Blog #747: Where Did You Stop Creating?

“Get creative!”

That thought that never leaves me.

The trail I walk.
The travel I take.
The conversations I have.
The work I do.

Stale living and I don’t get along.

______

Forty years ago…

I introduced telemarketing to businesses.

It wasn’t common.
I thought I was on to something.
I ran with it.

I wouldn’t choose it the same way again.

______

Thirty years ago…

I wanted to change generational welfare.

I asked, “How?”

I built an inner-city career college.

People trained.
Jobs created.
Lives shifted.

______

Twenty years ago…

I asked, “What’s my thing?”

No debate.
The answer was simple.

“Go the extra mile.”

It became my direction.
And my life.

Extra Mile living was never about doing more.
It was about refusing to go numb while still alive.

______

Fifteen years ago…

I asked, “How do I see the world differently?”

I started walking across countries.
Meeting real people living real lives.

New roads have a way of introducing new versions of us.

______

But creativity wasn’t only there when life was working.

It was there when it wasn’t.

When a door closed.
When an idea failed.
When I didn’t know what to do next.

Getting creative wasn’t a luxury.
It was the only way forward.

Creativity is what holds you together when everything else falls apart in you.

______

The life I’ve built began with 10,000 reminders.

“Get creative!”

And I keep asking myself…

“Am I still living it?”
“Or just remembering it?”

______

It’s the conversations we have with ourselves that change us most.

Not the ones that break us down.

The ones that call us back up.

______

Creativity isn’t a talent I’ve protected.

It’s something I’ve stayed close to.

When I stay close to it, it stays alive.

When I don’t, it goes quiet.

And it always comes back when I show up.

______

But this isn’t just my story…

It’s a question for yours.

“Where did you stop creating?”

“And what are you losing because of it?”

S.

(Audio version)