Stay Disciplined. Become Inspired.

School is out. My family’s schedule changed. Habits changed. Schedules went out the window. My discipline gave way to the siren songs of summer vacation. It was certainly not inspiration that went missing. I just came back from the Canadian province of Alberta where there is a healthy dose of inspiration from every vantage point. If you ever want to feel like a great photographer—go to Alberta. But, clean your camera lens first! You simply cannot take a bad photo there. And, since a picture is worth a thousand words—words should have been dripping from my pen. Not so. Despite having Rocky Mountains, turquoise lakes, glaciers, fields of gold and beautiful horses to inspire me—I barely wrote a word the entire two weeks. Apparently discipline had taken a vacation as well.I started one journal entry and was interrupted only to restart it a few minutes later in a different location and finally abandoned it halfway down the page. There was so much going on to write about but just no time set aside within which to write. No space was made. I was traveling with my husband and four young children while joining up with extended family and a sea of cousins along the journey. Quiet time alone was simply non-existent. I was there to visit and experience, not to sit quietly alone.Sometimes we sit and wait for inspiration to wash over us.

We don’t want to write about nothing. We are convinced that our role is a somewhat passive one and so we will just wait until we think of something worthwhile. I can tell you, that approach is all wrong. If you find yourself with the time to sit and write—just do it. Even if it is about trivialities. Even if you would rather do anything else. Even if you are feeling hopelessly uninspired. Through the discipline of writing constantly and habitually, you will stumble across something inspirational along the way. Inspiration will find us eventually, but not without the steady hands of motivation and discipline holding candles aloft as a guiding light.