What’s in your creative change tool belt?
What’s in your creative change tool belt? You know, the simple, go-to tools and practices that help you feel stable, grounded and clear. No idea why you need one? Then I’ll explain. A creative change tool belt is one of the most loving and effective ways to support yourself while you work through distractions and blocks in your personal, business and creative life. It’s the personal self-care tools in your tool belt that hold you up while moving beyond confusion or challenge into clarity so you understand what really needs to shift.
Creative Change and Choice
Adapt or die is a well-known phrase, and it’s true. Stagnant mental and emotional patterns may not bean actual, physical death of sorts, but they slowly chip away at your spirit, drowning your creative fire and making you feel cornered. So if you aren’t willing to look at what needs to shift within yourself, how can you expect some miraculous creative breakthroughs or inspiration?
There are times when change can pounce on you, forcing you into a new way of being quickly because you have no other choice. As hard as these times may be, they offer a limited focus that allows you to move through creative change with no distractions. There is no choice but to surrender and do things differently, and your tools can be helpful through this transition.
Most of the time creative change is a living, breathing part of each of us; an active daily choice and a willingness to put yourself first. It’s not selfish, it’s key to knowing how to move through your day with clarity and confidence because you naturally feel what’s best for you.
Simple Tools Used Consistently are Very Powerful
Your creative change toolbelt doesn’t have to be complicated, but it does have to be consistent. A daily practice of exercise, yoga, morning meditation, a pause over a cup of tea, a walk, dancing to a song or two — these are just some of simple things you can add to your creative change tool belt. This article from Lifehack offers even more simple inspiring suggestions for self-care.
I use a combination of all these things in addition to singing, getting outside into nature and playing with my cats. No matter what tools you choose, the goal is to make it an active practice that offers you what you need most — grounding. This way you can get out of your mind and emotional distraction to manage inner growth in a gentler way.
It’s been proven over and over again — practice provides a consistent method of self-support that let’s your mind and body know it’s “time out” from whatever mental and emotional tapes are running in the background. It also gives you time to observe what old ways of thinking you are ready to let go, because you notice them creeping in during your “off” time. And it’s that knowing that’s the most empowering.
The True Value of Experiencing Challenges
It’s easy to think that moving day-to-day with little or no change or challenge is ideal, because it offers a sense of safety. It’s in this mindset, however, that we miss some of the biggest obstacles we create for ourselves, or get really thrown off balance when that rhythm is disrupted by outside forces.
Outdated ideas, mental patterns that no longer serve you, escape-like coping mechanisms — they can all collaborate to keep you in a state of stasis and feeling “safe” and unchanging. And while these long-worn mental and emotional paths feel comfy, they can leave you with nowhere to grow.
Using the tools in your creative change tool belt consistently enables you to show up for yourself first and notice where you might be keeping yourself stuck or small. A daily practice also acts as a healthy outlet for what no longer works so you can move into greater clarity and personal stability in a mindful way.
No one else is going to take this step for you. Do you think you are valuable enough to do it for yourself? I think you are. So what’s stopping you from creating a practice of supportive self care right now? For those of you who already have some go to practices, what is your number one go-to tool?