Welcome to the eighth day of the 2019 Love Blog Challenge! Today’s prompt is Creativity. Check out the announcement post for all the prompts and rules this month. You can still join the link-up for yesterday’s topic, Boundaries.
One of my favorite traditions of the Love Blog Challenge is allowing *coughdemandingcough* my husband to write a few guest posts for me. Today’s post on creative outlets comes from my sweet husband. I’ve changed a few stylistic things, like punctuation and spacing, but everything else comes from Dan!
The following is a guest post written and sponsored by an Instagram Husband™.
Spoiler alert: this blog post will not be shoehorned into writing about cars.
These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA, and this blog post is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Now that all the legal stuff is out of the way, I am going to write about a topic about which I am wholly unqualified to discuss authoritatively: being creative.
(Author’s note: I am 99.97% certain I have incorrectly punctuated the previous sentence, and I’m sure my wonderful editor will fix it).
(Editor’s note: Believe it or not, that monstrosity of a sentence was worse before I tweaked it).
Who in the heck would ask an engineer to write about creativity?
Brita… That is your answer.
Okay, now that I’ve filled a few sentences with complete nonsense and used up a few more sentences to introduce the blog post, all in an effort to shamelessly enhance my word count, be prepared to learn how to find creative endeavors. If an engineer can do it, so can you!
I’m not any good at expressing my emotions verbally, with body language, in writing, or through interpretive dance. All of these tend to come out as flailing arms, random eye movements, and nonsensical English words. However bad I am at putting thoughts into actions, I can focus my thoughts into a coherent plan through making a physical object.
Plenty of people find creative outlets through art, music, dance, poetry, etc. But I’ve never been good at any of that. For some reason, my hands are how my creativity is expressed.
Give me a pile of rocks, bricks, and dirt, and somehow my hands figure out how to landscape a yard. Give me a pile of lumber, screws, and a paint can and I can make furniture. Give me a couple of bags of concrete and a team of helpers, and I can make a concrete canoe.
Modern life is so full of rules, expectations, and structure, but it is important to be able to escape all of that from time to time and let your brain roam free. I encourage everyone to find a time and a place to let your right brain run free (note that this right/left brain theme is used as a metaphor; the actual creativity in your brain is not limited to a specific hemisphere). Find yourself a creative outlet where you can exercise your mind and express your feelings through a medium of some sort.
If you can’t find the time to dedicate to creative activities, you can try shorter commitments of free thought. Some examples are reading (your mind can fill in the scene and details), daydreaming, playing a strategy game or a game dedicated to creativity, or even just doodling. I find that just a little bit of creative thought leads to better ideas and a renewed energy for doing the mundane non-creative tasks we must all get done.
If you do have some time, spend that creative energy thinking of things you can do to make your life better. Have a cluttered home? Think of creative solutions to organizing your stuff. Have a job you don’t love? Fantasize about what other things you might be capable of doing. Have a garden that is full of weeds? Think of it as a blank slate to create a new landscape. Let your mind go a bit crazy!
Think of things you don’t necessarily need to implement, but the ideas might lead to other things. Outlandish ideas like getting a tattoo, dying your hair, or even buying a fancy car (this is a judge’s ruling that this statement does not constitute hijacking the blog post theme to talk about cars).
Just because an idea is crazy doesn’t mean it is worthless. Considering an absurd idea can make you question the intent or the theme behind the idea. Maybe you just aren’t happy with your look, maybe you don’t trust the reliability of your current car, maybe you feel like you just need to go a little bit crazy.
But don’t let crazy go to your head. I find it best to always take that creative energy and temper it with a bit of logical testing. Maybe don’t let your creativity run away and do something rash. It’s best to let the idea sit for awhile and pass the muster of the rational side of your mind before making any commitments. The engineer in me just can’t let the creativity loose without a leash.
Or at least it shouldn’t because when I do let it loose, I end up with two solid paragraphs of BS to start a blog post.
Meet Your 2019 Love Blog Challenge Hosts!
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Brita Long is the pink and sparkly personality behind the Christian feminist lifestyle blog, Belle Brita. On her blog and social media, you’ll discover more than authentic storytelling–she’s brutally honest about pursuing a fulfilling and joyful life even with Crohn’s Disease and depression.
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Mardra Sikora believes in the power of words. She uses both fiction and non-fiction to advocate for and with her adult son, Marcus. She is co-Author of The Parent’s Guide to Down Syndrome: Advice, Information, Inspiration, and Support for Raising Your Child from Diagnosis through Adulthood. Her work is also included in a variety of anthologies, national websites, and on her own website.
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Laura is a big dreamer, full time marketing manager, blogger, and part-time artist. Like many of us, she spent part of her life struggling with frustrations on a daily basis and just all around felt drained and uninspired… that was her. She decided to change all that one morning. Now Laura lives in the blogging world because she believes the buzz about self-care and self-love needs to be heard. She aspires to inspire people in their everyday lives and help them to live towards their dreams and making the most out of every day by sharing her own experiences and stories.
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What did you think of Dan’s guest post? Why are creative outlets important to you?
