Creativity Insights and Tips for Coronavirus Lockdown

Five ridiculously easy and practical creativity secrets you can apply at home

“Creativity is a million tiny acts of daily practice that, with strategy and discipline, can add up to stunning, life-altering accomplishments.”

— Sasha Eng Williams

29 March 2020.

Coronavirus storm has taken over the world.

We are locked up in our homes.

These are strange times — it is very difficult not to feel sad or anxious.

We are in times of great distress and disruption.

It is as if we have aged years in months.

We are now confined to our houses for an indefinite period of time.

It is natural that we feel disoriented.

However, we need to make sure that we are taking good care of ourselves.

We need to find a little space in our days and our homes to find our muse.

We need to invest in our wellbeing and creativity while staying at home.

In this piece, I will share some creativity ideas and tips that are useful and easy to implement at home.

These are “Fahri’s Personal Power & Creativity Tips” for staying at home.

1.Creativity starts at home.

Make and create new things out of your great ideas.

I love doodling, writing, diary keeping in particular. My wife Sertac creates artwork using clay.

Becoming a creator will provide you confidence, power, and peace.

What are the things that you would love to create?

Do you wish to write a comic book? Create your own cartoon? Create your own podcast?

Do you want to establish your own YouTube channel?

Do you wish to create your own fashion line?

Do you wish to play with Legos or clay?

Do you wish to draw?

Even if you think you cannot draw, you can doodle easily.

You can easily make a collage or a vision board. Just cut some uplifting and colorful pictures from magazines.. Cut up some inspirational words as well. Organize them on a poster or A3 paper. Then stick them using a bit of glue. That is it! You can now hang it on your wall.

Here is one example of how to do it:

You can still exercise your own creativity in the midst of crisis or devastation.

You can sing, dance, plant a garden, cook, make clothes, sew, knit, draw, or doodle.

Here is an exercise for you:

Create a list of all the things that you could create. Then, choose the one that excites you the most and start doing it right away. Start small and start creating.

2. Seek and invite beauty in your life.

Many museums are now putting their collections online — visit them.

Many musicians are playing in their homes — listen to them.

Many icons and celebrities are giving their own masterclasses — learn from them.

Here is Hans Zimmer teaching film scoring and film music, for example:

These masterclasses are amazing and great fun. Check out Penn and Teller teaching the art of magic, for example:

Many award-winning films and documentaries are on your streaming services.

Even Broadway musicals are put online these days so that you can enjoy them.

It has never been easier to access beauty, knowledge, arts, wisdom, and creativity from the comfort of our own homes.

Netflix has some amazing documentaries that will expand your mind.

Here is “Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates” — it is a fascinating documentary on how he pursues unique solutions to some of the world’s most complex problems:

Here is “AlphaGo” which is a fascinating look at the future of humanity and artificial intelligence:

Finally, there is “Abstract: The Art of Design”, which is a documentary series delving into the art, science, and philosophy of design. The series goes inside the minds of some of the world’s greatest designers, showcasing visionaries from a variety of disciplines whose work shapes our culture and future.

So, we can easily tap into these resources to seek and find our own muse.

Here is an exercise for you:

Create a list of all the things that you can follow, see, listen to, watch, or learn from. Then, choose the ones that you look forward to the most. Allocate time in your daily schedule for these activities and start doing them right away.

3. Make room for your hobbies. Allocate space and time for activities that will nourish you.

You can make a room for creativity.

A great way to start is to make a station or a corner in your house for creative activities or hobbies.

Whenever you are in that space, you can get into the habit of doing creative work.

You can include your favourite objects here. You can design your own inspirational posters or vision boards. Play your favourite music in this room.

It is important that you decorate this space in a way that will make you happy.

It is also important that you do activities and hobbies that will charge you.

Here are some fascinating ideas to practice your own creativity at home:

So, make sure you carve out a space in your calendar for things that recharge and energise you.

For me, this is doodling.

Doodling helps me to re-centre myself and it relaxes me.

What type of activities can you do in your space/room for creativity to get your creative juices flowing?

Mini-Exercise:

Now: Please make a list of all the things that stimulate your creativity. Create a list of activities and hobbies that you can take on.

Here are some possible activities or hobbies you can choose from:

Solving puzzles, learning origami, writing letters to yourself, learning to play an instrument, singing, dancing, baking cookies, shooting a TikTok video, learning a new language (Duolingo), changing your hairstyle, redecorating the house, meditating, gardening…

What have you been putting off because of lack of time?

Please choose your activities and hobbies — write a list of them.

Then, please allocate time in your calendar for these activities and hobbies. You can aim for minimum one hour every day, for example.

Do these activities and hobbies regularly and consistently.

4. Turn your house into a place of joy, relaxation, rest, learning, and excitement.

Do spring cleaning or decluttering around the house. Reorganise your office space, for example.

Rearrange your decor and move furniture around. This will help you to look at things in a fresh light.

Make some fun changes around the house.

Create your own artwork and hang it on the wall.

Take some bold design risks. Get some inspiration from Instagram or Pinterest. Incorporate more colour and patterns into your living room. Use vibrant colours that you love.

Clear out stuff that you do not need or use.

Make room for new things and new ideas.

Display your collections, if you have some collected items (such as toys, artwork, posters etc.)

Consider DIY projects for improving your home.

Re-organise your book shelves or re-decorate your house. Surround yourself with artwork that inspires you.

Choose uplifting items such as your favourite books and posters to inspire yourself.

You can also create your own poster or vision board and hang it on your wall.

Shuffling your belongings will provide you new energy and spark new ideas.

A great idea to create a fresh space for new ideas is the following:

Consider creating a treasure chest where you collect items that would inspire you. These might be artwork, visuals, news items, biographies, blog pieces, books, items that bring you back to your cherished memories etc.

Consider designing your kitchen in a way that will inspire you to cook or bake. Make it easy for yourself to access quality and healthy ingredients, fresh vegetables, fresh herbs, and tasty fruits.

Consider designing your bathroom as a refreshing spa. Perhaps you can fill the bathtub and use some bath bombs that are of your favourite aromas.

Consider gardening and planting some flowers or vegetables in your garden, if this is possible.

5. Practice diary keeping or creative journaling.

Write your reflections, memories, random musings, and thoughts in a journal.

You can also create your own art in your diary.

Write or create art using your hand rather than typing on a device.

There is something magical about the physical movement of your hand and your interaction with the paper and the pencil.

Writing helps you immensely in processing your emotions — including your negative emotions such as anger, sadness, and anxiety.

You can reflect on the chaos the world is going through during the the coronavirus pandemic.

You can also write on all the things that you are grateful for today. Develop your own daily gratitude practice. What are the things that you feel grateful today? Write them all.

Also capture all your creative ideas as they come to you. Make sure you take a note of everything.

Write on your diary in the evenings before going to bed.

Write on your diary first thing in the morning as well, as Julia Cameron suggests in “The Artist’s Way”. You will just follow your stream of consciousness.

Keeping a diary will allow you to experience time travel. When you open up an old notebook, you will be transported to the times of writing those entries. You will remember your thinking and ideas that you have forgotten about. This is a great privilege.

So, these are my top creativity tips that you can easily do in the comfort of your own home.

How are you coping at home?

What are your ideas and practices for creativity at home?

Any suggestions?

Please feel free to share them in your comments.

Sincerely;

Fahri

Fahri Karakas is the author of Self-making Studio. You can explore more here.