tips & tricks | inspiration

Following up to March's post on photography, today we're sharing a collection of thoughts about inspiration. It's an often-overused word, and sometimes it can be hard to define what inspires us. It's not always simple to know how to use that inspiration either, and how not to feel like you are copying others instead of purely being inspired.

Hannah says
I'm inspired by late night talks and laughter over campfires that stretch into the morning ringed with dawn, words and songs and music that make you sad and happy all at once, lazy summer evenings and going barefoot and baking, family and traditions, authentic life, genuine love, and passionate people, and art, fresh food straight from the garden, and the way some smiles reach to your eyes.

Kendall says

Gathering inspiration, for me, has always been the easy part. Finding gorgeous pictures, reading warming words, looking at lovely designs; there's an endless list of things that inspire me. Finding inspiration is not the hard part. The hard part is putting that inspiration to use.

I wish I could say I had some foolproof method for getting going, but the truth is, like a lot of things in life, I'm just making it up as I go. I'll tell you what works for me, though. I've found that surrounding myself with pretty things is not enough to go on. I need to surround myself with inspiring people as well. Seeing and interacting with real people who have struggles like me, but who are also imaginative and hard working and are doing and creating amazing things, that's what really motivates me. Once I see someone who has succeeded, it makes me want to succeed all the more.

It's easy for me to get inspired, but what I have to work on is translating that inspiration into something more tangible. Best of luck to you!

Carlotta says

Inspiration ebbs and flows like waves, some big and towering, some just ripples on the breeze. It's a fickle thing, and not something that can be sought. Mostly, though, it comes when I'm not looking for it. It comes when I am in deliciously drowning in life, both the good, the bad, the gritty, and the messy. It's there when I am lying on my back, feeling the sun soaking in through my pores, spreading into a golden tan and bringing out the freckles. It comes when I read words that stir up beautiful aching, laugh until my stomach muscles hurt, sink my hands deep into cool damp earth, and eat a dish that tickles my taste buds in the most wonderful way. And when inspiration comes, there's nothing you can do except hang on for the ride.

Katie says

I'm inspired by words. Poems and songs that speak to me. Stories that break my heart. Phrases like this, "we yelled at the top of our lungs because we were just these small humans but we felt more longing than could ever fit inside us," that say everything I've always been trying and failing to say for myself. I have journals and notebooks filled with words, my own and those of others.Words are powerful. They inspire me.

Libby says

Inspiration comes from everywhere but I can't always actively seek it out. For me, I can't sit down and think "I want to be inspired!". Sometimes, just beginning to make art and tell stories and plan meals, even if you're not feeling overwhelmed with ideas, is enough to get the creative juices flowing. Pick up a pencil. Write the first sentence. Buy some pasta. And then let the rest of it come, from knowing you have the beginning of a something there already.

What are your thoughts on inspiration? What topics would you like to see in the coming months discussed under 'tips & tricks'?