We Were All Creative Once And Must Be Again. 

Notes from an interview with a creativity professor, Dr Susan Kellers-Mather 

If you’ve ever spent time around a first grader, you notice something almost immediately. They don’t hesitate. Ever. 

They ask questions. Constantly.
They try things without needing permission.
They come up with ideas that don’t make sense and don’t care that they don’t make sense.

Somewhere along the way, most of us lose that.

Not all at once. It’s quieter than that. We just start to hold back. We begin to think maybe creativity belongs to someone else, the artist, the designer, the “idea person.” We start waiting until we have all the details, the right answer, the safer path.

And eventually, we stop calling ourselves creative at all.

But nothing actually disappeared.

What changed is how willing we are to take risks.

Because that’s really what sits underneath it: risk. The willingness to say something that might not land. To try something that might not work. To ask a question that might sound obvious or off-track.

When that willingness shrinks, creativity tends to go with it.

The interesting thing is, creativity was never meant to be a rare trait. It shows up in ways we often overlook. It’s in the person who keeps asking thoughtful questions. The one who sees another angle when everyone else is stuck. The one who stays flexible when things don’t go as planned.

Some people are loud with their ideas. Others are quiet and reflective. Both are creative. You just have to know how to perceive it.

When you begin to notice it, in yourself and in other people. When you start acting like a kind of talent spotter, paying attention to the small signals instead of waiting for something big and obvious. That’s where things start to shift.

And then there’s the role of questions.

Not the kind that shut things down, but the ones that open everything up.

A small change in wording can completely change how someone thinks.

“How might we do this differently?” lands very differently than “Why isn’t this working?”

One closes. The other expands.

You see it immediately with kids. Ask them a question that invites possibility, and they go. No hesitation. No overthinking. They don’t sit there trying to figure out the “right” answer. They start to explore. Kids naturally diverge because they are naturally creative. They explore first then decide.  

And it turns out, they’re not too young for any of this. Even first graders can learn creative problem solving and engage in real problem solving if you give them the space. Maybe better than adults, because they haven’t learned to shut themselves down yet.

There’s something in that worth paying attention to.

Because at its core, creativity is about staying open for at least two reasons.  First, to consider an idea you might normally dismiss. And second, to look at something from someone else’s perspective.

That openness is harder than it sounds. We’re quick to judge, quick to decide, quick to move on. But creativity asks you to pause right there, just before you shut something down. Instead, stay with it a little longer.

What else could this be?
What else could I do with this?
What might I be missing?

It doesn’t require a complete overhaul of your life, either. Most of the time, it starts smaller than people expect.

You take something you’ve already done and ask how to make it better. You build on an idea instead of replacing it. You look at what you do have instead of focusing on what you don’t.

And over time, that changes how you approach everything. Creativity is a fluency for what might be.  Practice this mindset and it will change how you show up.

You start to become more aware, more intentional. More aware of how you influence and interact with people around you. There’s a kind of quiet purpose that comes with it. Not in a grand, abstract way, but in simple moments.

Like waking up and asking yourself, “What’s one positive thing I can do today?”

That question alone can shift the direction of a day.

And maybe something bigger too.

Because when people are more open, more curious, more willing to engage with each other’s ideas, things tend to move differently. Conversations change. Outcomes change. Even conflict changes.

It’s not unrealistic to think that a more creative, more open world would also be a more understanding one.

Less rigid. Less reactive. Less divided.

And maybe that sounds idealistic, but then again so does watching a room full of first graders solve problems together until you realize they’re actually doing it.

So if there’s something to take from all of this, it’s not that you need to become someone new.

It’s that you can return to something you already were.

Start with what you’re good at. Get a little better at it. Share it. Let other people respond to it. Stay open to that response.

Keep asking questions.

And when you feel yourself pulling back, when something feels uncertain or unfinished or not quite right, that might actually be the moment to lean in, and "and."

Be curious. Because that’s usually where creativity begins again.