a heart to heart about inspiration

A conversation about life inspiration, winter ruts, and feelings. 

In the winter, I'm always in a slump. Autumn is beautiful, inspiring, fresh, sunny, all my favorite tones. Then winter comes and I find myself struggling to feel any inspiration at all, then school starts up, and before I know it I'm just going through motions. Class, work, posts, emails, until my fingers want to fall off. And to find the time to put together an outfit that will still look chic in this weather...it feels practically impossible. Then going out and actually doing it. It sounds so dramatic, but it is the job, and I've gotten sick on multiple occasions from photographing in barely any clothes. Winter, no matter what, makes it hard to accomplish much of anything creatively. Does anybody else feel this way?

It is what I call the winter slump...and it is very real. It makes sense, though, because all we want to do is cozy up when it's cold and dreary. But I want to constantly be creating, constantly pushing out of my comfort zone, constantly creating inspiring content. In a world where everything is constantly going, it is so easy to get caught up in it. In the winter it all just feels dry, like my motivation is all used up. New Years resolution's dissolve before I even had a chance to think about them. It's frustrating feeling this way, and I wanted to have a heart to heart with you because maybe some of you feel this way too. Even though Instagram is all about perfection, we all know it is not reality, and I wanted to talk about how inspiration is hard. There are days, even full weeks, where I feel completely lost and tired. I pin things on Pinterest, going into a hole of feeling frustrated that I can't create the content I want to. I use excuses like it's too cold, studio spaces are expensive, I don't have a photographer. But on the flip side of things, it is all up to us to change it. Photograph inside! Set a camera on timer! It is cheesy, but I have to constantly tell myself that it is all in my own hands. Yes, I can create the content I want to, it doesn't have to be a full photoshoot. We should think of it as a creative challenge, pushing us to really think more about how we can achieve what we want. But, it takes time, as all good things do.

I guess I feel like I am having a conversation with myself here, but a lot of times people come to me asking how I stay inspired. My answer does include that it is hard and that I'm definitely not always motivated. It might sound ridiculous, but it really does take effort to stay inspired. Setting aside time to ourselves to look at books, magazines, and photographs is an effort. Compiling our favorite images and finding the perfect pieces to create a look is time-consuming. The best advice I can give is to keep your eyes peeled for new inspiration because it can come from anything--movies, people on the street, even great architecture can get creative gears turning. And, when you get in an inspiration rut, don't get down on yourself. I am going to create a more elaborated post on finding inspiration, so let me know what you think I should discuss. It is easy to feel lethargic about everything in the winter, but again, we all have to realize that there are moments when all we want to do is be lazy. And sometimes, that's truly okay.