Read this when you are not feeling your fire:

Today, right before I started writing this, I really wasn’t feeling inspired. I didn’t have the drive I usually feel when I sit down to create. Whether I am sitting down to write, or draw, or paint, or whatever I do to relax, I usually feel some drive within me. I call it my fire. Today it feels like my fire is burning a little dimmer. It feels lost and tired, I feel lost and tired. It is a terrifying feeling to think your fire is dying, it makes you want to try harder to create, to force it out of yourself but I have found that whenever I am not feeling my fire, forcing something to creative to happen is only going to leave me more frustrated and upset than before. Today I decided to do something new, and since you are reading this article, my experiment worked and I produced something I felt good enough about to publish.

Here is my updated strategy for fighting for my fire:

1. Take a walk.
   I took my dog for a walk, and I don’t know who appreciated it more. He spent all day hanging out at my feet while I tried to force something creative out of my stuck mind, and seeing him so happy to be outside, smelling new things, immediately gave me a new perspective.
2. Sit in a different room.
   Getting too used to your surroundings and sitting in one spot for too long is a really good way to lose motivation. I have found that if you get too comfy in one spot and you start to create your nest, it makes it hard to want to do anything but sit in your nest and complain about how un-creative you feel. Sitting in a different room helps loosen up your perspective and gets you more in the mood to create.
3. Turn up that music
   Better yet, listen to something new. If you always listen to the same genre of music when you work, listen to something new. Listen to the music that is loud and distracting and puts you in a different mood. The idea is to get yourself out of a rut, so it's important to change all your routines and do the opposite.
4. Stream of Consciousness is a good place to start
   If you don’t have a plan for what you are going to write or draw or create, just start drawing or writing whatever comes to mind. Put colors on the page and just let it become whatever it wants to become. Start writing what you are thinking about and watch your emotions start to clear up as they form words on a page. This method worked pretty well for me today as it inspired me to write a formula for dealing with writer’s block in the future.
5. Let it Be
   When all else fails, take a note from The Beatles and just 'Let It Be'. It is okay to not be creative all the time. Creating is supposed to be fun and relaxing and enjoyable, not something that feels like a chore. The need to create, the fire inside of you that makes you want to create is something valuable and worth protecting. If nothing feels right to create, don’t force it. You don’t want to associate your passion with negative feelings of “have to” or “should”. When you feel inspired, you will create.

Above all, just remember that even if you don’t feel inspired in this moment, that does not mean you are losing your fire.