One of the most important ways I’ve found to keep growing, expanding and becoming more vital and joyful in life is to stay connected to my creativity.  

But sometimes, the world around us doesn’t support this process. We’re surrounded by screens to distract us. We might work at jobs that don’t necessarily encourage creative thinking or expression. With all this, it can be easy to fall out of touch with creativity in the course of daily life.  

The best solution that I’ve found to do this is to develop a creative habit.  

Creativity is like a muscle—it wants to be exercised. Just like you would create a routine or practice for exercising your body, you can create a practice for exercising your mind and creativity. 

You don’t have to be a professional artist or have a “creative” job to exercise your creativity every day. Here are a few things that have helped me build a creative habit I can rely on to keep me inspired...

Perhaps you love writing as much as I do. If so, you might try writing short stories or your own poetry. (For example, one Boom reader wrote us this gorgeous pro-age poem. You see an excerpt of it on this page.)

Really, it doesn’t matter what the activity is. What matters is that it feels exploratory, expressive, inspiring and pleasurable. 

If you already know what that is for you, great! If you don’t, try following what you’re most attracted to or curious about—and then experiment. 

Sign up for a class or try a new hobby. Then if you find you’re not really “juiced” by that new creative habit, just try something else until you find what inspires you!