Creativity.

Sometimes, it feels like life gets in the way of what we want to do or who we want to be. Instead of being the very thing that inspires creativity, life stumps it. We become so caught up in obligations, so tied down by what we think we have to do instead of what we want to do that we forgo originality for getting the job done. 

Especially during this time of the semester, I feel as though I start to become swamped by schoolwork, meetings, events and more. When I try to come up with creative ideas for a new blog post or story ideas to send out to my newspaper staff, I am at a loss for words. The thought that runs through my head quickly becomes: "I don't have time to be creative."

Yet this is disheartening to me, because you should always have time to be creative. Creativity can strike at the randomest of times--and that's often when you get your best ideas. It's a matter of being open at any time to ideas instead of trying to force ideas to come to you. It's a matter of looking up instead of down at your phone. 

Last week, I wrote a column for my college newspaper (the Ionian) about falling into the 'busy' trap. I don't want to fall into that trap any longer. I want to be open to life and all that it has in store for me, and to feed off life to find inspiration. 

Every one of these tips is obvious. Yet sometimes its the most obvious things that we forget. Every once in a while, we need to be reminded of what's important. And I really need to be reminded of number 2, 8 and 10 right now. 

My creativity is one of my favorite qualities I possess. I shouldn't be suppressing it in place of "more important" obligations. It's a work in progress.

How do you stay creative when life gets busy?