New Year, New You'. 'Out with the old, in with the new'. Agh, how I hate these phrases and any other that have been used in adverts, editorials and magazine front covers for decades now. All it does is put pressure on people to become a new person and to change who they are and the way they live their lives. Is it not better and more realistic to encourage people to become a 'better person' and instead of piling on the pressure to get fit, be healthy, lose weight, change your wardrobe, redecorate your home etc etc...be gentle with yourself and set achievable goals?



For me, once my favourite time of the year comes to an end and the new year rolls in, I too like to think about changes I could make. But, you know, this year I am not going to set myself up for what would inevitably end up in failure (yeah, like I'll really stick to going to the gym four times a week, cut out sweets, biscuits and cakes completely and learn a new language in three months). No, I am going to focus on what is achievable and realistic. I've spent too much time trying to do things 'right', to be 'perfect' and wasted waaay too much time worrying about what other people think. And the thing that's the bigger shame of it, is that it has stunted my creativity.



So from now on I am going to try super special extra hard to invest my energy in making me a better me and by that I mean allowing my inner creative juices to really flow. And to help me, I'm going to use prompts, tips and techniques that other creative types have shared, which will encourage me to use my brain differently, break down self-imposed barriers and instead of thinking outside of the box, I want to transform my proverbial box into one helluva funky, multi-coloured bubble.

Here are a few of the things that I am hoping will inspire me;



This is a fab list that has been bandied about for years now. I've seen it in the past and thought I haven't got time for it. Classic! I'm going to stick this on the back of my bathroom cabinet door and in the cups and mugs cupboard in my kitchen so that I'll definitely see it every day. I've done a few of them in the past for example, learning a new word a day, checking out new music, watching foreign films...but it's far too easy to slip back into old habits and ignore the email alert with the new word, listen to the same old tunes I love and be 'too tired' to have to concentrate on sub-titles. You know where I'm coming from right? So I will report back to you and let you know how I get on.



I bought 642 Things to Write About for my brother this Christmas and was sorely tempted not to give it to him. 35 writers from the San Francisco Writers' Grotto contributed to this incredibly inspiring book, which is full of writing prompts from 'write a love letter to a person you dislike' to 'fix the plot of the worst movie you've ever seen'. I am going to order this for myself and see if creative writing gets my general creative juices flowing.

Everyone who knows me, knows that what I spent most of my time thinking about and doing is interior styling related. However, I honestly think that by diversifying my spare time away from always thinking about furniture, colours, design schemes etc, I will give my creative edge in terms of my work and the ideas I present to my clients a boost and a new lease of life but I'll have to let my clients be the judge of that! 

Actually I have had some new thoughts about colour schemes recently, which I'll write about in my next post. Hmm, I wonder what inspired those? Must have been the cheeky but oh so exquisite chocolate truffles I've been eating of late *wink*. Oh Happy New Year by the way!


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