Friends, it’s Monday – and we all know that means it’s back to the grind that we all have a very love/hate relationship with. For me, it means an early morning cup of coffee, hopefully (!!!) already taking Milo to the dog park this morning, and then easing into my morning with optimism and a prayer that nothing too crazy will blow up my morning. Half the time that happens, the other half of the time…well, not so much.

I feel very fortunate that I truly love my job. I like to think of it as a bit of a bad boyfriend though (you know, highest highs…lowest lows), but I appreciate that with social media I have the ability to balance creativity, strategy and insights into a blend that ensures every day is a little different. And I’m lucky I have amazing co-workers at both the company I work for, and our agencies that makes sure there’s never a dull moment.

But having a creative outlet outside of work has always been important to me too. I started this blog when I graduated college as a way to learn photography, and copywriting skills, and to also have a little space on the internet that was entirely my own. If you go back to some of my first posts, they’re hilarious (innovative at the time I’m sure (jk jk jk)), but they were some of my most creative. I didn’t know what I was doing, was fully and totally winging it, but that’s sometimes when your most creative work comes to life. I didn’t say great, but definitely the most creative!

I was talking to my sweet friend Ashlee the other day about how to be more creative in the new year, and how we both felt like we were in a total rut last year. I basically stopped blogging after January, initially due to some personal things I was going through, and then inevitably living through what a crazy year it was on so many fronts –  and she too was in the same boat of balancing life, working from home, and dealing with the many downs of 2020. I think we were all going through the motions of literally trying to make it through that we didn’t take time to rest and reset, and also grieve about what was going on around us. For me, the reset was definitely a good thing – but also kinda shook my confidence in my abilities as a blogger and my freelancing work. And after a while of not doing too much, it feels like an especially hard hill to climb getting back at it and back in the groove. But we both agreed that the best way to make it through is to just start creating – whether it’s bad, good, genius or meh – we’re both going to start creating and see what happens from it. And I think it’s also so important to have creative people in your life that you can have as people who inspire you, and can also hold you accountable to try new things and put yourself out there a bit more. As we’re both trying to be more creative in the new year, Ashlee is definitely one of those people for me, as well as friends like Jess who writes from the soul, and Katie who not-so-casually created a new blog and freelance photography business all during quarantine. I’m lucky to have so many creative people in my life to look up to, and also inspire me to get more creative in-turn too.

So anyways, I hope you find your creative tribe (even if it’s just one other person who believes in you!) and find the inspiration to kick off your own creativity too and figure out ways together on how to be more creative in the new year.  I told Ashlee we need to make a pact to put more of ourselves out there creatively this year, so here’s to making it happen friend!

Do you have any tips on how to be more creative in the new year too? Any and all advice is always welcome! I need some inspiration from as many creative souls as I can get!

And a big thanks to Ashlee for these cute photos too! You can see all her amazing photography work here <3