Reigniting the Creative Flame

I am out of touch with writing publicly.

It’s crazy to see how much a one month break from writing has taken a toll on me. My fingertips are itching to start typing but the bottomless well of ideas I used to have in me feels like it’s slowly drying out.

I basically have no clue what to write about. But I decided to write anyway because I foresee this to become a vicious cycle — me not writing because I don’t have any ideas and not getting new ideas because I’m not writing. Because compounding creativity is real, and I am starting to think maybe the opposite is real too.

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Reigniting the flame

Recently two incidents ignited the flame of creativity and writing inside of me again.

The first came from the Freshly Grounded live event. Just seeing events like this come live, made by ordinary people who decided to pursue something they enjoyed. I couldn’t help but leave feeling inspired. Especially at the end, when Faisal spend the last few moments of the show thanking us for our support. He goes onto talk about how surreal it all feels that something which began in his bedroom on a small go-pro camera became this live event attended by hundreds.

One thing that always inspired me about Faisal and Freshly Grounded was the concept of starting before you are ready. You don’t need to have a concrete vision on paper to begin something. If there is something you want to try out, something you think you might enjoy, go for it. And if it’s best for you, Allah will open doors in ways you were unable of even dreaming about.

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The second moment of inspiration came from FairDinkumAu’s latest podcast. Their guest, Saagalee, was someone who had begun various projects, both community and creative. He was the founder of Locationest — a page inspired by the works of @Humansofny on Instagram, who shares the stories of ordinary people of Melbourne. I have always wanted to start some sort of project like this. Hearing him talk about it, I could almost feel ideas bubbling up inside of me again.

And I realised at that moment how long it had been since I’d felt like that.

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The Circle of Influence

It reminded be about the power of the circle of influence. About the Hadith that says:

In our age, our friends can extend past the people we have in our life to all the media we consume daily. From the social media accounts we follow, to the movies we watch, the books we read and the podcasts we listen to. Whether we like it or not, we become the culmination of all that we surround ourselves with. The people and things we surround ourselves daily determines the type of energy and ideas we consume. And what we consume on a daily inevitably forms who we are.

I realised over the past month my circle of influence had shifted a bit. As work, family and other projects I was involved in started to require more from me, my circle of influence had changed.

I realised it had been a while I’d had a chat with the friends who had amazing creative projects happening in their lives. It had been a while since I’d watched a youtube video about starting a podcast or listened to a podcast about someone who decided to just experiment with something they were passionate about. It had even been a while since I’d journalled about what crazy ideas I had for the future.

And as a result, over time the flame of creativity had slowly become smaller. Before, the idea of missing a day of writing was impossible for myself. But eventually, as those that creatively inspired me in my circle of influence became distant, a day came where I thought — what’s the big deal about missing a day. And before I knew it, a day became 2 which soon became a week and then a month.

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The Lesson I Learnt

If there is something that you hold dear to yourself, then make sure your circle of influence reflects it.

If you want to become more religious, make sure the people you’re in most contact with, the social media accounts you regularly follow and the entertainment you consume reflects it.

Sometimes it’s hard to get people who reflect what you value just because of the nature of our situations. But in the world of the internet, we no longer have any excuse. We hear about the disadvantages of the online world almost daily. But we can’t deny that it’s biggest advantage is that it gives us access to so much.

If there is no one or thing in your circle of influence that reflects what you value, go actively seek it.