Running on Empty

I’ll be honest with you. I’ve run out of ideas.  Or at least run out of motivation.

Lockdown 3.0 has finally given me a blank page.

A dead end.

An empty plate.

My four walls are no longer giving me whispers.

My bookcase no longer leaving notes under my pillow.

This is not writers block. I can still write. I’m doing it now.

It’s thinking block.

The drought of inspiration has finally left my cupboard dry and I know I’m not the only one.

The lack of life, of living, has hit creativity hard. 

I read this quote from Music Producer, Rick Rubin, recently-

“Ideas don’t come from out of the blue and they don’t come merely from us. We’re tuning into them, overhearing them and recognizing them”.

And that ability has been taken away. 

We’ve nothing to tune into beyond the headlines that life has become. Everything is in a loop of wake, work, walk, run, watch, sleep and what we are missing is the bits in-between.

The conversations, the random picture you see from a train window, that tune you hear vibrating the roof of a passing car, that bad joke you overhear in the office, the symphony of hustle and bustle that a city brings to your ears. The music has all but stopped.

So, what do we do?

Well we wait.

I’m keeping hold of the fact that this is not the end.

It’s a famine and with that I try to remember to stay hungry.

I keep finding little bits of fire that keep me going.

Today I was lifted by simple beauty of the NASA vodcast about star gazing being called “What’s Up”.

Yesterday I had a conversation with my girlfriend about “Hello” being the perfect strapline for any brand. (Try it- "McDonalds – Hello"…"Vodafone…Hello"- it works!)

These sparks reassure me that the oven is still working, the fire is still hot. So I’ll try my best to keep it going whilst I’m waiting for the delivery truck of ingredients.

And I promise you this.

When life starts again and beauty, magic and random acts start to tickle our souls again- people better watch out, because this gap is going to be filled to the brim with the most wonderful, uplifting, exciting, original, entertaining and soul touching ideas you have ever seen.

So get ready, because creativity can be paused, but it can't be stopped.