Inspiration Rediscovered

You wake up in the morning and find yourself at work with no idea of how you got there. Within seconds, it’s now lunch. The next few hours drone on as the world moves around you. Next thing you know, you’re at home pulling out a frozen dinner to pop in the microwave. After two hours of a movie and a shower, you find yourself right back in bed, where you began. The only difference is the realization that you didn’t do anything you wanted to do in the first place and the unfulfilled hope that tomorrow might be different (but you know it won’t be). How often do we get caught up in this type of lifestyle where we feel as though life is passing by around us and we aren’t a part of it. I know I feel like that A LOT! But it’s so hard to gain that inspiration to get out of that routine. So here are a few tips I’m utilizing to get myself out of my comfortable (and somewhat boring) routine.

1) Set Goals

How can you get somewhere when you don’t even know where that somewhere is. I mean, I know some people are ok just driving and seeing where they end up. But lets be honest, not all of us live in a rom-com where you have the incredible Amy Adams in the passengers seat, the gorgeous Matthew Goode behind the wheel, and your trusty Louis Vuitton strapped to the top of the car in the middle of Ireland. So unless your life is a movie, it helps tremendously to have a destination in mind (otherwise called goals).

But the most important part is to write down your goals. Putting something on paper helps to manifest that in to reality. I can think about skydiving all day long but once it’s down on paper, I’ve committed to it. It is something I want to do and will work towards till it’s accomplished. Then you have the added satisfaction of crossing it off your list when you’ve completed it.

 

2) Internalize Your Goals

Whether that be visually or audibly, make sure you are constantly reminding yourself of where you want to go. I’m a visual person so I need to see my goals and one of the ways I do that is by printing out pictures that represent my goals and posting them in my room. One of my favorite YouTuber’s Kalyn Nicholson has an amazing video of a DIY Inspiration/Dream Board that I love and use in my own room to visualize my goals. This helps me gain inspiration in reaching those goals.

If you aren’t a visual learner but instead an auditory learner, this could mean saying your goals out loud to yourself in the mornings. By doing this, not only have we manifested our goals down on paper but we have taken those and truly internalized them, fully making them a reality.

 

3) Think Big

Now, this is all well and dandy (yes I just used that phrase) if you have goals, but what if you don’t have goals to even get you started. Don’t worry, I’m in the same boat. There are so many possibilities in life but sometimes it feels impossible to figure out which ones work for you. This is where the internet and social outlets are helpful. For a period of my life, I wanted to be a  You Tuber and I completely FAILED at it. But I did it and I loved it while it lasted. You never know what’s out there till you see what others are doing (just make sure you don’t compare yourself to others because that’s unproductive and depression…one of the catch 22’s of social outlets…be careful).

 

4) Sit And Reflect

In wanting to be a filmmaker, creation and inspiration should be my bread and butter…but surprise! I struggle just as much as anyone else when it comes to inspiration for stories. And honestly, life in general. One of the exercises that really changed this for me was a listening exercise, as crazy as that is.

Have you heard of “stream of consciousness”? Well let me tell you, it is most definitely a thing! Earlier this summer, I was forced to sit down, listen to a song, and write down an opening sequence to a movie based on that song and what I saw in my mind’s eye (aka imagination). And I came up with one of my best ideas this way (movie still to come). Now I understand gaining inspiration for a movie versus life is incredibly different, but try it and see what comes to mind. You might really be surprised.

 

5) Try Something New

I’m on a budget so trying to find something new to do is a little difficult. Not impossible. Just a little difficult. Whenever free events come along that looks interesting, I try to attend. Not only does this give you something to look forward to, but it can also get you out of your comfort zone and open your eyes up to something completely new and different.

 

When we experience something new and different, not only do we get out of comfort zone, but we also learn about who we are and inspiration can stem from that.