This blog post was written by Intern Queen Campus Ambassador Erin Hajduk from Florida State University.
Your undergraduate days are arguably some of the most stressful of your life. You're learning how to become responsible for yourself while studying more than you ever have before, meeting people who have viewpoints and opinions that you have never even thought of and starting your professional career amongst so many other things. It's a lot to take in and you need to let some of your pent-up thoughts and anxieties out every once in a while. Instead of letting everything get to you. The best way to get it all out is to express yourself creatively, whether that be through painting, sculpting, writing, photography, etc. Here is how to get started:
Make time in your schedule. The first (and possibly hardest) step is finding room in your schedule to actually sit down and let your creative juices flow. Everyone is busy in college, but one of the best things you can do for yourself is take time to relax and let your mind wander as it pleases. If you want to actually make your art a part of your career though, you will have to devote a serious chunk of your day to it. To put this into perspective, Stephen King suggests to budding authors that they write a thousand words a day. This will take some planning and experimenting on your part but what else is college for than learning how to manage your time well?
Take a course. The easiest way to make time to express yourself is to fit it into your academic schedule. Schedule an appointment with your advisor and see if the college you attend offers a course in the creative field that you're interested in. Make sure that taking such a course will keep you on track to graduate though! There's also a saying that goes, "Major in what will make you money but minor in what you love." If you feel that this is true, see about minoring in your hobby.
Join a club (or make one.) Chances are that there are other students at your school that share the same interests as you, especially if you go to a large state school. In general, artists need to be a part of a community of other artists so that they can be inspired by others' work. Make it a point to comb through your university's websites and see what clubs exist that pertain to the art you practice. If there isn't one, check out the procedures for going about making one!
Constantly search for inspiration. You should always be looking for the next thing that will inspire your work even further. This could mean something as simple as looking for blogs on Tumblr that showcase work that you admire or going to a museum in your college town and wandering around for a bit. Try to take the attitude that true down time is earned, not given. Don't waste the precious few moments when you don't have something scheduled by doing something that is trivial or superficial.
Even if you don't feel that you have enough talent to make your art a part of your professional career, it never hurts to try. The skills that you learn while working at your art might even possibly help you in the workplace down the road. If nothing else it will certainly be therapeutic in addition to making you a more well-rounded, interesting person!