WHERE DID MY CREATIVITY GO?

CREATIVITY AS CHILDREN

Do you remember when a cardboard box became a spaceship? When a blanket became a magical fort? When we were kids, we didn’t have to schedule creativity into our day – it was our day. But as we grew up, something changed. Our wild, instinctive creativity began to fade, it was replaced by rules, homework, and deadlines. 

A CREATIVITY STUDY

A study was done by Dr. George Land to discover a person’s creative potential. When I read the results of the study – I was shocked…and also a bit sad to read what it discovered. 

The study was looking at who qualified as a creative genius based on a creativity test, there were 1,600 children who participated. They were first assessed when they were 5 years old, again at 10 years old, then again at 15 years old. 

Nearly all children at the age of 5 qualified as creative geniuses – 98%

Sadly, that percentage decreased very quickly over the next few years. Even more unfortunate, only 2% of adults qualified as a creative genius. 

Before we knew it 98% of adults were looking at blank pages thinking, “I’m not creative.”

Truth is – your creativity didn’t vanish. It’s buried. One way to get that creativity flowing is through doodling. 

SOME SCIENCE BEHIND DOODLING

What happens to your brain when you draw? 

🧠Cross-Hemispheric Activity: A brain party—and everyone’s invited. Your left brain loves logic, your right brain loves imagination. Most of the time, they’re doing their own thing. But doodling unlocks flow, insight, and creative solutions you didn’t know you had

🧠The Frontal Pole: This is your brain’s CEO of Possibility. Located at the very front of your brain, the frontal pole helps you plan the future, connect abstract dots, and imagine things that don’t exist yet. 

🧠The Default Mode Network (DMN): Your inner daydreamer. Your DMN comes to life when you’re lost in thought, imagining “what if,” or reliving memories. It’s like your brain’s screensaver – when you’re not consciously “working,” it’s working behind the scenes, making connections.

THE START OF SOMETHING SMALL

For the past decade, I have worked in education with children ages 2-10. Every day, I had the opportunity to see creativity in its purest form—unfiltered, fearless, and full of wonder. The things children come up with, the way they solve problems, invent stories, build worlds from sticks or string—it’s nothing short of creative! Working alongside children, I always felt like I was riding the creative wave too, like I had managed to stay in that rare 2% of adults who held onto their creativity.

But over the past 8 months, I’ve stepped out of the classroom as a teacher and into the classroom as a student. And unexpectedly, I’ve felt that creative spark start to fade. I found myself in a bit of a rut. So lately, I’ve been looking for ways to reconnect. Not with grand plans or perfect projects, but with something simple: doodling. No rules. No pressure. Just circles and lines.

So, I’ve treated myself to some pens and a new notebook – let’s see what I can create!