4 Habits That Are Helping Me Restart My Creativity During Quarantine

I thrive off of people watching. It’s one of the top reasons I love to travel. It’s why working for myself has always worked for me.

The ability to jump from one coffee shop to another has never felt rootless, quite the opposite. For me, my lifestyle has grounded me in what’s important — my ability to notice the world. The last time I sat at a coffeeshop to work without any worry of COVID was in February when we spent most of it in London.

The last few days I’ve been extremely melancholic and just very aware that not only did I miss people watching and the freedom of working from anywhere, but I was suffering as a result of it.

My cup wasn’t being filled with what usually filled it and I’d been so concentrated on simply surviving that I didn’t think to figure out new ways to fill it. At least, not consciously. I would argue that our move to Portland was one big leap to fill that cup all at once. It included travel, new places, a new world to see and be inspired by, but like anything that comes fast, it doesn’t really last long unless you help it.

Reading

In an attempt to “see” more people and listen into more stories than my own, I’ve turned to reading a lot more. I haven’t committed to any specific number of books per month or made any promises to myself of the kinds of books I “should” be reading. I honestly just wanted to step outside of myself more than I have been lately. In addition to books, I’ve been on Medium a lot more too, both reading and writing. It’s one of those safe places where people have free flowing opinions that aren’t yet fenced in by other publications’ requirements.

Learning

While I think reading and learning almost go together, they’re also different. I’ve been reading to get lost in other people’s stories and I’ve signed up for courses simply to learn things that I didn’t know before. My one intentional note on this is that because so much of my life and work overlaps, I wanted this to for the most part be a corner of my consumption that had nothing to do directly with my “regular” life. I signed up for three courses on Coursera — one on microeconomics, one on modern politics, and one on happiness (2 out of three unrelated ones ain’t bad). All those courses are pegged as five-week courses, but I’m taking my time. It’s less a competition and more something I’m trying to fill my own cup with.

Watching

I started watching The Crown last week and am already halfway through season 3. I’m not one to watch TV so this is new and noteworthy. Sitting on the couch and doing nothing but watching Netflix is a challenge for me and an exercise in rest, honestly. My life up until this point has revolved around just producing as much as I possibly could. I forgot to focus on how beneficial, fun, and relaxing consuming good content was.

Building routines

I’m trying to build out routines or pockets of time in my day that fill my cup back up slowly and regularly. I’m resting. I’m reading. I’m doing all those things I’ve noted because momentous underwater submersions to fill up my cup in one swoop work fine but aren’t regular occurrences and shouldn’t be.

If I’ve learned anything this year, it’s that taking the time to live a healthy and happy life isn’t a waste of time, it’s the biggest gift you can give yourself. I’m slowly figuring out how to replace what used to spark my creativity and create a longer list of what does.