What I do to Refill My Creative Tank

If you're a creative person, you know to expect an occasional dip in your creative levels and seek out ways to refill that creativity tank. When I'm feeling creatively run down, I'll choose a few (or all) the items on this list to feel recharged.

Living a creative life is amazing; we’re constantly seeking out ways to create, inspire others, and we feel most alive when we’re in a space where our creativity is cranking at full capacity. Not everyone lives like we do. So, the analytical, numbers-focused people don’t truly understand what happens to us when we run out of creative steam.

I’ve felt a little creatively run down recently. I asked my creative friends what they do to regain their creative energy, and I got some great answers. It also reminded me that we don’t have to seek creativity out from other people to refuel our own creativity. Sometimes, a great playlist or a walk in the sunshine can be enough to boost creative energy levels. I guess what I’m saying is, just like we shouldn’t put our happiness on others (I’ll be happy if my fiancé unloads the dishes), we also shouldn’t put others in a place to boost our creativity for us (looking at websites maintained by creatives).

With that in mind, I devised a list of activities and creative outlets I can turn to when I need to perk up my creativity.

1. Read magazines: My favorite magazines to read/look through include Garden and Gun, Coastal Living, Southern Living, and Real Simple.
2. Spend time alone: I’m an introvert, so sometimes I just need some alone time to refill.
3. Flip through store catalogs: I don’t often sit down and thumb through a Pottery Barn or Serena Lilly catalog, but sometimes it’s nice to take that stack you’ve saved up and actually flip through them.
4. Turn on a mood boosting playlist: I cranked up this Selling Sunset soundtrack playlist Sunday, and I immediately felt the boost I needed to draft several blog posts, get through all our laundry, unload the dishwasher, and put groceries away after the Instacart delivery came.
5. The Artist’s Way: I wish I read this book and did the activities years ago. The whole premise of this book is to recharge your creativity when it disappears. I mainly focus on morning pages during my morning routine, but I need to get better about “artist dates” as they are referred to in the book. These solo dates are meant to be used just for you: a stroll through a museum, seeing a movie alone, etc.
6. Look through our coffee table books: Y’all, your coffee table books are meant to be leafed through. I have some gorgeous garden-inspired coffee table books that I sometimes treat too much like decor and not enough like hardbound covers of inspiration.
7. Sit at a coffee shop: A change of scenery when aiming to be creative can be all I need. I love taking my laptop and AirPods to go sit at a coffee shop for a few hours. Not only am I more productive because there are no task-like distractions, but the buzz around me boosts my creativity.
8. Meander through a book store: I can spend hours perusing up and down each aisle of a book store. It soothes my soul, the book covers inspire me, and I get such a lift seeing how many creative people exist in one space.
9. Go for a walk: I swear a walk in the sunshine can cure just about any bad mood or slump I find myself in. I like pairing my walks with a good playlist though, otherwise my mind will wander too much and the walk is no longer relaxing.
10. Take a hot bath: I use my favorite bath products, turn the water temperature way up, set up my iPad to stream something and I’ll just soak and soak until I’m ready to get out. I have been known to drain some water out and top off with fresh hot water multiple times if I’m not ready to get out.