This post is part of Light Your Fire, an August 2013 blog series to help you get unstuck and ignite your passion for scrapbooking. For even more fire-starting, download our free membership sampler.
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” – JFK
Your mojo.. there is goes.. I see it..you’re catching up.. fabulous!.. you caught it! Now what? You’ve spent all this time developing a deeper understanding of your scrapbooking motivation and even spent some time in reflective introspection. How can you make it stick?
Anytime things are going well, you crave that ability to take a snapshot and preserve it forever. It’s like that first day of vacation. You finally let the tension go and get into a groove. You want to hold on to that feeling for as long as possible. You soak it in, memorizing the exact conditions of your bliss.
But change is inevitable – for better or worse “this too shall pass”. Time goes on – ebb and flow is normal. You learned early on how to roll with it, but how can you really burst through to the next level?
To rekindle a smoldering fire, you must mimic your vacation habits. You must understand and commit to memory, the specific factors that contribute to a brilliantly burning creative spark. In simple terms, you must figure out what sends you over the edge from blah to inspired.
Define your specific tipping points
Understanding what calls you to inspiration is more than knowing you like vintage fabrics or perfectly aligned grids. You must also understand the mechanisms and media formats that, for lack of better terms, trip your trigger.
Pay close attention to the moments when you’re feeling the most creative, the most artistic, the most verbose, the most sentimental or the most inspired. What led you to that specific instance?
- Were you already creating? Then just getting started is more than half your battle.
- Were you listening to a podcast? Then seek connections to motivate and inform your work.
- Were you browsing beautiful blogs? Then keep close tabs on your favorite visual stimulation.
Homework
Your task is to define one sure-fire tipping point for you and share it in the comments. If you can, list even more.
First thing in the morning – Coffee !! and e-mails from one of my favorite scrapbooking sites. Those from Simple Scrapper are perfect. I may have to do other things right then, but the e-mail will put my creative mind in gear, working up ideas right up until the time I can sit down and put them onto pages. Thank-you for the motivation.
Podcasts, Pinterest or with scrappy friends. I get more done when I am not alone.