It’s creative challenge time! I’ll not lie, I’m very excited about starting up this bit of the project. Every week / couple of weeks (we’ll see how it goes) I’ll be giving you a mini creative project to get your teeth into. The aim here will never be to create something perfect – it’s simply to create for the joy and the interest of creating, with just a tiny bit of direction from the theme / prompt provided. You most assuredly don’t have to identify as “a creative” in order to join in; the whole point is that these little exercises are being set to help you develop your creative mindset and, as with anything, improvement comes with practice. Give it a go eh? You might just surprise yourself.

Ready?! Let’s go!

Ok, so, I realise exactly how ridiculous this might sound, but stick with me! This is one my absolute favourite creative exercises in the universe, and I say that as a photographer who – funny thing – quite likes cameras. It encourages me to stop and to really savour a moment, to actively find something beautiful or quietly fascinating in it, and to revel in that discovery. It is something that, during my brain’s more turbulent moments, brings me an extraordinary amount of peace.

First up, a bit of background:

You might be familiar already (particularly if you’re acquainted with anxiety) with a practice known as “grounding”; a simple but incredibly useful means to help control the symptoms associated with anxiety by gently moving our attention away from the worrying/uncomfortable thoughts or memories and ‘refocusing on the present moment’. There are a number of different techniques and exercises associated with this practice, but the one most relevant to this challenge is the “5, 4, 3, 2, 1” method, which specifically encourages us to take in the details of our surroundings and really hone in on the small details (e.g. textures, shadows, subtle changes in light or sound). This method asks us the following questions:

• What are 5 things you can see?
• What are 4 things you can feel?
• What are 3 things you can hear?
• What are 2 things you can smell?
• What is 1 thing you can taste?

Even if you don’t have anxiety to navigate, give it a try sometime! (Check out this worksheet for some helpful additional tips / information.) It really is amazing just how much more you begin to notice about your surroundings when you give yourself permission to stop and consider them; there’s such magic in learning to find beauty and intrigue in the small details.

Now, on with the challenge!

Over the next week, I challenge you to write a snapshot of a moment in time. This has become kinda like my own personal creative version of the grounding technique; I love how much extra detail I see when I’m viewing somewhere with a mind to write about it, how much richer the experience becomes and how many more creative connections my brain makes as it considers a whole new world of visual metaphor and simile.

It can be from memory, if you’d like, but I’d very much encourage you to give it a go in real time to experience it most fully. Choose your moment, take a deep breath and examine the moment in as much detail as you can possibly manage. The moment doesn’t have to be anything extravagant – it could be something as simple as considering your morning cuppa. What can you see / hear / feel / smell / taste? How are you feeling in the moment? What’s the lighting situation? What textures / colours / patterns are catching your attention…? If you’re not comfortable launching straight into the writing, give the “5, 4, 3, 2, 1” exercise a go first and jot down your findings to create a few reference points. You don’t have to include everything in your writing, but it’s a useful exercise to help you consider and analyse your environment / personal state nonetheless.

Here’s a written example for you. This particular snapshot came into being the day after the three year anniversary of my Mum’s passing. I was up in Glasgow at the time and, despite feeling somewhat exhausted, I was grateful beyond words for the folk around me and the silver linings I’d learned to find:

“It’s the day after. Having survived the three year anniversary with the help of some very wonderful humans, I find myself here; sat in a perfect little patch of afternoon sun on the carpeted floor, cradling the last of today’s caffeine allowance, my back resting against the solid frame of my bed. I might be suffering with an absolute sod of a cold today, but an enormous weight has shifted. I managed more than two hours’ sleep last night, and the world looks infinitely brighter with the lessening of those dark circles.

As I sit here, breathing as deeply and gently as I can in my current condition, I become aware of a gentle flickering of light. The pale gold of Autumn sun is shepherded into the room here through an old alcove window in its right hand corner, the various intersecting lines across the glass shaping it into a series of satisfyingly geometric shapes. As the evening hours draw closer, the neat rectangles warp and stretch by increments into hazy parallelograms, melting lazily into the pale green paint on the wall.

Every now and again, a decidedly more curious glimmer of light catches my attention on the adjacent wall. This is a glimmer that swims across the surface; not the dancing movement of light filtered by leaves and swaying branches, but a bright reflection from something smooth and steady-moving. This is puppeteer’s light, curating and projecting its curious collection of shadows. It is a fleeting flash, boldly tattooing the smooth curves of the three-headed brass lamp on the sill onto doorframe and pillowcase, twined all around with leaf and vine. It is a moment of unknowing art, both heralded and played out by the rumble of tyre upon tarmac.

Know that while I still chase light, all will be well, I’ll be alright.“

I chose to write this in journal format, but you could absolutely work your findings into a poem / verse instead if you fancied. A number of my songs and concepts began life as a written snapshot, as a series of observations.

That’s it! Your challenge = officially set. If you have any questions at all, do get in touch! Leave a comment on the blog or on the relevant social media post and I’ll get back to you as soon as I possibly can.

Remember: this is a zero pressure creative exercise. The idea, at least to begin with, is simply to encourage you to slow down and take a moment for yourself, to look at the world a little differently. Stephen Fry reportedly once said: “Curiosity about the world and all its corners is a beautiful thing.” and I completely agree. Curiosity (and the ensuing ability to become completely fascinated and entranced by small details) became, for me, a distinctly potent antidote to fear and worry and overwhelm. I very much hope it has a similarly positive effect for you too.

Lots of love, as always,

E x

P.S. Should you create a snapshot that you’d be happy to share / be shared online, I’d so love to read / share it! You can post your work in a comment on this blog, in the brand new Facebook group, or you can simply add “#thinkmakeplaycreatechallenge” to your social media post and tag us in it. Enjoy!

P.P.S. This particular challenge is going to be regular thing, so if you don’t create something you’d like to share this time but feel like you might like to in the future, that’s lovely! There will be plenty more opportunities to get featured should you wish to.