*picture came from imagefav.com

A memory from High School explains it best—Junior Year.

A fire alarm went off one cold and dreary day. I was in Seminar, a class where we designed our own projects through the year and like the nerd that I was, I think I wanted to learn some of the classics, reading novels and poetry, and trying to prep myself for some of the crazy tests to get into College.

The alarm screamed and I jumped up from the couch in the library taking off after my classmates already filing out of the door. Someone pushed it open and several of us stumbled backwards, suddenly smacked by a cold blast of wind. I looked at the sky. No sun. Thick gray clouds. And burr….

“Move!” Our teacher yelled.

So we did, and we huddled around the nearest wall trying to block that terrible crazy wind off our faces. I wrapped my arms around myself, shivering next to one of my friends’ in class, laughing and talking about our poems we were writing, when one of the really smart popular kids walked up to us. I knew her. I’d always wished I knew her better, but I was the quiet and shy type and I kept to myself a lot.

The popular girl squeezed in next to us with her back against the pale brick wall. “I just don’t get it,” she interrupted. “ I can’t be creative without, you know, a little help. How do you do it?”

My blonde friend and I looked at each other and I quickly said, “I don’t need anything to make me dream about stuff.” Because back then, I was sort of an all natural girl. I wore long sweaters, beat up jeans and tall clunky boots probably weighing more than I did. I didn’t like too much make-up, eye liner and mascara maybe, and my hair was really long and straight.

Speaking of hair, it was plastered to my face, and I brushed it straight back behind my ears. “I don’t worry about being creative,” I said. “ I just think. I wonder. And then I find a really great song, put my pencil on the paper and let my thoughts drift.”

If you asked me now, I’d probably say, a cup of coffee first. Then I listen to a song or find a fun quote to make me smile. I think the trick about inspiration, is knowing what makes you happy. Getting past the negative fog that swirls in our heads. Fighting it. Telling yourself you can do better. Then start with that activity that charges you, and let your attitude carry your actions through the rest of the day.

I read a really great article on inspiration. It’s short and dirty, the perfect kind of articles I like to read.

How to Feel Inspired When You’ve Lost Motivation 

~By Hulbert Lee

Sometimes we get stuck in a rut. If you’re not a hundred percent passionate about your work, then it’s impossible to wake up everyday feeling motivated when you wake up. You might compare it to the ocean. Sometimes you’ll wake up feeling like a tsunami, other time you’ll feel like just barely drifting to shore. When you feel like drifting to the shore, understand that it doesn’t always have to feel like there’s no hope. You can still feel inspired when there’s no motivation.

1. Connecting the dots—Faith. 

You have to use what you know in your past, and connect the dots in the present—Trust in You is huge! Even when nothing is working. Steve Jobs used Calligraphy as a model for his first Mac computer designs. I had no clue, but how awesome is that?

2. Allowing your environment to influence your mood. 

Know when you feel inspired naturally. For me? Morning times. First thing after a cup of coffee. How about your work space? Does it inspire you to think? Make your space your own to allow creativity in.

3. Don’t work so hard.

This is my number one lesson in life. I overwork things to death and then I lose the heart. When I’m writing, I have to let go of perfection. Then I go back over it, reshape my sentences, and drop in the links. If I try too hard to make it perfect in the beginning, I always ALWAYS fail. Don’t force anything, a sheer indicator that you might be working too hard. I believe, if you set yourself up for success in the beginning, clear your head, get your heart right, work in an environment that makes you happy, great work and inspiration will come to you.