10 Ways to Get Out of a Creative Rut

1. Take more pictures. Find the weird, the textured, the overgrown, the rocky, hilly, bumpy things and before you can say click, take a pic, you have an entire portfolio of photos to use as a jumping off point.

2. Read. Read fiction. Read nonfiction. Read blog posts. Read business books. Read something that will make you think differently. Read something that will help you understand more deeply. Read for fun. Read for education. Read, read, read.

3. Cook a new dish. Cook something you've never tried from a country you know very little about. Use that cultural influence as a juggernaut to get your creative juices flowing again.

4. Travel. Get out of your house and see something besides your 4 walls. It will rejuvenate you and give you something to share with others.

5. Stay in. Make it a point to look at your home, your yard, your everything with new eyes. See the beauty in the everyday simple life that surrounds you. Appreciate the beauty of weeds that are growing in the garden, the fingerprints on the glass, and the rain or sun outside your window.

6. Serve. In some capacity serve another human with love and expect nothing in return. This might not help you creatively, but at least it will help someone else. And you really never know what might inspire you.

7. Clean out your closet. Get rid of every single item that doesn't fit or isn't your style. You may have fewer outfits, but you will feel like a million bucks dressing in things that fit and you love. Also, you will most likely have some sort of creative urge, inspiration, or epiphany just as soon as all your clothes are sprawled across your bed. It's inevitable.

8. Blow bubbles. It's fun, cheap entertainment for all ages. It's hard to blow bubbles and frown. Sometimes changing your facial expression is enough to change your mind.

9. Make music. Sing, play an instrument, jam with the radio. Write a song with your kids. Let them make up all the words and you make up the music. Play an instrument outside in the open air. There is something special about taking music outdoors.

10. Unplug. You'll be surprised at how much time you have when you put the phone down, turn the computer off, and give Netflix the cold shoulder. It doesn't even have to be a 24 hour break. Just take a couple hours to focus on what's right in front of you. Practice entertaining yourself for a while. You have it in you! I'm sure of it. :)