Feeling Uninspired? Three Ways To Find Inspiration When You Need It Most

Feeling Uninspired? Check out these three simple things that you can do to find inspiration when you need it most!

If you’re a creative in any way, every so often you may find yourself feeling uninspired. A couple of months before celebrating 2 years of The Millennial Stay-At-Home-Mom, I found myself hitting a brick wall.

There was so much that I wanted to do, but each time I attempted a new project, I struggled to connect with the intention behind it. I ultimately ended up not knowing which direction to go in and stopped creating brand new content entirely.

But with Summer officially over and Fall in full swing, I finally feel like I’ve got my ‘mojo’ back and I’m ready to start creating again. I’ll admit though, it took time to figure out how to navigate that season.

So today I want to share the three things I did to pull myself out of a season of being uninspired and that helped give me a fresh perspective and the motivation I needed to create the type of content that can, hopefully, continue to inspire you!

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Take A Step Back

First things first, before you consider any of the other tips below, I highly recommend that you take a step back. And by ‘taking a step back’, I mean from everything! That includes your craft and anyone else’s content that you find yourself constantly consuming.

I know this may seem counterintuitive but hear me out! If you’ve read the 1st installment in my In This Season series, then you know that one of my goals going into my third year of blogging is to be intentional about what I create.

That said, you may have noticed that I took a step back from blogging and social media the past few months. While I haven’t been completely unplugged, I have been extremely intentional about not doing any blog specific work (unless it was a prior commitment).

I also made it a point to use social media to actually connect with others and take in other creative content that had nothing to do with the type of content I create.

For example, I dove headfirst into cake decorating and enneagram posts (can you guess what mine is?). By spending time looking at content that was completely different from mine, I was able to give my mind a much-needed break.

Because let’s face it, if you use social media for your blog or business, it’s almost impossible not to compare yourself (and your work) to others. I mean, this is true even if you don’t have a blog or business, but if you do, you know exactly what I mean.

So while you may like, comment, and even be inspired by all of ‘Susan’s’ posts, you might not even realize that you are comparing your content to hers.

Before you know it, you’re tweaking your content to reflect what you like about ‘Susan’s’ content and completely ignoring what your audience already loves about what you create.

Still with me?

Good! Because this is why taking a step back is SO important. While you can be inspired by others, it’s important to be able to have a ‘clear head’ and know what you bring to the table. Your best ideas won’t come from that popular self-help book or even from ‘Susan’s’ super inspiring Instagram caption.

Your best ideas, the ones that really light a fire in you, come from YOU! And to find that organic inspiration, you have to step away from the noise and find clarity within.

Which brings me to the next thing I did…

Re-Evaluate Your Goals

While stepping back is a great way to give yourself a mental break and the ability to be inspired without outside influence, if you want to gain clarity, and create intentionally, you must know what you are trying to accomplish with the content that you create!

Listen, if you take nothing else from this post, remember:

Creating without purpose will almost always lead to burnout

However, creating with a specific purpose and intention will allow your ideas to flow freely. You will have the ability to put out quality content that your audience not only loves but that they want more of!

When you are clear about the WHY behind the content that you are creating, you will also know exactly WHO you are creating content for!

As a result, you’ll be able to create content that resonates deeply with your audience while also speaking directly to those who may have just discovered you.

At the end of the day, originality is necessary for creativity, and true originality cannot exist without clarity.

Know When To Pivot

Sometimes feeling uninspired is a sign that it’s time to switch it up and do something new!

I can personally speak to this and it has made all the difference in how I create content now. It is SO easy to become comfortable with the type of content that you create and the next thing you know, you find yourself in a box that you’re almost too afraid to step out of.

I’ll use myself as an example.

As it stands today, I’ve had to pivot here on the blog twice! Before I get ahead of myself, let me clarify what I mean by pivot. The definition of pivot that’s applicable here, according to Dictionary.com, is ‘to turn on’.

Basketball players are a great illustration of this! When a basketball player ‘pivots’, they keep one foot planted and then moves the other foot in the direction that they want to go in. It’s also important to note that they never stop dribbling the ball.

So here, when I say pivot, I’m referring to a clear shift in the type content that I create.

If you go back to some of my earliest posts, you’ll see that I wrote a lot of blogging about blogging content. I’ve always loved the ‘art’ of blogging, and so naturally I loved to share what I was learning with you guys.

A few months later, I experienced major blogger burnout. I was SO over blogging about blogging, but I was afraid to shift my focus. I had placed myself in a box and was almost convinced that I’d fall flat on my face if I stepped out of it.

Thankfully, I trusted my gut and decided to pivot and create content that was more in line with where I was in my life at the time.

Today, all of my blogging posts and favorite blogging resources live in my resource library.

This doesn’t mean that I NEVER posted another blog about blogging. It simply means that I gave myself permission to step outside of that box without completely uprooting myself from where I started.

In other words, I never stopped dribbling the ball, I just simply changed directions.

The best part is that I’m able to continue to cater to BOTH of those audiences without compromising my creative freedom.

So I encourage you to step outside of the box and allow yourself to try something new. It could be just the thing you need to re-ignite that creative spark and give you the inspiration that you’ve been looking for!

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There you have it!

Three ways that you can shake that uninspired feeling and start creating with intention and purpose.

Don’t worry if you still aren’t feeling inspired, it takes time to implement these tips and while inspiration can indeed happen overnight, it’s best to trust the process and take all the time you need.

Besides, it took me an entire summer to gain the clarity that I needed to pull myself out of that season of feeling uninspired. If I rushed the process, I wouldn’t be able to share these tips with you!

That said, I hope that after reading this you feel empowered to move forward and discover what inspires you so that you can continue to create content that inspires others.