I have been in a creative slump. No, that’s inaccurate. I have been overwhelmed to the point of tears and can’t mange to do anything other than work and mindlessly scroll social media, so needless to say, a creative slump was inevitable.
As I have been trying to wade through just the sheer volume of feeling overwhelmed everyday, I have reached down deep to try to find things to snap me out. Replaying old games and rewatching Sex and the City for the billionth time wasn’t seeming to help.
So I took a page from the Gospel According to Gretchen Rubin, happiness expert and a person I’m a little obsessed with, and I sought novelty to spark joy.
Here are the new and novel things I have tried to get myself out of a creative funk:
- I downloaded Duolingo, and got in the habit of teaching myself French. I now know how to say, “Tu mange une pomme” and “L’homme est calme,” so I am well on my way to reading Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables in the original text.
- I spent about 15 of 48 hours watching seasons 1 and 2 of The Good Place. The good news is that I really enjoyed it because it reminded me so much of Pushing Daisies. The bad news is that season 1 is exponentially better than season 2.
And I have genuinely found joy in this. And of course, there are things I used to do that just don’t work anymore. I loved crocheting for a long time, but can’t sit still long enough to work on anything right now. I love painting, but have the same problem.
Ultimately, I know I have enough hours in the day to do everything that needs to be accomplished. Getting myself to do it is an entirely different matter.
In the mean time, I’m going to keep fighting on, because that’s what I do.
Do let me know in the comments what you are doing to bring novelty and joy into your life. If you enjoy my blog, consider donating to my ko-fi, where I collect funds to get a caffeine drip inserted directly into my brain.
All the best,
M
Mehek Writes 
Hello Mehek! Good luck with getting yourself out of this funk. It really sucks when that happens. You said you started using Duolingo and now you’re reading Les Mis in French… haha, what? Do you have background in French? Les Mis is really long!
Hi Legend! I was mostly making a sarcastic comment about my progress in Duolingo. I can now confidently say phrases like, “She has an apple”(elle a une pomme), but I’m sure I’m years away from reading and comprehending a 1000 page novel.
Ohhhh, I never get sarcasm. xD
Why did you choose to study French? Do you have a specific thing that you want to be able to do, or is it just for a fun challenge?
I’ve personally always been drawn to French. I wanted to study it in high school, but was advised against it because Spanish would have been more practical. While practical, I never found it to be interesting, and as a result, never cared to study or pay attention. Now that I can study what I want to, I am studying and staying consistent with French. In just 20 minutes a day, I’m understanding a lot, and I’m interested by it. Plus, I vacationed last year in Paris and LOVED it, and would love to be able to speak french the next time I go
That’s so awesome! Consistency is so huge. A lot of people try to study once a week and by the time they’re ready to study, they’ve forgotten any progress they had made. I wish you all the best with your studies! It sounds like you’re really crushing it. And if you ever feel like you’re not hitting your goals, let me know. My whole blog is designed to help people overcome obstacles in language learning and reach their goals in less time. Any doubt or question you have might make a good topic for a blog post!
Hello! I hope you are able to find your way out of this slump but enjoy the process in the meantime. My novelty that I am now taking part in is blogging. I would love to be a published author one day so I have decided to start my journey by blogging and hearing other’s stories. It may give me inspiration. Good luck with the French. I took 4 years of Spanish and know enough to get by but not enough to do any traveling in Spanish speaking countries by myself.