#34: When Creativity Eludes You

My dog Ringo loves the outdoors.

So when he gets the chance to slip away and run wild in our street, I panic. First, because I'm afraid he'll bite a stranger (he's a chihuahua—and a feisty one). Second, I worry he might be hit by a car or worse, the trucks who regularly pass by our area (at the farthest end of our street, there's a vast land where these trucks carry tons of sand, forming hills that look like little mountains from afar).

So driven by these intense emotions, I usually start after him screaming his name and trying to catch him. Sometimes, there's some crying involved too.

Until I got tired of chasing him this way every time he escapes from the house.

For three times now (the latest one was actually tonight😅), after he gleefully ran away from our home and barked at every cat and dog he encountered, I followed him calmly.

I tried calling his name, and gave up after noticing he doesn't hear me at all (maybe he's too excited).

I stood and just watched him, waiting with his leash ready in my hand.

After a few minutes of running around, he would come straight to me as I welcome him with my arms stretched wide, ready to hug my little fur baby.

I realized, this is the perfect picture of my relationship with creativity.

Every time I stress and panic over coming up with ideas, they rarely come.

But when I relax and let loose, trusting that the ideas will come as long as I show up and do my part, more often than not, they come like flashes of lightning.

And when they do, I catch these lightnings in the proverbial bottle the same way I gently catch Ringo and tie his leash when he comes home to me.

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Hi, and thanks for reading! I'm Kishly, a cheerleader of creatives and copywriter turned marketing strategist. Bookmark this blog to read my daily atomic essays on marketing, compassionate productivity, creative living, and lifelong learning. Or subscribe to Process, my weekly-ish newsletter for young adults (and the young at heart) in pursuit of wisdom and wonder. ✨