Blue sky is where dreams take flight and imagination knows no bounds. But how does one get there? The answer is simple enough, though I’m guilty of forgetting it frequently. Inspiration is the fuel necessary to carry you up into that big beautiful sky. It can come in practically any form and need not always be sought after, but sometimes… sometimes it does need to be sought. Life has a way of getting repetitive and that repetition has a way of dulling our senses. We stop picking out the nuances that contain a spark of inspiration. The only real way around this is to deliberately break the repetition. It involves investing some time in yourself. It involves exposing yourself to culture and, if I may borrow a phrase from Don Hahn (a huge inspiration to me), it involves filling your bucket. You would never expect your car to run without gas in the tank. Why in the world do we expect to create works of beauty or achieve our dreams if we don’t fill ourselves up with the inspiration necessary for creative ingenuity? I believe that in order to live a life you’re proud of, you have to, at some point, stop telling yourself the lie that you can’t achieve your dream. You have to get up and do something to make it happen. Even if you don’t yet know what your dream is, which is okay, the very best place to start is to spend some time searching for inspiration. It might come from the pages of a book, scenes of a movie, a crescendo in a symphony, quality conversations with friends or family, the quietness of solitude, an unfamiliar setting, a scenic walk, time spent with God or a truly perfect piece of chocolate. It really doesn’t matter where you find inspiration, so long as you find it and find it repeatedly. Before you know it, all of that inspiration will overflow into something worth sharing with the world and the world, in turn, will be inspired by you.
About Matt Hansen
Designer, photographer, and wilderness lover.