Creativity, solitude, and why inspiration always seems to arrive at the worst possible moment.

Honestly, I find it suspiciously well timed when inspiration comes to me when I’m completely unavailable to do anything with it. 

I’ll be in a random store, a place without service, or my phone’s dead with nothing around to jot down ideas. So there I am, standing in the middle of a crowded room trying to hold onto that thought that will inevitably slip through my fingers two seconds later. 

It’s kind of funny, my ideas rarely come when I’m actively looking for them. They don’t always show up during my blocked-out writing time. More often than not, they come while I’m in the middle of my day job, driving home, out with friends, or anything unrelated. 

Now it could be the lack of sleep talking, but sometimes I wonder if ideas simply come during the moments I can mentally wander. But during my writing time, my brain is forced to focus on producing something tangible. 

But during the times  I’m driving home or alone in my day job office, my thoughts seem to roam freely and without restraint. I’ve just recently started to realize that I feel the most creative when I’m alone. 

Maybe in the solitude I’ve subconsciously learned to create space. Not having to keep up with conversations, or demanding tasks. 

No pressure to have useful thoughts. 

Just me and whatever floats through my head. 

“I’ve just recently started to realize that I feel the most creative when I’m alone.”

The strange thing that keeps flashing is, I don’t actually know why.

Why things just flow during my day job. 

Is it the quiet?

Is it the routine? 

Maybe that’s why so many of my ideas have felt flat or thin over the years.

I guess I’ve always been taught that inspiration requires structure. That if you want to create something meaningful, you need a dedicated time and place to do it. 

But now? I think that illusion has been shattered because I’m learning that creativity comes only on its own schedule. 

And if that schedule just happens to be at my place of work. In a time when I’m not thinking or worrying about myself, then that’s simply what works for me. 

I don’t need to lock down a reason why.

 I’ll just embrace the creativity for as long as they come and maybe keep my phone charge or a pen nearby. 

More soon,

Quill