What Moving 5,000 Miles Away From My Home Town Did for My Creativity

To be honest, sometimes I’d rather pick up the phone and place a to go order at my neighborhood Waffle House in Stone Mountain, Georgia, or run into Publix and randomly bump into an old classmate than to be wandering this foreign land where I stick out like a sore thumb struggling through my somewhat memorized German phrases JUST so I can order my usual latte macchiato. * WHEW* Oh, the discomforts !’ve experienced.

But, it’s in these moment of discomfort and “foreignness” that I've been able to work my creative muscle the most.

Moving 5,000 miles away from my home town showed me how expansive my creativity really is.

Let me explain…

When I moved from away from Atlanta, a city I lived in ALL of my life, I left behind behavior patterns, creative habits, and a lot of comfort that was not really benefiting me.

New environments allow us to create new habits and new routines. They help us to escape subtle triggers that nudge us towards normal habits. It is always easier to associate a new habit with a new context (new environments) than to build a new habit in the face of competing triggers..

So, when you find yourself in a creative rut, change the scenery. No, you don’t have to move to a different country, you can move to a different office, change coffee shops, move things around your studio...you get the picture…Try it and watch how your work changes for the better.