“I feel like I am diagonally parked in a parallel universe.”
The purpose of this week’s challenge is to be spontaneous, to not think and plan outeverything you do! Since that may encompass a great many subjects and topics, let’s concentrate on one thing…as part of our Creative Courage Challenge, we have discussed cars, and in Pink Cadillac I urged you to test drive your dream car. This week though, we are not talking about cars…we are talking about driving. Driving and how driving can help us become more inspired, open our creative spirit, and charge our courage!
Whether you drive to and from work every day, are a mom in a car pool, or have a studio at home and only drive when you need to…changing our driving habits has the power to change the way our brains work, and to build our courage while enhancing creativity!! As Artists and Creatives we must balance our daily responsibilities with creating our art, often times we get stuck in our creativity because we are encompassed with our daily chores. This week we are going to give our minds a Moonstruck “snap out of it!” slap in the face!
“Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?” ~George Carlin
Driving can be a drag, especially if you are required to do it every day, it can become quite monotonous, and boring. It can also become quite frustrating…as some have said, especially in the Midwest…the shortest distance between two points, is under construction! So this week…allow yourself some extra time on your drive; try a different route or turn down a street that each time you pass it by you wonder where it leads. Instead of wondering where it leads…find out where it leads! Just do it!! Turn the car and go down that road! If when leaving work you drive north then west to get home, try driving west and then north. If you go through a toll booth, ( first of all, I’m so sorry)….but second, pay for the guy behind you, just because you can!! Brighten someone’s day without want of gratitude or need for acclimation. Change your brain! It goes against your natural instinct and routine to do something out of the ordinary. To explain to the toll booth attendant you’d like to pay TWO tolls, then have the driver of the car behind you be confused. But I promise you it will give you a rush. It will get your brain to switch gears…it really is that easy!
If you are going to use the excuse that you are too busy during the week, then pick a weekend day, and just “go for a drive”. We used to do that all the time when I was younger…we never knew where we’d end up! Back then there was no GPS or cell phones, so that took a great deal more courage than it does these days! When you are driving aimlessly, without a goal in mind, then you are in no hurry, you can appreciate your time and enjoy your ride. Go alone, listen to music – better yet relish the quiet. If you like, ask someone to join you, but don’t be put off if no one wants to come, or thinks you strange for asking!
I found this tidbit written on a piece of paper, in my own pen, but don’t recall where or why I wrote it down, but I thought it befitting this challenge:
“A little voice inside told me, You don’t have to depend on other people to accomplish what you want to do. Just do it. That was exactly what I did. I packed some snacks and some bottled water. I packed my laptop in case I decided to do some writing wherever I was going. At 9:00 a.m., I got into my car, made a beeline to a nearby ATM, and then got on the highway west, not knowing where I was going. All I knew was that I had to go somewhere, away from town where I could enjoy nature and the glorious day.”
It takes courage to venture out, courage to go without a plan, to endeavor into the unknown, or barely known…. but more often than not it is during these ventures (or Adventures) when I have found the most interesting and creative inspirations. I’ve discovered places I was driving past daily and didn’t know they existed just two block east of my drive….I have seen the tops of buildings and just started driving towards them to see what they are, I have followed a hot air balloon from the ground because I thought it was fantastic-that was quite an adventure to be sure! I have gone alone, I have gone with friends, I have gone without a map, without a phone, and without any idea of what was going to transpire for the day…and I have always, always, always enjoyed the ride!
“Two wrongs don’t make a right, but three lefts do.” ~ Jason Love
Yes it’s true you might get lost, sometimes that is the thrill of it. I challenge you to get lost on purpose! I challenge you to take a different route to or from work. I challenge you to go somewhere and turn off your GPS or your Navigator. Don’t consult Google Maps. Take a map! Buy a map! Stop and ask someone if there is anything interesting in the area to see! Be curious, be courageous, be daring! Drive with no destination in mind, bring a snack, bring some water, and bring your craft of choice. If you are a writer- bring a pen and paper, if you are a painter- take a small easel, if you create anything that requires hard to transport materials, then just take a sketch book and a pencil to write or draw ideas and inspirations that come to mind – and they will. Just be open to what might inspire you, go with whatever and whomever you want…but go! Just do it! It will open your mind, it will build your courage, and it will exercise your creativity!! It will bring your Evil Creative Genius to life! What have you got to lose?!“And suddenly I realized that I was no longer driving the car consciously. I was driving it by a kind of instinct, only I was in a different dimension.”~ Ayrton Senna
Be bold this week, be brave…remember we have to DO the thing, then the courage comes after! I know you are sitting there right now (or hopefully “Walking Tall”) saying either “this is going to be awesome!” or “yeah, never gonna happen” I urge you to do this, try this just once, you will grow out of your comfort zone, and grow into your creative courage! Even if all you do is take a different route home from work one time this week…anything to break up the drive, and break up the monotony of the mind…and open up to creative courage.
“It finally happened. I got the GPS lady so confused, she said “In one-quarter mile, make a legal stop and ask for directions.” ~Robert Brault
Go out this week and confuse your internal, creative GPS, so you can be open …to more, well …of everything! Enjoy the ride!
