How To Create A Life That Inspires You

The ‘routine.’ The day-to-day. The “grind.” Blah. Life deserves to be more than one-note.

And as adults, it can so easily become just one, boring, mind-numbing note.

I aim to avoid using the word “should”, for so many reasons, but I’m going to go out on a limb & say that no one’s life should be one-note and blah.

Life – yours, mine, our collective whole – is much better, much richer, much more “hell yah!” when you actively work to create texture in your life.

What do I mean by texture? I mean – create layers of interest that dance together and stoke the flame of inspiration within your life.

The picture at the top of this post is of  a wall of a hotel room I stayed at in Brooklyn. This place, they did texture so well.

In this hotel, It was impossible to be there and not feel charged up and energized. Not because the beds were nice or because it was in a great neighborhood, although they were and it was. By layering things everywhere – from the walls to the floor to what your eye catches at different heights as you look around the room – overlapping different colors and patterns, my eyes (and more so, my mind) were fascinated & curious.

I couldn’t look anywhere the hotel without having my eye drawn to something…and to the something that was beneath that or that was nearby and contrasting to it. The room, the hallways, it all made you take notice. Nothing faded into the background.

The entire place was like that, even the neighborhood, Brooklyn, did texture really well.

By creating texture with something, you create energy that demands to be noticed. You create harmony that feels good. And you create a layering effect that provides both visual and mental attunement.

One of my mentors and most thought-provoking friends, Carmen, first brought the idea of texture into my life. We were at dinner one random weeknight at a favorite little restaurant where we gathered several nights each month to connect and talk over a multi-hour casual meal.

I was sharing about a thing I was finding particularly captivating lately, and she took her thumb and fingers and rubbed them against each other…”like this, texture, you can feel it”, she said. As soon as she did that, it clicked.

Think of something you can touch that has texture. If you rub your fingers over it, you can feel contrast and variety. It sparks your attention.

Now think of your life being that way.

I loved the concept so much that I scrawled it on the chalkboard that hangs in my writing corner, where my favorite artwork all hangs as inspiration. I see it every day and anytime I’m making a decision, I ask myself, “does this bring more texture into my life?” And if it does, I do it.

Is “Add Texture” On Your
Weekly To-Do List?

When you make texture, you create a multi-dimensional ‘thing’ that draws you in initially, but then keeps you there by bringing your attention deeper, with more layers that complement or contrast each other.

It’s like taking a white room that’s empty when you first move in, and building up layers of “you” in that room through color, meaningful objects, and a certain unnameable energy that you know when you feel, but is hard to quantify as any one thing.

We appreciate the light because of the darkness, we appreciate summer because of winter.

Take away the contrast and variety and things lose their depth. They become one-note.

Creating texture creates richness, depth, and a layering effect that not only makes for visual and experiential interest, it provides a contrast and a tension that is a key to life.

Think of music you love. There’s usually a harmony, a bass line, a melody, and probably several vocalists or instruments happening all at once. You’re drawn in, and then you stay in – because it’s not just one-note. The song is taking you on a ride and giving you variety that is deeply enriching.

When we have variety, tension, and layers – we stay interested.

Compare that to how you’d feel if I played you a song that was just one note. Your mind would lose interest eventually (quickly, most likely). With no variety and no change it becomes just background noise.

Please, do not live a life made up entirely of background noise.

I’ve done it. It gets boring, and you end up feeling worn-down, and very “is this it?”

Part of why vacations are rejuvenating is the different experiences you have while on them. You’ve broken the norm and now have something to compare/contrast in your life, thus making the whole thing more interesting. But it doesn’t have to take going on vacation to create texture in your life.

In fact, the daily things you can do to bring texture into your life, are easier to do and quicker to bring you a positive result. I’ve come up with several ways you can bring texture into your life, and I’ll share those in the next post. For now, take a look around you. What’s providing the texture in your life?  I’ll post what brings texture into my life tomorrow. {Part 2 of this post can be found HERE}