I recently came across this article and thought it was pretty interesting. A recent study has shown that after spending time outside and being unplugged from technology, you can boost your creativity by 50%!! See The Surprising Side Effect of a Winter Hike.
I love being outside and going for hikes--it's just so peaceful and calming. I'm excited for my Christmas vacation as I'll finally get to use the snowshoes I made last year! (Yes, surprisingly, last year we did not have enough snow even here in MN to use them.) This summer, I spent a week canoeing in northern MN in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. There were no TVs, radios, or even cell phone towers--to get a cell phone signal you had to drive over 20 miles! When I returned to the store, I was amazed at how it was even difficult to read my emails and look at a computer screen (eyes were not used to the lit screens...) I definitely returned to the store and my "normal" life, energized and ready for almost anything.
Hopefully, during this break, when you're stuck making reeds or on that really difficult part of the concerto you're working on, you can take a break, unplug, connect with nature and come back energized and even more creative than you were before.
Good luck and have a wonderful holiday break!
Jessica