5 Ways to Stay Creative When You’re Stuck at Home

While the most severe lockdowns to contain the Covid-19 virus have been easing around the world, for many of us, our usual spheres of activity are still severely limited. It can be hard to find inspiration when you’re walking the same blocks, looking at the same four walls, and talking to the same people (or no one at all) day after day. For people in creative roles especially, it can be challenging to be creative when all of our usual tactics for inspiration are cut off and we feel trapped.

But there are ways to jump-start your creativity that don’t require going anywhere, or at least not beyond your immediate neighborhood. These techniques can also be helpful for combating anxiety and staying in the moment — something a lot of us need right now.

1. Dabble in a different medium. I’m a writer, so I think in words. But occasionally I like to pull out my set of watercolors and paint. I’m no artist, so I usually stick to simple shapes. But even that can be relaxing and inspiring as I explore how different colors blend together or the ways brushstrokes can alter the texture of the watercolor on paper. Sometimes I do collages, cutting out and folding origami paper and images from magazines, then pasting them to cardstock. The key is not to think about the end result — it’s the process that matters.
2. Play tourist in your neighborhood. You know how when you go on vacation your senses are super-heightened, so you notice things like a pretty door or a particularly charming arrangement of plants on a doorstep? Do that, but around your streets. Look at those familiar houses and corners with new eyes and see the details you’ve been missing during your normal routine.
3. Move around. Sometimes the best ideas come to us when we’re engaged in something else besides staring at a computer screen or thinking directly about a problem, especially if it involves physical movement. Take a walk, take a shower, do some yoga poses, water the plants. Give yourself a little change of scene, even if it’s just a different room, and let your mind wander.
4. Rearrange your surroundings. Maybe that couch would look better on the other side of the room, or the cabinet against a different wall. This doesn’t even have to be large-scale: I like to create and tweak little vignettes on my shelves, switching out and moving around favorite collectibles as my mood and the season dictate. Reposition or group your houseplants. Reorganize your bookshelves to highlight your favorite titles. Find a good place for those family photos.
5. Look at things from a different perspective — literally. Remember when you were a kid and lay on the ground looking at the clouds or the treetops? Recapture that experience. The other day I was lying on my yoga mat in savasana and noticed the interesting shapes some of my decor and fixtures took on when I looked at them upside-down. I started thinking about how I could incorporate those shapes into art (see #1). You don’t even have to do anything with what you notice — just the noticing is enough.

The idea here is to jog your brain out of its automated state, even temporarily. Our thoughts literally tend to follow well-worn neural pathways. Disrupting those patterns can help keep our brains plastic and encourage the formation of new ideas and perspectives. It’s not easy, because your brain naturally wants to take the path of least resistance. But if you set up a regular routine of challenging it, that too will become almost like a habit.