Looking for Fun in All the Coolest Places

Dear Readers and fellow Campaigners
I have a confession.  This week, I found myself stuck. About 1/4 of the way through my year long challenge and I'm feeling stuck.  It wasn't that my creativity was blocked.  I don't feel it was that,  I just felt stuck.  I couldn't land on a project that felt like fun.  I started feeling like nothing was fun.  What happens around being stuck?  What is being stuck?  I don't even like the sound of the word.  Stuck. Stuck. Stuck. Yuck. Suck.  I just couldn't find what I thought was a juicy fun project.  So, I sat stuck.  Great excuse to not do anything.  I can feel the negative wheels gearing up.  I felt myself being pulled into negative thoughts, images.  Well now I know nothing good, fun or wonderful (even juicey) comes from this state of mind.  Stuck.  Yuck.
Getting stuck happens.  I knowledged that I was stuck.  That doesn't mean I have to let it grow and take me over.  No that wasn't going to happen.
My wonderfully crazy Grandma use to say, "Do something.  Do something even if it's wrong."  My spin on that is Do something.  Do something and look for the fun.  Maybe I felt tapped out of big, real juicy fun projects.  But I'm not out of creative ideas, and fun is what I make it, right?  I also feel that fun isn't something a person can go chasing. It's not about trying. The more a person trys the more fun runs away.  It's really a do or don't do, so not about trying.  It's totally about being.  Being in the moment.  That leads to seeing the vast amount of wonderfully fun moments, images, ideas, situations, and people that are out there.
I work in many creative mediums.  Knitting is one that I love and adore.  It relaxes me, it helped me heal a sore elbow once, it has so many benefits in my life. I don't  think of it as rip roaring fun.  It was time to look at the fun of knitting.  One reason I don't think of it as rip roaring fun, is that for the last eight years, I've knitted plain socks and nothing but plain socks. Over this holiday season, I started kniting neck warmers, cat nip mice and earwarmers.
I went looking for free neckwarm patterns on the internet.  Oh, my!  There are so many.  And more importantly so many creative people.  These neck warmers are small to carry and quick to knit.  And they are so...dare I say... fun to knit!  I even discovered a cool new yarn shop in my neighborhood.  The day of my first visit it was buzzing with people and there was a table of people sitting around knitting, laughing and talking.  Having fun! This environment created a sense of joy and excitement in me. 
Knitting and designing my neck warmer for this week's project, I was hit with insights. Not earth shattering but simple and I want to share.
Here goes...we all get stuck.  Instead of wallowing in the stuck state, perhaps one way of shaking this state of mind is look at something that brings comfort and look at it in a new way.  Approach the familar from a new fresh angle.  It's so not about censoring ourselves.  It's about being in a place of curiosity and discovery.  I feel that's what charges the creative spark.  The medium is the same, tried, tested true, but it how I approach it that makes it fresh.  I also found it inspirational that there are so many people in my community and on the internet who are expressing themselves and sharing with us all.  It's outstanding.
As finding fun is simple.  Simple as a deep breath.
Do Something. Do Something and look for the fun.  I'm going to keep that one.  Oh, and I really did have fun making this neck warmer.   I like the color, the cable stitches (which are fun to knit) and the pirate buttons.

Until next week...Create to feel great.   14 projects complete  38 to go!

Also, donate $25.00 or more to Haiti relief and I will knit you one of these neck warmers or a pair of cyclist helmet earmuffs or a cat nip mouse...in the color of your choice.   It's really time to get creative to help those folks.   Send me an email at gocoach@deedeeremington.com