1/31 July Challenge

1/31 July Challenge

What is more magical than our ability to create? To pull something out of thin air, to empower our imagination to be wild. Is there anything more beautiful than pure expression? My world fuels itself on ideas, inspiration, and creating. When I am out of sync it is because I’m not freely creating whatever my mind might have in store that day. Not that I create randomly, but that I allow my imagination to breath so that when it comes time to create, I am ready.

I’ve been so closed off from inspiration this year for many reasons. I can always find an idea at the drop of a hat, but an idea that fulfills me is a whole other thing. I wanted to take time to cultivate that intense creativity while I am on a break from traveling, so for the month of July I am going to create a photo, video and blog post every day.

You might be thinking that creating every day will only stifle my creativity. I tend to agree – forcing creativity can be painful and unfulfilling. For me, giving some constraints with an easy-to-identify end time is a good thing. A month is a short time, and I know I can fully dedicate myself to it. I want to learn how to create better videos and this month will help me. I want to get the ideas out of my head that have been building up, and this will help me. I want to write more and document my days, and this will help me.

Each day certainly won’t yield something great. After all, I’m largely only giving myself mornings to do all of this considering I do still have jobs/tasks/other activities planned. But for each morning, I will dedicate myself entirely to my craft.

For this video I got up early to chase the good light. I headed out not knowing what I would find, taking a new road and exploring. I was open to locations. I found myself isolated, with a highway not far off but on a road no one travels. I was in the desert today, exploring the vast and endless landscape. I found myself thinking deeply, enjoying time alone, and reveling in my creativity practice.

This month I will be working on a Creativity Challenge to release at a Pay-What-You-Can price in August in case anyone else wants to try out a challenge like this…assuming I make it through! After all, if I can’t be an example I probably shouldn’t be helping other people along!

Wish me luck, comrades!

And remember…

“There is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique.
And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost.”
— Martha Graham

…so create, because our uniqueness is a gift that I believe makes life richer when explored.

18 thoughts on “1/31 July Challenge

  1. wooohhhhoooo…. awesome Brooke <3 I love your commitment and absolutely trust in you! You´ll make it through!!! You´re a very strong person and can make it happen… I´m looking forward following your journey <3

  2. This is wonderful, Brooke! Thank you for your endless inspiration. I have been forcing myself to create more consistently as I finally have a break from travel too, even if it’s not my best work. It’s not the most comfortable thing to do, but it does feel amazing to just tackle lingering projects and finally create. I admire your intentions, and am so excited to follow your journey 🙂 Sending you love! *hugs*

    1. Definitely share with me if you can, I’d love to see what you’re up to! We all need these types of “breaks”, as hard work as they may be. Lots of love to you!

  3. I recently started documenting the happiest moment of my day in my quest to be more mindful of joy, and when I read your blog post today, I knew this would be today’s happy moment. A month of videos, blogs, and images from Brooke… oh my! You have a natural ability of instilling inspiration and I can’t thank you enough for dedicating yourself to that and sharing it with the world. I’ll be stalking (I mean following everyday)! 😉 Happy creating!

    1. Shana that is brilliant!! I love doing things like that. I try to consciously dwell on the good parts of life. It slips sometimes, but it is the best way of living in gratitude. I’m so happy for you! And I’m super honored I made it on the list! 😀

  4. Hi Brooke, I´m Virginia from Argentina!!!!

    How long does it take you to get the idea, do the photo shoots and do the photomontage?

    I like the challenge you have expressed in the post.
    I learn a lot in each video of you, and I hope to learn more day by day.
    Thank you for promoting your passion.

    Excuse my English.

    1. Hi Virginia! I am visiting Argentina for the first time in November, maybe we can meet! It truly depends on the length of time. I try to think on an idea for at least a few hours, and much, much more if it is for a series. Shooting is usually about 10 minutes and editing, about 2-4 hours average!

      1. Of course we are going to meet in November, I already registered for your workshop. This time yes, I will take the book that I have not taken when I met you in Madrid to sign the first page of the book.

  5. This is great! I look so forward to the next 30 days of post. 🙂
    If you do another challenge I am in! I love those, they are always so much fun, and I always learn a lot. 🙂

  6. Love your work and I am now inspired to give myself a challenge also starting this July 1st

    Look forward to following your creative escapades every day

  7. Dear Brooke,
    My jaw just dropped reading your announcement for your July challenge to yourself. I am actually doing that very same thing, well not with a blog post every day, but I have vowed to myself that this will be my summer of greatness in which I pursue being the person I want to be. I stand up at 4.30 as well, take pictures, then work in my studio, because I want this to be the summer in which I build foundations for my dreams, so they will no longer just be floating visions, but they are rooted and have a chance to grow.
    I wish you all the very best of luck with this project and I will be following you to hopefully keep up my inspiration. You can do this!

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