Spring is such a symbolic season. Winter is over and the once dead grass has shed its brown overcoat, the bare trees are sprouting new leaves and the days are longer and warmer.

Spring is for dreamers and doers

As spring renews us environmentally, it is also a time to renew ourselves creatively.  Those ideas that have lain dormant since winter (or last year or the last 10 years if we’re honest with ourselves) deserve to see the light of day and all the possibility contained in them. The winter blues are real. Let’s use spring to creatively renew our minds and challenge ourselves to complete the projects that will propel us forward professionally, entrepreneurially and spiritually.

Here are three ways to Spring Into Your Creativity this season. Give them a try and let us know how your projects are coming!

Get Outside: Take a walk, hike, roll, seat, or whatever it is that will allow you to spend time in fresh air.  Listening to the sounds outside and centering our minds can get the creative juices flowing. Taking a moment to breathe in the fresh air, listen to the birds chirp or watch the leaves blow on the trees can energize the creative centers in the brain. Now that your brain is charged up, grab a pen and paper and write out your vision and ideas!

Get Accountable: One reason our dreams may lie dormant is because WE KEEP THEM SECRET!!!!  Having absolutely no one in your corner helping you achieve your dreams is a sure fire way to kill your creativity. An accountability partner doesn’t have to be working on the same goal as you, be in the same industry or even really understand what you’re working on. But they can check in with you to make sure you’re consistently researching, help you set goals and deadlines, be a sounding board and remind you of “your why.”

Deal With Grief: Now this one is personal for me. I had a book inside of me that took over 10 years after the death of my best friend Ivy to see the light of day.  We started a book project together in 2002, and it wasn’t until 2016 (she died in 2005) that I was able to write and publish Ivylocs. Not until I made a conscious decision to begin the healing journey of grieving the loss of Ivy was I able to unleash my creativity. Dealing with grief is different for us all, but acknowledging our grief, finding a local grief support group or therapist are great starts.

Bonus Tip: Start a “Dream Journal” and only write about your goals and dreams that you want to achieve.  Write a letter in your Dream Journal to the person you admire professionally, entrepreneurially or spiritually. Craft a letter to your future employees about the culture of your soon-to-be-created company. Write a letter to your future customers about the product you will soon create.

Now is a time for renewal and planting seeds. Happy Spring and congratulations in advance on your dream!

About Danielle Carin Dunn and Ivylocs:

Childhood best friends, Ivy Reeves and Danielle Carin Dunn, who recognized the absence of representation and diversity in children’s books and wanted to do something about it, conceptualized Ivylocs in 2002. They came up with the Ivylocs character, but their dream of writing children’s books was almost destroyed when Ivy Reeves passed away from Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in 2005.

More than 10 years later, on April 24, 2016, Ivy’s birthday, Danielle published and released the first episode of the Ivylocs Book Series. Ivylocs is a 3rd-grade Professional Problem Solver who uses a magnifying glass to solve problems. She uses it to magnify herself and become bigger than the problems she faces.

Our company, Ivylocs Books is all about helping kids play, explore and learn. Through our products and partnerships, we work to help every kid find their inner Professional Problem Solver.

Visit ivylocs.com to join in on the fun!