Despite the recession (and maybe because of it!) more and more people are taking the opportunity to re-evaluate their lives - to ask themselves if they are living the fulfilled, purposeful lives they wish they could. Embarking on their own creative adventures, they're dusting off their paintbrushes, getting vocal training or writing stories with "Now or Never" gusto. Would you like to be one of them?  

You are not alone if you are experiencing the very common blocks that keep us from moving out into uncharted territory, even though deep down we really want to know what life could look like on the other side.

Here are three simple, but powerful steps that will help you to live the creative adventure you've been imagining:

1. Know your why. It's a joke that actors always run around exclaiming, "What's my motivation?!" But truthfully if you can't come up with any good reasons to do something, you'll really struggle to get started. For example, someone who has a dream of writing a book, but focuses only on the fear of writer's block, the multiple revisions or possible rejection slips will be content to keep the dream nestled safely in her head. Instead, if she pictured the people whose lives will be changed for the better after reading her story, she will quickly come up with very good reasons to begin or continue her creative writing adventure.

2. Start small. It doesn't have to be "The Great American Novel" at the first go. Nor does it have to be a Picasso, or an Oscar winning performance. Just take a step. You want to start a professional organizing business? It takes a lot of creativity to make a space beautiful, functional and productive. But you don't have to start with huge corporations or a southern plantation. Start with a walk-in closet or a room. It's also helpful to break up your large looming tasks into bite-sized portions. The key is not to allow yourself to get so overwhelmed with the "bigness" of the vision that you don't start at all, or you give up once you do. Remember, inch by inch, it's a cinch!

3. Do it afraid. Face it. Your fear, that is. And the fact that you will have to move forward in spite of it. Accept that you will never be able to predict every outcome or that your project will never be perfect, but that's ok. Finished is better than perfect any day! In an article in her Everyday Answers column, Joyce Meyer writes, "Many times we think we should wait to do something until we are no longer afraid, but if we did that, we'd probably accomplish very little for God, for others, or even for ourselves." Attempting only those things we know we can control or know that we won't fail, will absolutely guarantee that we will never fulfill our life purposes - in relationships, business or ministry, not to mention in our creativity.

Come to think of it, I'm reminded of the parable of the talents in Matthew 25. When the Master returned to see what His servants had done with the talents He'd given them, the last one replied, "I was afraid, so I went and hid your talent in the ground." Cringe. If you believe you've been entrusted talents for a purpose (whether you understand that purpose right now or not), would it be enough motivation just to know at the end of your life you haven't squandered what was entrusted to your stewardship?

Know your why. Start small. Do it afraid. Take those steps and you'll be on the path of fulling your creative destiny.