A More Creative Way to Live

This is the final post in my Creativity in Real Life series… and I think it might be the one that ties everything together.

Over the past several weeks, we’ve explored creativity in all kinds of ways:as a response to stuckness, uncertainty, overthinking, and even the longings for more aliveness and connection to our Creator.

But underneath all of it has been a deeper question:

What if creativity isn’t just something we do sometimes?

What if it’s a way of living?

This week’s post explores how creativity can help us move through life with more curiosity, openness, hope, and possibility — especially in seasons that feel heavy, rigid, or overly narrow.

When I was 16 years old, I attended a creativity workshop that changed the way I think.  I’m pretty sure it rewired some of the circuits in my brain – for good.

At the time, I didn’t fully realize what was happening. I just knew that something about the way they approached problems felt different. Lighter. More hopeful. More alive.

Instead of treating problems as dead ends, they treated them as challenges.

And instead of reacting to challenges with frustration, fear, or resignation, they taught us to turn them into questions.

That one shift stayed with me.

With thirty-five years of hindsight, I can see how deeply this shift shaped the way I live and work.  I’ve navigated through problems at work, at home, in church, with friends, in my business, and now with clients.  

With the ability to change problems into questions, I rarely feel stuck.

Because questions create movement.

Questions open possibility.

Questions help us loosen our grip on the assumption that there’s only one way forward… or no way forward at all.

And while I learned those skills at a pretty malleable age, I’ve since discovered that this way of thinking can be learned and practiced at any age — if we’re open to it.

Honestly, I think many of us need it now more than ever.

When Life Starts to Narrow

One of the things I’ve noticed — in myself and in so many people I work with — is how easy it is for life to become increasingly narrow over time.

Not intentionally.

Not because we lack gratitude or ambition or faith.

But because adulthood has a way of pulling us into survival mode.

We become responsible. Dependable. Efficient.

We manage schedules, solve problems, care for people, meet deadlines, juggle emotions, handle logistics, carry invisible labor, and try to keep all the plates spinning without dropping ourselves in the process.

The to-do list grows while we manage all the interruptions and crises of the day.  Or week.  Or month.

And little by little, life can start to feel more reactive than intentional.

More exhausting than expansive.

More about managing reality than imagining possibility.

Sometimes we stop asking questions altogether.

We just accept things as they are.  We sigh.

This is my life.This is how work is.This is what this season requires.This is just how I am.It is what it is.

But creativity — at least the kind I’ve been exploring throughout this series — offers another way.

A Creative Life Creates Choices

We’ve said repeatedly throughout this series that creativity is much bigger than art.

Creativity is about how we approach life itself.

It’s about curiosity, openness, perspective, and experimentation.

It’s about being willing to ask:

• What else might be possible here? 

• How might I approach this?

• What are all the ways I could…?

• What might happen if…? 

A creative life is one that engages curiosity, hope, and trust in an active process of ongoing growth.

That doesn’t mean we ignore reality.

It doesn’t mean we become irresponsible, reckless, or endlessly optimistic.

It simply means we stop assuming that stuck is permanent.

Asking better questions doesn’t mean pretending everything is easy. It means refusing to believe that difficulty is the end of the story.

We stop believing that survival mode is the only mode available to us.

We remember that we have choices.  We are not completely powerless.

And we become more willing to participate in our lives instead of merely enduring them.

The Questions That Reopen Possibility

One of the most practical things creativity has given me is the habit of reframing challenges as questions.

That sounds simple.Maybe even too simple.

But I can’t overstate how powerful it can be.

Because statements tend to close us.

Questions open us.

Statements often sound like:

• I’m stuck. 

• I can’t do this. 

• Nothing’s going to change. 

• I have no choice. 

• This is impossible. 

Questions create movement:

• What’s one thing I can do right now? 

• What support might help? 

• What are all the ways I could respond? 

• In what ways might I approach this differently? 

• What small experiment could help me learn more? 

I think this matters especially for women who carry a lot of responsibility.

When we’re overwhelmed, anxious, exhausted, or emotionally overloaded, our thinking often becomes narrower and more rigid. We become so focused on managing immediate demands that we lose sight of possibility.

But even a small question can reopen perspective.

When caregiving responsibilities feel emotionally consuming:

• What is one thing I can control or do right now?

When work relationships feel tense or discouraging:

• What are all the ways we might move toward a better outcome?

When work itself starts draining the life out of us:

• In what ways can I bring more joy into my life right now?

Or even:

• In what ways might I find more enjoyment or meaning within this work?

When we’re worried sick about our semi-grown kids:

• How might I practice letting go a little more?

When we feel uncertain about what comes next:

• What small step or experiment could help me gain clarity?

These questions don’t magically solve problems.

But they often soften hopelessness.

They help us move from powerless to participatory.

From rigid to responsive.

From trapped to curious.

And over time, I think that changes us.

What Starts to Change When We Live More Creatively

Over the past several weeks in this series, I’ve written about feeling stuck and uncertain, overthinking, experimentation, play, spirituality, generativity, and possibility.

And underneath all of those themes is this deeper truth:

Creativity changes the way we relate to life.

It helps us become more open. More flexible. More attentive. More alive.

It helps us notice desires we’ve ignored.

It gives us courage to experiment before we feel fully certain.

It helps us tolerate ambiguity instead of panicking every time we don’t have a perfect plan.

It reminds us that growth is often messy, iterative, and unfolding.

And sometimes… it reconnects us with parts of ourselves we thought we had lost.

I can honestly say that living more creatively has changed my life in ways both big and small.

It has opened opportunities I never could have planned.

It has helped me build meaningful community.

It has strengthened my faith.

It has made me more resilient during difficult seasons.

It has helped me trust myself more.

It has brought more joy, playfulness, courage, and possibility into my life.

Not because everything suddenly became easy.

But because I stopped relating to life as something merely to survive.

What Does This Make Possible?

If there’s one thing I hope this series has offered, it’s permission to believe that life may not be as fixed as it sometimes feels.

Not every situation can be changed.

Not every longing should immediately be acted on.

Not every problem has a clear solution.

But I do think many of us have quietly accepted overly narrow ways of living.

And sometimes the first step toward something fuller isn’t a dramatic reinvention.

Sometimes it’s simply a better question.

A little more openness.

A willingness to experiment.

A small act of curiosity.

A tiny reclaiming of possibility.

So maybe the invitation isn’t:“Become a more creative person.”

Maybe the invitation is:What if you allowed yourself to live a little more creatively?

What if you became more attentive to what brings life?

What if you stopped waiting for certainty before trying small new things?

What if you began treating challenges as invitations to curiosity instead of evidence that you’re failing?

What if the life you long for starts not with a giant leap… but with a new question?

If You Want to Explore This More…

One of the communities that has deeply shaped my own thinking and growth is the Creative Problem Solving Institute (CPSI), an annual international conference held in Buffalo for people who want to live, work, lead, and solve problems more creatively.

I first attended years ago, and it continues to influence both my life and my work in meaningful ways. This year, I’ll be both participating and presenting there.

CPSI brings together educators, leaders, creatives, facilitators, helping professionals, and curious humans from all kinds of backgrounds who want to develop more creative approaches to work and life.

If this series has stirred something in you, CPSI might be a surprisingly meaningful place to explore further.

Sometimes creative living looks dramatic.But often it looks surprisingly ordinary:asking a new question,trying something small,making a little more space for joy,paying attention to what brings life,or loosening one assumption that no longer fits.

Sometimes it’s the small step of changing the words we use when we talk to ourselves.

If you’re noticing that some of your internal language and assumptions could use a little reframing, you might also enjoy my resource, Say This, Not That — a simple guide to shifting some of the everyday phrases that keep us stuck, overwhelmed, or disconnected from possibility.

Because sometimes changing the way we speak to ourselves is the first step toward changing the way we live.

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