Wonder…

My interest in all things creative stems from my love (ok, obsession) with Alice in Wonderland from a young age. To this day, curiosity remains one of my top three values.

For me, creativity is magical. The act of creating is fulfilling and joyful. It makes us feel alive. It gives us purpose. It improves our brain function, it’s emotionally rewarding, and it’s closely linked to things like emotional regulation. The products of creativity define our humanity — they help us connect, they stir our souls, and they push us forward as a species.

But creativity is under attack. For too long we’ve put productivity and ‘hustle’ culture on a pedestal, leaving little room for creative expression. We work all hours and have nothing left to give at the end of the day.  We commodify everything, turning hobbies into side hustles. We doomscroll and passively consume instead of creating. We’ve become slaves to our devices — machines intentionally designed to steal our focus and attention. And they don’t just steal it; they actively erode it.

Can I let you in on a secret? While you may feel too tired to be creative after a long day, if you take a breath and intentionally choose a creative act — even a small one — over passive consumption, you will be re-energised. Rest is not the only way to recover. Creativity can light you up and have you ending your day energised and satisfied rather than drained and exhausted.

Creativity means different things to different people but essentially it is the ability to make or otherwise bring into existence something that is new and has value. Most people assume that means new to the world or valuable to others, but it can just as powerfully be new to you, or valuable to you.  At its heart it’s using our brain to generate insight that inspires — which can lead to physically created things or simply new ideas.

It takes less effort than you think to be more creative — you just need to be intentional. There are endless ways to bring creative acts into your everyday: writing, drawing, cooking, gardening, organising your house, interior design, singing, telling jokes, working on your personal style… the list is massive. If you’re stuck and don’t know where to start, try remembering what you loved as a child and consider how you might bring a version of that back into your life now.

Creativity is critical — it gives our individual lives meaning, value, and purpose, and it drives us forward collectively as a species.  If we trade our attention for distraction and our creativity for productivity, we risk losing what makes us human.

I’m on a mission to get more people reclaiming their creativity in 2026 and beyond.

Are you in?

Ponder

• Where does creativity show up in your daily routine — and where is it missing?
  
• What beliefs do you hold about creativity and who ‘gets’ to be creative? How might those beliefs be limiting your own creative expression?
  
• What does creativity look like for you today — and what did it look like when you were a child? How might you bring a version of that back into your life now?
  
• What are you sacrificing creativity for — and how much of that sacrifice is genuinely necessary?
  
• What is the smallest thing you can do today to invite more creativity into your life?

Wander

Additional resources if you want to explore the concept further.  Many of these are based on books which are worth checking out:

• Steal Like An Artist: Austin Kleon (video)
• Creative Confidence – David M. Kelley and Tom Kelley (book)  
• How to Access Your Creativity | Rick Rubin (video)
• The power of everyday creativity | Emily Eisenhart (video)
• Do schools kill creativity? | Sir Ken Robinson | TED (video)

And finally… if you want to see creativity in action, dive into OK Go’s music videos. Then watch the behind-the-scenes clips to see how they bring wild ideas to life. They provide a masterclass in joyful creativity and a perfect spark of inspiration.

Needing Getting: the making of video (5 mins)

Needing Getting:  final music video

Upside Down & Inside Out music video
Upside Down & Inside Out making of video (long but interesting!)

Image used in this blog is by Nick Fewings on Unsplash