Inspiration

Inside my comfort zone: smiling at moments of inspiration and then going about my merry way; keeping my personal goals to myself so that no one will bother me if I stray off my path

Out of my comfort zone: following where inspiration leads; sharing my goals and efforts publicly so that others will keep me on track

Isn’t the feeling of being inspired exhilarating? Many of the moments I can recall feeling most alive are moments when I felt inspired:

• Visiting with a woman in a nursing home: she told me I should pursue a career in counseling and laid out a series of actions I should take to get there. I followed her instructions and got myself a degree and a new career.
• Attending Beth Moore bible studies: I used to do this before I moved away from home, and it always made me feel inspired to immerse myself in the Word of God more.
• Traveling abroad, like my friend Robin when she went to Costa Rica: I was humbled by her courage and inspired to push myself to do something similar, so I went to study abroad in Sri Lanka. It was one of the harder 6-week-periods of my life, but a period I’m always finding new reasons to be grateful for.

Of course not all inspiration leads to positive outcomes or good ideas, like last night, when my husband and I cooked some homemade pot-stickers and fried rice. As we ate the fruits of our labor, we both felt inspired to keep eating it, non-stop, into infinity. That would not have been good. And of course, we don’t always follow our inspirations. Sometimes we do not follow our inspirations because they are not good ideas, like the above, or perhaps because they are of the sort that occurs to us when we wake up at 2am and makes absolutely no sense by morning. But we often don’t follow our inspirations because we do not have the courage or resolve to branch out of our comfort zones into unpredictable, unknown, unsafe territories. And yet, reaching out of our comfort zones is often what yields great rewards of personal growth.

Today, I was inspired by one of my best friends, Emily, to set a goal for myself and put that goal out there publicly so I would be held accountable to it. Submitting myself to this accountability will be an act outside my comfort zone, which is scary, but I hope it will yield some of that growth. I have learned, several times over, how creativity – like many skills – is like a muscle that strengthens or atrophies based on use or lack there of. I’ve never actually disciplined myself to stay creative on a regular basis. I just finished a masters degree, moved to a new city, and am due with my first baby in a few months. So I’m not working, not looking for a job, not taking classes, and the baby isn’t here yet consuming my every moment and drop of energy. If ever I had time and space to be creative, it is now. So, I would like to aim to cultivate a commitment to creativity.

Because we live in a quantitative world, and I’ll just find a way to cheat if I don’t quantify this – I‘ll set the goal of engaging in 2-4 creative activities [as defined by at least 30 minutes of creative energy expended] by end of day Saturday each week and reporting on my efforts on this blog. [allowing myself a grace period when the baby I am currently expecting arrives – I might have to revisit this commitment altogether at that time]

For the sake of this project at least, I’ll use the term “creativity” and “creative energy” quite loosely. This might involve creativity in a more traditional sense, such as an art project, doing some writing (say, for a blog entry?), experimenting with a new recipe. But I might also include various types of exploration, be it exploring something new in this town I’ve just moved to, exploring an idea by reflecting on something I read or see, or exploring an activity that might usually be somewhat uncomfortable for me (this gives me a ton of options, as I’m an introverted homebody). A few examples of ways I’ve started to do this recently already:

• I made my first sewing project with my new sewing machine
• I prepared a presentation and handouts about my thesis research for an upcoming conference
• I experimented with a new recipe on my new slow cooker
• I went into a cave along the San Diego coast
• I read a book about choosing a baby name based on phonetics and rhythm then “analyzed” all my baby name ideas based on these criteria [haven’t figured out what her name will be, but it will be poetic if I can help it]

I welcome your participation in my project. I’ll try to pose some questions for you to respond to when I can. I’d generally love to hear about ways you have seen the fruits of your own creative pursuits. I’ll also welcome ideas for creative pursuits I should consider – though I make no promises to execute every idea proposed.

My parents instilled in my sister and me a strong value for regularly reaching outside of one’s comfort zone and pursuing creativity. They are both incredibly creative people. My mother teaches, writes, cooks, entertains, and is always dabbling in fascinating crafty creations. My father is an entrepreneur, photographer, artist, and most recently a lavender farmer. My father is the king of show-and-tell, always sharing his creations with the people around him. His birthday is coming up (September 19), so for his birthday, I would like to dedicate this project to him, as my own, public, show-and-tell attempt to cultivate creativity. [ironically, while my father is many things, a reader is hardly the adjective many would use first to describe him, so I don’t anticipate that he will be following this blog, but I hope he appreciates the gesture nonetheless] Happy Birthday Dad! Thank you for inspiring so often through your art, your courage, and your passion. Other readers, you can see his show-and-tell, and join me in wishing him a happy birthday by visiting his facebook page and sharing a birthday greeting.

Food for thought (or discussion if you care to share by posting a comment!): What people or experiences have inspired you? When has inspiration lead you out of your comfort zone – how did it turn out?