Insert Creativity Here - Amber's Challenge

There is something about adult life that has the tendency to suck the creativity right out of your soul. It seemed when I was a child words slithered through my tongue smoothly and formed images onto page after endless page. Characters were alive and a whole world could find its home in my mind.

Now at the end of my day I escape my imprisonment from the confined four walled coffin only to come home and lack energy to create.

The sad part is that for the last year I have fell into the comfort of American life. Not to say I have not accomplished a ton of work on the home front (yeah domesticity), but more that I have not accomplished nearly enough on the creative front to feel fulfilled.

I work my 9 to 5 (plus), come home to a picket fence, and living room a-glow with television. I used to pride myself on NOT being one of "those" people. And here I land in the very place I avoided for years. For 10 years I didn't own a TV, did not care to, and was glad I did not have the slightest clue what people were talking about when they would mention the latest episode of so-and-so. During that time I filled the evening with music and strange people with equally strange tales. DJing brought to my life a similar rhythm (a whole different story all together). Looking back now I can see it provided a warm glowing hum that took my mind away from the rest of the world.

I keep trying to find ways to rekindle a spark that will ignite my soul again. This time I want it to be different.

I think part of the struggle is transitioning back to a creative life is that the things I once truly enjoyed I have lost so I have to relearn them. I started with the basics and where my road to creativity started - writing. I began writing again (shorts mostly), but the progress has been slower than I had hoped (not to mention my vocabulary and character building have been in a less than desirable state).

If there is one thing I have learned about being a creature on this earth, it is that behavior is learned. The more I lived with people who shared the practice of being artistic, the easier I found it to share the habit. Unfortunately my partner is...for lack of a better term...not the creative type. I am fine with this, but it leads back to the frustrating point that it is easier to share a passion for creativity with someone who can join in that passion.

So I am turning a new page. My goal is to fill the blank pages with my quest to reinsert creativity into my life. I am starting a blog to capture 365 days of ways to insert creativity into daily life.

Let the countdown begin.