Last week I kept trying to write my update from the world of Alice. Over and over again, I’d type then delete, then type, then delete.  I was stuck in one of those slices of life where inspiration and creativity seem to have evaporated into the 90 degree summer sky.  So what do you do to get jumpstarted when you’re feeling uninspired and sinking in humidity?  Here are a few of tricks from Alice over here:

•    Go on a date.  Yea, yea I know.  They’re intimidating.  But this date can be with an old friend, a new friend, a love interest or your honey for the past twenty plus years.  And hey, no one said you can’t go on a date with yourself and a journal.  Here are some of my favorite questions to get to know you, your friend or your love better: Where’s your happy place? How would you spend your ideal day? What dream did you have most often as a kid? What’s your alter ego like?

•    Pick up an instrument.  Did you play something as a kid?  Try it out again.  Have you ever wanted to play a guitar?  Lease one.  Your new instrument can even be belting it out to our man Moby in the shower or whistling along with one Wanderlust’s fave crews featured over here.

•    Forget plans.  Take a day or even a few hours in the early morning and leave the familiar.  Bring along a journal, the Sunday Times, a camera, art supplies, the schedule to a local studio you haven’t tried yet.  Anything you think might help you enjoy or take in adventure.  Then take some time doing exactly what you want to do at any given moment.  Sometimes all you need is freedom from the clock to feel unstuck.

•    Go to a festival.  This is what got me back in the groove of things.  Luckily for most readers of this, Wanderlust is in a little less than a month.  I have no doubt it will wake you up and snap you out of any slump you’re feeling.  I spontaneously adventured into the beautiful Colorado mountains to check out the Telluride Bluegrass Festival.  Seeing new music and watching musicians create beautiful tunes was enough to get me back into a mode of playlist making, canvas painting and cello playing.  On a side note, if you dig bluegrass, leave me a note and I’ll send you my Telluride inspired playlist.

See all your inspired selves next month in Squaw! Here’s to feeling inspired, creative and tapped in. 

-Alice