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I’ve been learning a lot about this in my traditional chinese medicine journey, because I for one have run my energy down to the point of exhaustion, and recovering this energy takes work, time and serious space. I get this is bigger than going into nature to get inspired, and that’s the point, if you want to feel inspired, energised, creative, motivated, positive and not depleted constantly, then making regular time for ‘mental space’ is so incredibly important. I’ve been working to make some changes lately, including working from home on a Friday (which has had the most incredibly positive impact on my sanity), signing up to weekly yoga and pilates (which I used to have to pull out of because work got busy, but now I won’t let anything stop me from going I don’t have an office, but I have a desk space I use every now and then and even updating this to have more art work, more places to store inspiration, and a little touch up every now and then (new chair, new desk, a re-paint) can be all it takes to re-energise your physical space, and in turn your mental space, your creativity, your inspiration and of course your productivity as a result.

Despite the negative sentiments that can sit alongside social media, mostly the idea of comparison and feeling like our lives are less than others, one thing I do think social media is great for is inspiration and in turn making even the most niche of things feel accessible. Take a suit for example, it’s something normally you’d reserve for work, men, or very formal occasions, yet today it’s an ensemble we see women embracing and styling for everyday wear, teamed with trainers and a tee not just the typical blouse and heels. Social media has opened our eyes to a whole new way of wearing clothes, embracing colours, styling pieces for a whole array of occasions and not just those occasions they were historically associated with. A suit isn’t something I would have typically invested in years ago, the preconceptions of too stuffy and too ‘work wear’ for me would have deterred me, yet thanks to a whole load of Scandi influence (see my pinterest boards for reference), the suit is now something I know how to wear ‘my way’, something I know how to style for everyday occasions (and not just formal work meetings), and something I actually feel confident in too.

Todays post is exceptionally impromptu, so much so I’ve only just leaped out of bed to make a cup of tea, thought my bedsheets looked nice in their morning mess, so grabbed my camera and took a few photos, sat down to drink said tea and thought, hell i’ll write a blog post. After last weeks post all about my creative rut, it feels quite liberating to be able to shoot something and share it so instantaneously, without that overthinking that often goes into everything posted online or on instagram. The truth of the matter is I have a whole back log of outfit posts to share with you, five from this year alone, let alone the ones I still haven’t shared but want to from seasons gone by, even years gone by It’s a bizarre thing really, my creative blocks definitely come in two forms, firstly the not being able to shoot content I like (whether thats driven by time or a lack of inspiration) which I discussed in  my last post, but the second comes from the overwhelming challenge of creating ‘worthwhile content’ on the blog.

It’ll also encourage me to think more about composition, lighting, props etc when taking phone photos, as it’s easy to point and shoot and not think creatively like you would when using a camera, but ultimately it still needs the same care and energy to get a great shot. I realise I need to create some space for that, and so whilst it won’t immediately generate content for my feed, I hope practicing a little more mindfulness will get me into a better space mentally, to be inspired to shoot, create and play around with my visual style. It’s a format that really inspires me and has it’s own unique visual style, a style I feel most drawn to right now. Actually I often find when I play around with a new subject, whether it’s trinkets like today, home decor & interior posts, shots from my travels, or simply random things in my daily life, that it actually sparks even more creativity and motivation to create.