3 Keys to Experiencing Joyful Creative Play Even While Stuck in the Midst of Roadblocks

Let me tell you this not so secret fact about me: I am not fond of running errands. It exhausts me, quite frankly, to drive around going absolutely nowhere to get a few “gotta do’s” crossed off my list. I do them anyway because what person eliminates errands from her life unless, naturally, she has a full staff to do it for her.

Yesterday I went to the Special Waste Facility here in Kern County to get some paint to serve as primer on several DIY projects I plan to complete in the near future. It is in a different-than-most part of Bakersfield. Highly industrial, the street is filled more with trucks than cars.

They also have train tracks running through to take away all the stuff they manufacture there.

I was approaching a track with a line of cars waiting for a particularly slow moving train to get by.

I pulled off beside the road before I got there, thinking I might take advantage of the different view to take some unexpected photos. Truth is, I love photos like this.

When I am conscious enough, being creative changes my whole opinion of errand running.

All of a sudden the gotta-do’s become delightful adventures in creativity.

Keep an open mind about whatever you come across on your errand running or other “gotta-do” activity. If you are stopped for an reason, or in a long line, use that time to take photos or scribble notes in a notebook or cell phone. I get great material for poetry and essays standing on bank lines, for example.
Be prepared, just like in scouts when you were young. With the newest phones we have cameras and note taking right in our hands. There is literally no excuse to not be creative as much as you like. Besides that, it is up to you to choose to be frustrated and angry OR content and creative.
Look around wherever you are with new eyes. Sure, you have stood in this bank line a couple times a month for years. What is different about that bank line today. Who shares the line with you? Can you make up stories about them? Is there a teller who is wearing interesting eye glasses or a woman with a blue hat with a black ribbon and especially wide brim? Notice. Pay attention. When I am preparing for a role in a play, I will do character work while on line. You may do the same as you create characters in your fiction writing. Imagine yourself as your character and look through their eyes rather than yours.

Let yourself smile at the eclectic, colorful world that is all around you, waiting to be noticed as fuel for creativity.