11 Offline Ways To Find Inspiration
You're not stuck, you're overstimulated.
A few weeks ago I published an article called “7 Ways to Un-Rot Your Brain”, which quickly became the most popular piece I’ve ever written, and today we are continuing the un-rotting journey.
If you’re feeling stuck or uninspired, there’s a good chance that you’re actually just overstimulated, so today I’m going to share some of my favorite offline sources of inspiration.
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I know I’m not the only one who has ever looked up from my phone after falling into a scroll-hole and thought, “I will never get those hours of my life back, and I don’t even know where they went.”
And don’t get me wrong — I love my phone. It adds so much to my life. It’s how I connect with friends, collaborate, share ideas... it’s literally how I make a living.
But it also takes a lot from me — mostly, my attention span (which tbh was already like trying to catch a butterfly in a botanical garden before Instagram and Tiktok came along.)
My big excuse for defending my screen time is that I “need it for inspiration.” And while this is partially true, I often lean too heavily on it.
I rely too much on the idea that my next creative breakthrough is just one swipe away.
But… it’s probably not. That line of thinking is more likely to be exactly the reason why I feel creatively blocked.
I’ve discovered that my most electric creative energy comes alive when my brain has time to wander quietly instead of chain-smoking podcasts and numbing out on Instagram.
So in the name of less doomscrolling and more actual life, today I’m sharing 11 ways to find inspiration offline:
🖼️ Aimlessly wander through art museums and galleries
I have loved museums since I was a kid. To me, they are the original creative reset button.
Obviously, it’s cool and inspiring to see different skills, colors, and ideas, but there’s something magical about being surrounded by other people’s obsessions, visions, and life work.
I prefer to go alone, where I don’t have to be preoccupied about whether my companion is bored or doesn’t enjoy what I enjoy.
Pro tip: Don’t sleep on the museum gift shop! Truly a gold mine of inspiration. Books you’ve never heard of, quirky postcards and games, funky jewelry for your eclectic art teacher aesthetic fantasy. Even if you don’t buy anything, it’s always worth a little browse.
🚶♀️➡️Headphone-free Walks
No, I will not shut up about this!!! Go take a walk with nothing in your ears!
No podcast, no playlist. Leave those little earbuds at home, my angel.
And I hear you already — but I need it!!!!
No! You! Don’t!
Headphone-free walks are one of my top creative practices. It’s where my ideas stretch out their little arms and legs into outrageous and audacious places.
It’s where the solutions to my dilemmas find me.
Plus, these walks are a great way to practice being a little bored, and boredom is sacred, hallowed ground for the blocked creative. Boredom is the birthplace of brilliant ideas.
For more on headphone-free walks, check out this article:
📒The Magazine Stand
Before I had Instagram and Pinterest, I had magazines. They were my first portal to beauty, fashion, interiors, photography, and ideas I couldn’t access anywhere else.
I grew up in a conservative Christian household where inspiration was… let’s just say, it wasn’t going to come from Bibles and Hymnals. In fact, media like this was contraband, so magazines were a key element of my teenage rebellion.
And yes, print media is a dying art, but be the change you want to see in the world, okay? The fonts! The layouts! The weird editorials! It’s the tactile rabbit hole you’re looking for.
Check indie bookstores, thrift shops, estate sales. And if you ever find a stack of vintage National Geographics... you’ve basically found the Holy Grail.
🪁 Literally go outside
Yes, I’m telling you to go touch grass.
Sit on a bench. Let your skin feel the sun and the wind. Notice the sky. Marvel at the miracle of a tree!
The thing I love about going outside is that nature reminds you that it’s not about you. It puts things into perspective. It also reminds you that abundance is everywhere.
It creates without asking. It doesn’t rush. It doesn’t doubt. It just does what it does.
Nature is the original effortless creator.
📕 Old Encyclopedias
I have a thing for old encyclopedias. They’re very nostalgic, and I remember getting lost in the 30 volume hand-illustrated one we had in my childhood home.
They are time capsules of pre-internet curiosity. They’re strange and outdated (and wildly biased sometimes,) but they’re also full of incredible photographs, diagrams, and information you’d never stumble on otherwise.
A few years ago I found a set at Goodwill, and I often see them there. You don’t even need the full set! Just pull one off the shelf, open it at random, and see what you find.
🎨 Secondhand Art Books
Secondhand art books are my White Whale.
They’re a little trickier to find—estate sales are your best bet—but they’re so, so worth the search.
The artists you find in them are usually ones the algorithm would never show you. They’re from other decades, other sensibilities, other worlds.
I’ve been collecting them for years, and now people know to buy them for me as gifts (which is the dream tbh). Every time I open one, I feel like I’m in conversation with another artist across time. There are spectacular old-world vibes to these art books and encyclopedias alike.
📚 The library
I will never stop evangelizing about libraries. Especially when it comes to art/ architecture books and cookbooks!!
If your library system has multiple branches, you can usually request books from other locations. Do not sleep on your library’s feature to request books from other locations!
I do this for cookbooks all the time — a good cookbook full of gorgeous photography and unconventional food pairings just does something to my brain.
When it comes to art and architecture books, publishers like Taschen and Phaidon make enormous, gorgeous coffee table books that are a delight to browse. I browse for ones I like on the publisher websites and then check if I can order them from my library.
Also, if you live in a major city or near a university, do a search of the best libraries in your area to see if there are any cool architectural gems you can visit to make a day out of it.
🌲 Arboretums & Botanical Gardens
So, there’s regular outside, and then there’s curated outside.
Arboretums and botanical gardens are like nature on steroids. Everything is organized, labeled, expertly landscaped in a way that allows you to drink up inspiration all around you.
Bring a sketchbook even if you’re convinced you “can’t draw.” Hang out and doodle, take notes, journal, pretend you’re Audubon or a Victorian botanist.
You can usually bring a little picnic or grab something from the local cafe to spend and afternoon wandering and enjoying all the hard work that has been put into tending the gardens. These types of days always leave me feeling very creatively refreshed.
🍷 Take yourself out to dinner with a book or sketchbook
This is one of my favorite things — take yourself on a date with a book you’ve been meaning to read or a sketchbook to doodle in.
It feels cinematic. Like you’re the main character in an indie French film who is rediscovering her sensual, creative self after a decade in emotional hibernation.
Order something indulgent. Eavesdrop a little. Sip your cocktail. Read your book by candlelight.
If you’re nervous about going alone, try grabbing a seat at the bar. You have a built in wing-person with the bartender and you’re way less likely to feel self conscious about being there alone.
🎞️ Go see a movie alone
Going to the movies by myself always feels like a special treat, especially when I’m seeing something totally out of left-field.
It’s delightful to plunge myself into someone else’s cinematic world for a few hours. I especially love doing this in the afternoon, because matinee energy hits different.
I enjoy becoming immersed in someone else’s artistic vision with no interruptions, distractions, or wondering if my friend is enjoying the movie too.
🦕 Natural History Museums
If you thought Natural History Museums were something you left behind on 5th grade field trips, think again. If you have the great privilege of having one in your city, go.
These places are weird in all the right ways: Dinosaurs. Gemstones. Dioramas of prehistoric humans hunting woolly mammoths with pointy sticks. There’s so much sensory and conceptual stimulation, it’s impossible not to leave with your imagination fired up.
NHMs are a giant cabinet of curiosities where the aesthetics, exhibits, color palettes, and even typography in the old display cases can be incredibly inspiring.
Check if they do free entry for locals residents before you go!
What would you add to this list? Do you have any favorite offline practices that light you up creatively?
It’s good to be a little bored.
If you’re creatively stuck or chronically uninspired by your life, there’s a good chance your brain is just overstimulated.
Try giving it a little space to wander. Ideas need room to breathe. Inspiration needs slowness. Your creativity needs space to poke around in the dusty basement of your brain without getting interrupted by Instagram every five minutes.
Go somewhere weird.
Touch something real.
Let your brain get quiet enough to hear its own voice again, because you’re not meant to be stuck inside scrolling on your phone. You’re an artist, a dreamer, a curious little goblin with a big heart and a lot to say.
Go get out there, put your phone away, and find your magic.
First off, as someone who works at a library, thank you for mentioning LIBRARIES!!! Just being surrounded by so many books every day is inspiring to me, even while I’m working! I think people often forget that libraries exist, and we offer so much to the public!
Second … I always tell myself I need my phone in case I have an idea that I need to write down … but let’s be honest, when I have my phone and I have an idea, I get distracted by a notification about 30% of the time and forget to write it anyway.
Really enjoyed this!