9 Ways to Get Inspired Every Single Day ...

We all have an artistic side and it’s one of the most powerful ways to get inspired! I personally didn’t think I had an "artsy" side because I’m what they call "straight edge." Graduating from college and moving out has certainly been an eye opener for me, though. I have been learning that life isn’t always all about the stress and hustle and bustle. It’s important to take time out of your day to do something for yourself and let that one thing be as crazy and creative as possible! Draw a picture. Write a poem expressing how you’re feeling. Dance on your way to the car. Anything! Don’t be afraid to let loose every now and then… I promise you it will make you feel better and also help you feel inspired.

This has been my saving grace. Any time I feel like I’m going through a hard time, feel stressed, or feel unmotivated and discouraged, I read motivational quotes and inspiring stories. Remember how I mentioned at the beginning of this article that we are what we think? I’ve seen the truth in that statement. Whenever something bad happens and I sit and wallow in my sorrows with the worlds’ smallest violin playing in the background, I feel awful and actually feel comfortable in my "stuck" state of mind. I notice that my energy feels drained and all I focus on is negative thoughts. The moment I read something positive and uplifting, I feel better, lighter… inspired.

Start with little goals that you feel can be easily accomplished. Once you see yourself reaching that goal, you will get an overwhelming feeling of inspiration and self-gratification that will encourage you. I usually set little goals such as: do the dishwasher, or do the laundry, or clean my bedroom. Completing even these easy tasks gives me such a sense of self-gratification and inspiration to keep setting goals throughout the day. As I feel accomplished and encouraged, I set bigger goals.

Wowzers! If you’re like me, just the THOUGHT of going easy on yourself sounds like the most challenging thing to do in the world. I’ve always been so hard on myself: in middle school, high school, college. I always felt that I wanted to one-up myself, to push myself. I found it hard to feel inspired because I was always so hard on myself and I often felt that I wasn’t doing enough. Reality check: life shouldn’t be that hard. Check your pulse. Are you feeling a beat? Great, that means you’re a human being and human beings are not perfect. Once you accept that, you can move forward and learn to love yourself.

Ah, consistency, consistency, consistency. This is a huge part of STAYING inspired. If you don’t practice what you preach, you will fall back into the same downward spiral of feeling unmotivated and discouraged. Don’t make this more difficult than it sounds, though. Sticking to a plan can simply mean following motivational speakers on Twitter and reading a positive quote every day when you wake up. That’s an easy plan to stick to, right? You’ll soon realize that the feeling you get when you surround yourself with positive thoughts and people will actually become addicting and you’ll want to stick to your plan more and more.

Music heals the soul. I’m such a firm believer that music can change your mood. So it’s your choice: what do you want your music to make you feel? If you want to feel inspired, listen to anything that has a great beat or a song with encouraging lyrics. I personally enjoy listening to positive, encouraging K-Love – it’s such a great station that always plays uplifting music with a great beat and also a great message. I’ve recently decided I want to become more in tune with my spiritual side so I went out and bought candles and I’ve been getting into the habit of lighting the candles while playing ocean sounds with music in the background. That’s a great way to get in tune with your creative side and spend some time with you.

Woof, this is another heavy pointer. Accepting change has always been something I have struggled with. I’ve always wanted to make sense of everything around me and it had become toxic as well as a roadblock to feeling inspired every day. This step happens at different times for different people on their walk through the journey of life. But that’s just it: life is a journey. You know the saying, "it's not about the destination, it’s about the journey." Once you can accept this truth for yourself, you’ll begin to see subtle shifts in your life. You’ll be able to tap into that creative side. Once you accept change, maybe something you’ve been looking at every single day will appear like a new opportunity to invent something. Who knows? Maybe you could be the next Mark Zuckerberg!

It’s much more challenging to get inspired with clutter surrounding you. Let this be one of your first projects to tackle before you get into the groove of making changes in your life! Cleaning can be such a great way to let go of old things and mentally prepare and tell yourself that you’re allowing and accepting new things to come in. So go crazy – throw out old notes that have been cluttering your desk for months! Go through drawers you haven’t gone through in years. This is a very personal task and it’s a way to clear not only your room, but your mind, too.

Ladies, laugh your worries away. Life doesn’t need to be a cage keeping you from living your dreams or be a box keeping you from feeling inspired. Unfortunately we live in a culture where it’s more "glorified" to "follow the crowd" so that you can feel accepted and loved, rather than be bold and do something differently. Laughter is such a great medicine and not to mention a good ab workout! Sometimes if I laugh at a difficult situation, I feel more encouraged to do something about the difficult situation.

We all have the potential to achieve greatness! These 9 ways to get inspired every day have truly helped me so much when I felt most confused about so many different things and didn’t think I could ever achieve inspiration. What is something that inspires you?