Recipe For Creativity – Leave Your Comfort Zone

The daily grind can be draining when you need to be creative.  When it feels like you’ve done the same thing over and over, day after day, it can be hard to come up with new ideas.  The same-old-same-old can make it hard for new ideas to bubble to the surface.  When this happens, it’s time to break the routine.

On Sunday, we went for a hike on the Indian Ladder Trail in Thatcher State Park.  For those who don’t live near here, the trail winds around a mountain’s side.  You climb up and down the trail.  You pass under two waterfalls.  You carefully tred over rocks, mud, running water, and branches.  You are, at times, mere feet from a big drop-off.

In other words, *NOT* a normal day for me.  Hiking this trail was very freeing.  Walking along the ledge, your brain focuses on finding where your next step should be.  Should you place your foot on rock on your right or left.  Which is slicker or shaped right to give you the proper traction to move on?  When I did stop worrying about footing, I was too busy appreciating the wonders around me.

After the hike was over, I felt tired, but energized.  My feet ached and my knees kept threatening to give way, but my brain was going a mile a minute.  Getting out of the same old routine had lit my mind on fire.

What do you do to leave your comfort zone and spark your creativity?