When To Take A Creative Dream Break

Last updated on April 2nd, 2012 at 12:53 pm

Life is serious. Mortgages, business deals, adult relationships. Am I the only one that occasionally wants to plug my ears, stare at the ceiling, and yell “LA-LA-LA-LA-LA!” to drown out all this reality?

I realized I needed a little levity and a creative break when I was working on a new jewelry piece. I had picked up some gorgeous hand-dyed silk ribbon at a yarn shop in Southern California while visiting my parents around the holidays. The vibrant teal and rust silk and screamed from the shelf “take me home!”.

It is typically in my best interest to avoid bead and yarn shops. All the pretty colors pull me in and before I know it, my husband is hunting me down and dragging me out before my credit card melts.

Once back from our trip, and with all my beading supplies in reach, I started to play. Laying out the ribbon, braiding, crocheting, generally seeing what would make the ribbon transform into some wearable jewelry art.

There I was, enjoying the creative exploration, and POOF!

I literally felt the creative energy drain from me. Dropping the yarn I stared across the room wondering, what the hell happened?

I got immediately depressed. Wasn’t this creativity supposed to rejuvenate? Add a spark, reboot my outlook? What went wrong?

Here are some realizations that came to me days after feeling like I somehow blew my chance to enjoy taking a break. I may have been forcing the issue. Just because you really want to be creative, doesn’t mean it’s what your mind might need at the moment.

Take these creative tips next time you feel your creative block creeping in:

Crunch some numbers – get out of the creative right brain and force the left to be front and center. Need to balance that checkbook? Measure a room? Help your kid with their homework? A little time with numbers will help release the that right brain lock-up.

Do a word puzzle – This may not work as a “break” for the writers, but it does work great for me when designing. I have a great app on my phone called TapWords that is a timed word search on steroids.

Master a new skill – nothing like trying something entirely new get those neurons firing in a whole new way. Been meaning to learn a new language? Put off that really long online tutorial? Now’s the time.

Keep in mind that even while trying to be creative, we might need a break.

What creative dream reboot tricks can you share?

– Heather

Heather’s dream is to have multiple streams of income, starting with launching an e-commerce website that showcases her couture jewelry, which are crafted by her. You can find Heather online at For Your Adornment; Etsy.com; and Twitter And Beyond Dot Com. She also teaches Social Media tactics for business, besides being CEO of her own web design company. Heather’s post day is Friday.