How Pinterest Gave Me My Groove Back

Sometimes you're trying as hard as you can, and you're knee deep in the trenches, fighting for something that no one else really believes in. If you're a creative, you've probably bought real estate in these places. You may as well be comfortable. 

There comes a time around the middle of writing a script when I throw my hands up and say, "Wait, why am I doing this?" I break into an imaginary cold-sweat and think of all the much easier paths that I could take to follow (at least some of) my dreams. It just feels like a pointless endeavor. The truth is: everything worth anything starts to feel pointless around the mid-point. Every word becomes a struggle to push out, until you just stop pushing.

Or maybe it's not the actual work involved in writing or filmmaking or insert-your-creative-endeavor-here___ that has you down. Maybe it's the other job that is taking all of your time and attention from the craft that you've vowed to cherish. And your craft is jealous. When you return to it, it nags you: Where have you been? You don't care about me! If you were a true artist, you would make time, forego sleep, cancel your cable subscription, or donate plasma to support your craft! Your art seems to judge your lack of oomph.

Whatever the case may be, we all come to that point wherein we either get the proverbial second wind or we're knocked out for the count. I was like that...until I re-found Pinterest.

I've had the account for a few months but because I heard how addicting it can be, I avoided it like I avoid heroin. But today, a particularly low day for creativity, I logged onto Pinterest, and somewhere between browsing photos and pinning my own: I got my groove back.

I pinned everything from fashion to pictoral depictions of my dreams and aspirations. I followed one of my favorite actresses. I saw that people with creativity and lust for life still exist. They all live on Instagram and Pinterest. 

Twitter has become the place where people complain about their imagined problems and haters. Facebook has become the place where people with real problems pretend they don't have any. Instagram has even started to become the place where people with no money pose next to Rolls Royces that they don't dare touch and pretend to shop on Rodeo Drive. But Pinterest is still in its virginal state of beauty: dreamlike and ethereal. It invites us all to believe in something again, because there are pictures to prove that there is still something left to believe in. That's something. That's enough. Now, I'm inspired. Now, I can write. And so can you. 

Take a pinterest break. Remind yourself of what beauty looks like, and then reunite with your words. Get your groove back!