Finding inspiration
This is often my view when I am struggling to find inspiration. This desk was a ‘landmark’ birthday present from my family (I shall only tell you which birthday if you ask VERY nicely). It is one of the stranger things I have ever requested as a birthday present and certainly one of the few gifts that threatens genuine structural damage when moving house. It is a nice place to be. It still smells comfortingly of planed wood and it is covered with a range of accumulated items which ebb and flow over time until they start to avalanche on to my work space.
It is the kind of place where I feel as though inspiration should come easily. This was my plan at least. Have a nice desk, do nice writing. But it is often not the case.
My main reassurance when a huge lack of inspiration hangs over me is that I am far from alone. I know that there are many self-help guides out there for finding inspiration, but after browsing a few of these I did get to wondering whether we — early-career people, working in the biodiversity and ecosystems space — have some particular and unique challenges. Whatever we focus on in our day-to-day work, be it climate change, biodiversity or governance, we spend our time in a state of heightened awareness to the seeming peril of the planet. My YESS colleagues are some of the most energetic, upbeat and inspirational people I have ever met, but this energy and drive isn’t endless.
Here are a few of the places that I go to when the batteries seem to be running low and when I don’t know where to begin with engaging with the issues around us.
But it’s a conversation here, I would love to know what yours are…
Staying with the trouble: As much as it feels like the last thing I want to do sometimes, I have happily appropriated the title of Donna Haraway’s provocative tome to remind myself where my attention should lie. Where the biggest issues are. It does occasionally take a lot of energy keeping myself on track, when it feels easier to drift off in to meme surfing and fridge gazing, but it is hard to lack inspiration when facing off against something genuinely challenging and seemingly immovable.
Mixing it up: It took me far too long to realise that when I am utterly failing to produce anything useful, I should probably try doing something else for a while. Sometimes this just means doing a different type of writing (like a YESS blog!). Sometimes it means going completely off-piste. I am a deeply amateur artist, but I sometimes even sketch things out when words are really failing me. It makes my notebooks a lot more fun to revisit at least!
Getting out there: There is nothing better to remind you of why you are doing something than to get out there in the thick of it. Our fields (sometimes literal) are privileged in this respect. My arts and humanities friends sometimes refer to generative work within a physical space as ‘situated practice’. A combination of luck and judgement means that my personal slice of ‘situated practice’ involves spending a lot of time in urban green spaces. Being present in the physical realm is a very visceral way of connecting and always helpful for me in generating new ideas.
Totems: I am a pretty totemic person. Not because I believe I am stuck in some kind of ‘Inception’ style dream world (or at least, I hope not…), but because they are sometimes genuinely useful to remind you of a particular aspect of your motivation. You can spot a range of symbolic objects on my desk. My Rachel Carson quote cut-out is particularly prized, because of the many loving (and probably swear-word-filled) hours of work it took to make and the resonance of the quote itself: “those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts”. And Wolverine? I mean, Wolverine is just pretty awesome, right?
Be nice to yourself: I’m still working on this one. It is easy to be annoyed at yourself when you hit a mental block or feel low, tired, overwhelmed or just not sure what to do next. But ultimately, what is it going to achieve? Give yourself the break that you’d give a friend in the same position. Maybe even treat yourself to the long walk / cake / beer that you would offer them. Inspiration could be hiding there too :)
