S2 Ep 20: Why Creativity is So Important- It’s Not Just Art- It’s How We Live

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

people, creativity, creative, life, feel, curiosity, important, point, space, home, talking, stuck, realize, ideas, tap, imagination, switch, world, art, big

I'm your host, Kristen, of building a life you love. Here we go. Let's get started. Hi, and welcome back to another episode of building a life you love. This is your host, Kristen and I am so excited today to talk about one of my favorite topics. And that is how do we weave in more creativity and curiosity and wonder into our lives, so that we can really be our truest selves. Take a listen, because I think you're going to be inspired. And hopefully you're going to be able to apply some of these ideas to your own life. Hi, today on the show, I would like to welcome Hollis citron. She is the founder and CEO of I am creative. She's also the owner and founder of express yourself publishing, which is a multi author and solo publishing house. She also has a podcast called Creative Conversations with policy Ciaran, and she has been an art teacher for 30 years. I'd like to welcome her today. But before I do, I would like to just share this one other thing with you about her. She's on a mission to make creativity accessible to everyone by exposing new possibilities. She's passionate about helping people build confidence to recognize, encourage and express the innate creativity that they were born with. I cannot wait to have this conversation today because we are both so aligned with talking about how creativity and curiosity and adventure can really just enrich our lives in our communities in the world. So welcome, Hollis.

Thank you so much, Kristen, I really appreciate it excited to have the conversation

absolutely up? Well, first, can you share with us a little bit about your journey as a teacher and what you learned and then how you've now stepped into this, you know, most amazing work in how you're inspiring people to be to tap into your creativity.

Well, thank you, I'm okay to give a shortened version, I'm going to give an abbreviated version but yet go back. So never know I was going to be a teacher didn't have it in my mind. I was wasn't one of those kids that was like, I'm going to be a teacher. When I grow up. I'm going to be a visual artist when I grew up, wasn't that person, just kind of live my life and stuff just kind of happened. And as things came up, I was like, huh, I don't know, maybe I'll try art school because there was nothing else that was interested me. So my mom was a teacher for 33 years and the Philly school district. So I was kind of exposed to it and always around in that way. So anyway, did go to art school, graduated. And then all of a sudden these opportunities just kind of started presenting, of teaching. And I was like me because I was incredibly shy, I would turn purple at the drop of a hat. And it kept me really small for a long time. But I was like, You know what? Yeah, I'll give it a try. I'll give it a try. And it was always just kind of like these. It was a journey. And what I've realized along the way is that it was bigger than me it was this thing that I always had a passion for and wanted to share with people. And it didn't matter if I turn all the colours under the sun, I learned to make a joke out of it. And it was over and it was done. And we move on. So I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to work in traditional and non traditional settings, meaning non traditional being homeless shelters, artists, and read residencies, my own businesses, to more traditional being public, private and charter schools, predominantly working in Title One schools. And I've worked literally from two to 100 with all abilities. And it just what I realized is for 30 years, I've been saying that creativity goes beyond a pencil and a paintbrush that recently downloaded to me. But I've been saying it for all that time because as you know, when you are a visual artist of some kind you say your niceties of what you do. And you say art teacher, people immediately body language kind of changes. Some people are like, Oh, that's cool. But usually there's a lot of I can't draw a straight line, or I can't draw our pain. And it's a very defensiveness and when you start having the conversation I always deflect and I so neither can I but just because open Dard school or DJ doesn't mean that's what I do. But then I try to to what do you do? And when they say what they do, if I'm a business person, well, my gosh, you use your words, in order to talk to people and form ideas and share ideas and shape ideas, things start in your imagination, and then you bring it to life. It's an incredibly creative process. So when people see that and hear that, I should say hear that. People often say never thought of it that way. So yeah, that's my mission. It's to make people happy. Yeah, oh, I love it

I am. There's a book I don't if you've read it called wonder switch by Harris the third. But it's a it's amazing book and it's about creativity and curiosity and all the things you're talking about today, that one of the things he talks about the wonder switch, the idea of it or one of the ideas is that if we all first fall, as we talk about, we all are creative, and we're using creativity and everything we're doing, right, it's when we problem solve, it's when we come up with a new idea, it's when we come up with a new idea to convince someone of something, yes, it can also be in our more artistic, you know, measures or music or, but it's really, you know, and so many other things. So what he talks about, though, is when our window switches turned on, which of course has kids it is, but a lot of times we've kind of suppress it, if you will, then that's when we are able to have healthy curiosity. And that's when we can connect with our imagination in a positive way. When our wonder switches down or kind of towards down. That's when instead we're used, that's more feeling anxiety and stress and worry, and all these things cynicism, because instead of using curiosity, imagination in a positive way, you know, like, oh, wow, look, what could be Oh, my goodness, we, we aren't using it that way. In other words, we're using our imagination, and our creativity for worry, instead of all the possibilities. And you know, I love that. So I love that you help people tap into how this is not just something that we do, like you said for, it's not just a creative outlet, right? Like, it's great if we do creative things where it's, you know, is with art, or drawing or paintbrush or, you know, you know, maybe redesigning a room or something, but it's so much more than that. And so what would you say to that, first is, how do we how do we tap into this, to make sure we really are using our creativity in the most amazing way possible in our lives?

First, I have to say thank you for telling me about that book. I'm gonna check it out. So I love that because I love that visual of like the switch being on or off. And I think that creativity is I mean, it's just within, like you said, it's within everything that we do. So when people feel like they can't, and let me know if I'm answering the question for sure, if I got off track, when people feel like they aren't that when they feel like they aren't creative beings, it's just because they're not. We kind of stopped paying attention for a little bit. And we get stuck on this definition, the societal definition of what it is. So when people start to, like you said, Be curious, when people start to acknowledge, oh, you know what, I really like colors. You know what I like walking in nature. You know what I like cooking, I really love food, and I just, maybe I don't enjoy the cooking, maybe I enjoy the tasting, maybe under the cooking aspect, maybe I enjoy writing, maybe I enjoy having conversations and using my voice in order to be able to like, form and shape these ideas. It's like when people start to acknowledge these skills and abilities that they have, then we feel more connected, then we feel more expressive, then we feel more expansive. And there's so many other words that go with this. And when we start feeling this, we're happy. It's kind of like you raise your vibe. It's like, oh, I'm good at something, I have something to offer the world. And when people aren't sure exactly what that is because we've become so disconnected because we get so stuck in the adulting. Of Okay, well, I have responsibilities and I have family and I have a job and maybe I don't love my job, but it earns me my income and I do my thing. And yeah, I totally get it. It's, we it's what we do. But you need to have those things that lights you up in your world, even if if you're not sure what it is the curiosity give yourself 510 minutes a day to try something different. To just work it in, we have five or 10 that we're not that busy, where we don't have five or 10 minutes in a day where we can just try these different things and maybe we're not the best at it. But we still like it. You don't have to be great at everything. But you can still enjoy it.

You Yeah, I think it's so important and I think to your point it's funny before you started saying that I was thinking to myself yeah it's just like if you're in the kitchen you know you can just be a home cook you don't have to be you know professional chef. But even that oh I'm gonna put this topping on this thing. Oh you know it'd be so cool if I you know change this recipe or look I am putting these six things together to as my meal for the you know, the the party with that is using a creativity right and if you think about that example, right where we're trying to figure out what is it we want to present what is it we want to make what tastes Do we like, that's creative, but the opposite would be can you imagine if you had to make the same exact recipe every night and you weren't allowed to change a single ingredient and you can make only one recipe? Morning, noon and night? That sounds horrifying to me. Like literally that sounds like the worst thing ever. But if you think about it in those kinds of examples, you realize, oh, so all my choices are different than the next person or in some ways, just like people are created by what they choose to wear, right? I have one friend that loves fashion loves it. She loves to figure out the right earrings with the outfit with the shoes. Like, to me, that's way too much work. Like I care a little but I don't care to that level. Like to me that's, that's scary, right? Like, oh, but to her. That's creative expression. So I think it's like you said, we just get so busy. And I love the quote, I'm gonna get it wrong. So I have to come back and, you know, share the real one. But something like you think advanced, adventurous, dangerous, probably a try routine. It's lethal. But it's that right? I think the point is, is we do start living in these routines that we don't have new experiences, right. And that new experience is all about having new choices. And new. Like you said, it could be a new taste, it could be a new, connecting with someone, it could be going to new restaurant, it doesn't matter what it is, it can be using our hands, right? Maybe we decide we're going to try a hobby. But if we don't tap into that, right, we were made, we were creatures that are made to do those things, right? We're not made to, you know, like I said, be in the kitchen to make the exact same thing every single day for our entire lives. I mean, we could but that doesn't sound very, like you said that wouldn't light us up that wouldn't put us in this higher energy state. And so I think that's the point is when you're talking about people tapping into their creativity and their curiosity, it's because you and I have discovered and many other people, when we do that, we realize like you said, we're more joyful, we're happier, we're more excited about life. And so that's one thing I'd want to share with the audience is that like, like you said, this isn't about just, you know, go learn how to play, you know, instrument or go do this. I mean, those are all amazing things, too. We're just saying that's only such a small sliver of this, right? Yeah. Yeah. So I just think it's such an important thing. So how can we tap into some of this creativity in a more specific ways? Maybe some examples?

Well, again, I think I'm just going to go back to you know, give yourself that time to just explore and start with smaller chunks. So it's not like, Okay, I'm going to go out and do this today. And I'm going to conquer the world, and I'm going to be creative. And then you're like, I don't know what the hell I'm doing. Like, I don't know what I don't know where to start, if I don't have a particular thing. So what I say usually is, it may sound you know, kind of basic, but think about that thing that you enjoy doing. Like, even if it's even if it's like, oh, you know what, I really liked dancing. But you know, I don't have time to dance. And I don't really know how to dance. It's like, you know what to dance in the kitchen that like, put music on and dance in the kitchen. And we've had so much kitchen dancing, it's just, yeah, so it's just, and if you enjoy singing, put the music on and sing, maybe you're not the best singer. But you can still enjoy the singing. It's the fun of it. And then if you're like, Okay, actually, I really want to take this kind of the next level. So then take some classes, find, you know, find somebody and it's, it's starting in those small things, but it has to be when I'm working with people, there's an intuitive thing. And there's besides intuitive, it's a conversation. So it's feeling out and going through steps in order to get to that point. But as a generalization, I say, you know, you know, things that you enjoy and things that you don't enjoy. Right? So it's just taking the time to allow yourself to explore it.

Absolutely. Yeah. What about, on that note what I think in other words, I think a lot of people, so that makes a lot of sense. But in this is more this is in any part of our lives. But I think also a lot of people get stuck in well, that's fine. You know, in my personal life, maybe I can do some of that. Maybe I can start visualizing that. Oh, okay. I didn't really think about creativity that way. But I get that that makes a lot of sense. If that seems easy enough. But what about work, right and our work lives? Because I think a lot of people really do think that they're not doing creative work, which I would of course, challenge that as well and say, of course you are, you know, you're you're definitely doing creative work. So what would you share with us about that? What have you found, you know, and how we get stuck in that way? Because I think the more we tap into this creativity, the better we're going to be, you know, at our profession at our work.

Yeah, I think with work, realizing that using the words imagination, problem solving, expression, those are words that are popping into my head right away. So in whatever space that you work, you're using that so you're problem solving all the time. So let's say you're working with numbers. Let's say you're an accountant, and you're working with numbers. You're looking at these numbers and looking at the arrangement and looking planning, making, you know, maybe you're making spreadsheets and you're, you know, you're, you're organizing things, that is a huge, that is a very creative aspect. So the definition of creativity, when you look it up is like the formation of an idea or an object. So we're doing this all the time. So but people have their own personal definitions of what it is. But I think that it's just important to see to break down the steps and be like, Oh, well, I'm actually communicating, I'm a salesperson, and I'm communicating with people, I'm picking and choosing my words. And I'm using them in order to kind of make someone feel comfortable. In order to you're understanding body language, and all of these, you know, aspects that come into things. And you're you're assessing, you're kind of like assessing situations all the time. So and you're listening, and which is a very, when you're when you're assessing and you're listening, then you're like, oh, okay, so then this is the next step to go. And this is the way to go here. And oh, maybe that didn't work. So, okay, so now I'm going to kind of go this way. So I really think in anything that we do. Again, it's about like the problem solving the connection. And collaboration is a very big thing. It's a huge thing that's going on because, and that's what they're really looking for now in the workplace. It's not this solitary, individualized thing, you have to know how to be able to use your communication skills in order to use your problem solving skills in order to use your imagination, to be able to think outside the box, and not just stay. There's this Tom Hanks movie. I think it's Joe Versus the Volcano or something. Oh, I don't know. It was like I turned it on one day, because I was like, I know, it's like from the 80s. But I really thought and dude, have you seen the movie, but a long time ago? Yeah, I just bring it up. Because it's like the same. He's going he's working in a sewage plant. And the beginning of the movie is like gray and like the sounds that are like, repetitive and just, you feel so icky watching it because they do nothing different. Right? They're not talking to each other. They're not engaging with each other. It's a dark setting. It's like, Yeah, but then when he makes this change, you know, everything becomes brighter, and it becomes more vibrant and becomes more you know.

So I,

sometimes people will say, Well, I don't have a choice in what I do. It's where I go, and it's, but we have a choice in how we feel. That's right. So we have a choice in how we feel and how we make it when I was teaching, and there were times when it was really hard. And there's a lot of pushback from the kids. It wasn't like rainbows, and butterflies, there could be fights, there could be there'd be a lot of pushback, but it was figuring and problem solving. Okay. So today, how are we going to approach it today? How am I going to listen to them to really find what they're interested in, not just think what I'm interested in and what they want to learn. But what they want to learn, which will then engage them, which will then take us to the next level, which a big thing in the classroom is trust. You need to have trust they need to earn your trust in order to and I think that's ways in the workspace, too. You have to trust each other in order to be to show yourself more.

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. And I think, you know, one of the things you brought up before this last question we were talking about, was about free time. And I think that's key especially well, I mean, and personal or business, but businesses that have figured this out, they're producing these amazing things, right. So I think Google and of course, I think it DreamWorks and some of those studios, right? They actually give their teams a certain amount of work. I mean, I'm sorry, a certain amount of time each week to work on whatever they want. Right? And then that time, that's when people not at Google, but at some of the studios, they might come up with these shorts that end up becoming movies down, you know, years down the road, or Google, you know, they're coming up with new ideas or exploring things or connecting ideas. But I think that's so important. And there's so many examples of why this is actually made businesses more successful, and then teams happier, right? Because they're actually getting time. To your point. We're being creative all the time. Like, what am I gonna sell? What if people like, oh, wait, they like this. They didn't like that, right? We're putting things together. We're figuring things out. But I think we also have to have space. Let our minds actually connect the dots to come up with all the things all the information we've now put into our brains, you have to have time to let it actually show up and turn into something and so I think that's something else I would say is people that jam packed their calendars and so whether that's if you're at home and you have young children and you're fully at home or whether you're in the workplace or or somewhere In the middle, we have to a lot of time on our in our calendars. So we can breathe in decompress, but then, so that we can actually let those creative juices coming. So what would you say about that? And then also, I think, getting out of our same environment, so not just giving ourselves space. But what about stepping out? For instance, if I sat at my computer all day, that's usually not where I have my most creative thoughts. So have you seen things like that, like getting outside or other environments? Oh, yeah,

I love. Thank you for bringing that up. It's so important to leave the space because it's true. That's what keeps us in this busyness. When we say, we're so busy. We're so busy. There's room you have to have room to breathe. Because if you don't, that's when you get really cranky. That's when you get really mean to people. I came home one my change was personally was when my 15 year old said, are you mad at? She's like, are you mad at me? Are you mad at your job? Like, who are you mad at? And I was like, Oh my gosh, she's so right. Because I'm not showing up because I would work was busy, busy, busy. I'd come home I cook. I'd I would lesson plan. I'd be thinking and worrying about what I was going to do the next day. I was kind of always caught up and I wasn't present. Yep, yep. Big time. The lack of presence, it just it shows up. Everybody notices it. Because you disconnect yourself. Right? So I'm space. So so, so important. And switching up the routines, very important to even I kind of want to bring up like moving your space around. Uh huh. It's important to move things around in your space. So let's say you're working at home, try moving your desk around to another space. Yeah, try like, if you have pictures on the wall, whatever, move them around, more, put something up that makes you feel good. That's right next to you. When you're starting to feel stressed, or like you're sitting at your computer for a while, get up and go outside. If that's something that's possible, turn on music, dance around. If you're home again, pet your animals, if you have animals, like take these because these breaks are very, we get so caught up in our heads. We have this story going on. Again, I forget the numbers of like, how many thoughts we have a day. And how many thoughts are repetitive thoughts. Most of them are repetitive thoughts of what we've just thought or what we thought yesterday and the day before. So it's last year, at some point, I just, we I turned our whole living room around, something happened. And I was really stressed out and I was just really upset. And then I was like moving furniture. And I didn't tell anybody in the house. My husband came down. He's like, What are you doing? I'm like, I have the music on. It's blaring. I am moving the couches around which led to cleaning and finding things underneath the couch. That's led to cleaning the walls, which was a cleaning the windows which led to like, a whole thing. And it felt and then I didn't tell the kids and when they walked in there like I feel so like, lighter in here. I'm like I know, right?

I'm glad you brought that example up because two things. One, we just recently painted our bedroom. But along with that came so much like you're talking about one like this little corner for a long time. You know, and then we realize like, oh, we need new curtains. And but so it ends up being this bigger prop process, right? But what I found was is that color on my wall had been there for so many years. I was so tired of it. Like it drained me at this point. Maybe Maybe when I first did it, I liked it. I didn't like it. And so it didn't feel like an oasis or like it didn't feel like when I went into my bedroom that I felt you know, but now the colors much it's a lighter color. And it's more. It just feels like a cloud, you know, but the feeling that I get now when I go in there now that we took the time to clean everything really good. Get new curtains, paint the wall, paint the trip, like do all the work, right? Different bedding. Oh my gosh, I feel so much better. Like you said I feel lighter when I go in there, which is how I wanted to feel when I went my bedroom. But we really sometimes don't take the time to improve our spaces. And I interviewed a woman last summer on the podcast. And she is a fun, sweet designer. But she she's more like a Declutter. She helps people declutter their spaces so that they actually can be moved into their future self. Like it's not just about a space, it's about another word. So she helps people understand how we if we wait until we get to the next stage in business, or, oh, I want to have a yoga room or if we wait for this perfect timing. We don't allow you don't get there. But so her point is, is no you actually have to design your space for where you're going to because if we don't take account for what's in our room and what's strange US versus what's, you know, lifting us up and making us later, it will impact, you know, how we feel in that space, which then impacts what we do. And she talks about how one woman had a desk and have like a broken leg. And she kept not getting a new desk, because I think she was thinking in her head, well, until I make X money, I'm not going to place it. But the issue was, is the story that in her mind, subconsciously is being repeated is I'm this person that has a shoddy office, and there's piles everywhere, and there's, but what we don't realize is it's mentally or subconsciously taking away some of our creativity and our, our energy, because we're stuck in what we see every day. So it actually is so much more important than people realize. And yes, sometimes it might take a day out of our schedule, or, you know, a couple nights, but it's worth it. It's worth saying, oh, what in the space is too much now, or is this color drab? It's not working for me, because it actually will make a huge impact on how we do show up, you know, in our lives, and then especially in that, feeling that creative energy, it's a we feel it a lot more if we actually improve our spaces. So I think it's so important. They brought that up.

Oh, my gosh, yes. Yes. It's, it's true, because it's yeah, if we keep sitting around. And that's what people do. That's what we do. It's what I did for a long time. We sit around and wait, we're like, Okay, well, in a few years, I'll do this. And a few years, I'll do that. And it's like, No, first of all, you don't know how much time you have. It's like not to be depressing, but it's like, enjoy life where you have it like we're here to actually live it. We're here to actually live it. So in doing that feel good in the spaces that you're going into, feel good in what you're presenting. It's funny, because even just the other day, and it's it's kind of like I have to listen to what I preach. I went for a walk with my son and I like looks so ridiculous. Because I'm getting over not feeling well, the outfit just didn't match whatever. And and as I walked out, I'm like, this looks really attractive, doesn't it? And my son was going to be 22 said, Mom, why don't you stop saying that before you actually, she's like you say it every time. And I'm like, I didn't realize I said that every time. He's like, so why don't you start wearing things that make you feel better? And I'm like, so here I am just kind of making a joke making fun of myself, in a sense, right? But I didn't realize that I'm doing it every time. So it's like, okay, yeah, I've been saying this for a while. Wear clothes, wear things that make me feel more expressive, that make me feel more more me. Because when there's that whole you that you feel on the inside and the you that you show on the outside, and it's a matter of making the match. So, so true. So whether it's down to your hairstyle, whether it's down to you know what your makeup, whether it's down to what you're putting on your body. It's and that's what I've been feeling for a long time is making the match. And because clothing oh my god, it's just that is like you said earlier, that's a whole expression unto itself. But yeah, it just feels so good when they when they match because when they don't, there's something that's off. Oh, so much.

There's a lot of people who in you know, a lot of times for their business some people do for personal like that makeover, right? They'll do a wedding, it depends, I guess what they're doing for but they'll do a clothing makeover, but they'll get a fashion or a stylist to come? help them figure out what works best for them what colors, right? What they don't realize, is it first they think, Oh, I'm not sure when to spend the money on that, right? Because I think you might think, Oh, I kind of know. But I will tell you, if you watch people do that, or see the transformation of the person. Their facial, they change, like they look different. They hold themselves differently. It's so important. And I hope it's something we all get to do that experience. Because when you actually find the clothes that make you feel when I say powerful, I don't mean that in a financial way. But it makes you feel, like you said almost aligned with yourself but powerful in the sense of like, wow, like, I feel fully like I can represent myself, right? Not like oh, well, I don't like how this fits on my waist or, but all of that actually pulls our energy down. Right when we're not super happy, and I have tons of clothes I should get rid of you know, and it just I haven't made the time to go through and say, You know what, all these probably don't really work for me like I liked it. But it's not exceptional. You know, and I know some sales talk about that. And I know it seems crazy. We're talking about creativity, and we're talking about style, but it actually is so aligned. It's just like our spaces. It really does impact how we feel and what our energy is, which then impacts you know, how creative we are how that flow kind of comes into us. So yeah, I think that's so important.

Yeah, the word flow. I mean, in my space on my podcast, you know, the three questions that we asked so we talk all about creativity. So with when I asked people how do you define creativity? People have said, I define creativity as courage. I define creativity is that magic spark? How you show up in the world? I had one person. I remember this story in particular, she said, she loves crazy socks, and she loves socks that don't match. Like that's her thing. She just wears crazy socks that don't match. It's her thing. And that's how people have known her. So they see her and they're like, oh, you know, she's feeling this today. And when she's not doing that, they wonder what's wrong? Because something's off. Something's different. And I just think it's an interesting point. Because when I first started that asking about people, what how they define creativity. Not one person has said it's about drawing or painting. They say it's about how basically how you live, right? And in these conversations that we're having, it's, we're talking about the clothes, we're talking about our spaces, we're talking about work. It's how to show up, right? Absolutely. It's how we show up. So when that feels when we feel like we can be expressive. When we feel like we can connect with others. When we feel like we're good at like problem solving and looking at assessing situations, all of these things, then we just feel like we're showing up.

Well, yeah, I think that sort of hit home with that is the whole point. It is about expression, it is about that connection. But really the MA, what we're saying is we're not stuck. We're not trapped. We don't have to live in the same routine. The point is, is if we just realize that every choice we make, we're either choosing to be creative, or, you know, oh, you know, what would what would I feel like if I were this outfit, you know, versus this outfit? What would I feel like if I did this? Right? So that's one just asking us positive questions, instead of saying, like, No, this is just, you know, this is just what I have. I'm just gonna wear it because TierPoint workout clothes, right? Like, I have workout clothes that are I like, and then there's ones that I'm like, like you said, Who cares? I'm just putting on going to run or whatever. But at the end of the day, the question really becomes, if we start realizing, though, that I you know, you don't like how you feel in it. It's the so simple. Just tap into that. Hmm, what would what would it feel like if I, if I actually invested enough that I really liked for exercising, which I want to do more of, right? People talk about how that happens, like, change your look, I mean, or what you're even wearing, and if you're more comfortable in it, or you look you like how it looks, you're more likely to put it on now the questions will help you get out the door. But so I think it is important to just remind people, we're not stuck. The point is, is this this your assay is creativity allows us to keep making every single day all these choices that can make us more joyful. And so that's the thing I would just tell people is, it's really just about like you said, don't just don't get stuck in those ruts. And if we do we all get stuck in them, but then we can pick ourselves back out of them just by making different choices.

Yeah, yeah. It's a whole, like, what if, what if I did this? In my head, I'm thinking, you know, what, if you've always wanted that purple streak in your hair, and you're like, how would be so fun, but that's like, a little crazy. I don't know if I can wear that at work, but so then get like a clip on thing and put a purple strip in. So during the weekends, or when you're home, you have it in your hair, you can temporarily put in like some spray and stuff, and it'll wash out. Like, it's those little things that you're like, ooh, that would be so daring. You know, that would be why do we deny ourselves? Yeah, these things. Because when you get when you get to the end of everything, those are you know, those are the biggest things that people say, I wish I did this, I wish I made that choice. I wish I had more connected with more people. I wish I tried jumping out of a plane, I wish or you know, whatever. It's, we spend so much time rationalizing and denying ourselves certain things for whatever reasons. But it's, it's saying what if

we definitely encourage people just try to be a little more spontaneous than you are at this point. For some of us, we may be already more spontaneous, push it a little further, right? Go a little closer to that uncomfortable place for yourself, you know, because that's where growth happens, I think right is you have to stretch yourself. And that's the other thing to say about growth. You're either growing and I used to say and I still say this, you're either growing or stagnant, but then someone else that I just interviewed a week or two ago, said actually, it's either you're growing, or much like nature and you're dying. It's It's one or the other. And so, if we're growing that means we are expanding, we are stretching ourselves, we are trying new things, because otherwise whether it's called whether you're stagnant or you're dying, the point is you're staying at the same place or you're actually right, not improving or not growing. And so that's what I want to be I want to be somebody that grows and I would if we live rich lives, we probably are continuing to grow, whether it's reading new books or podcasts or it's going somewhere new or saying I've always wanted to go to the city then go. Right. So yeah, I would I would agree with that. I think it's so important. Yeah. So let me ask you any last words you'd want to share with us before you share how people can connect with you online?

Hmm, a quote that kind of got downloaded to me was creativities. Not cute, it's necessary. And it just kind of speaks to everything that we've just been talking about is, it's not this arts and crafts, I guess. This is like a pet peeve that I have. It's not like this arts and crafts time where if you do that, that's wonderful. And if that's the time that you're carving out that that's great. But like we're saying, that's not everything. that creativity is its life. So I just want people to hear that and embrace that and understand that, that it's in every part when we wake up. And we put our feet on the ground, I heard Les Brown, say he puts one foot down it says thank and puts the other one down and says you. So every morning, it's Thank you. It's another day, which is a gift. So in this gift of another day, then realize that every choice that you're making along the way, is a creative decision. So what am I going to put on my body? How am I going to do my hair? Am I wearing makeup today? Am I not wearing makeup today? What kind of socks am I wearing? I'm looking down I wonder where my leopard socks today? But I couldn't find them. It's it's how are we parenting? How are we you know, what are we going to eat? Like you said, like, how am I going to just make my eggs and my bagel? Or am I going to like drizzle things on top and you know, make it more fun. It's just everything along the way is a creative decision, not something to obsess about. But something to be aware of. And you can make the choices along the way of how you want to bring it into your life. And when you do. It's just it feels yummy. It just feels good. And it just Yeah, so I just wish that for you.

Absolutely. Tell us how can people connect with you online and learn more about your podcasting, I am creative and all the amazing things you're doing. Thank you, I

appreciate that. This has been really fun. So I really appreciate the conversation and the mission. You know, we're all on a mission to just lift people up. So my website is I am creative Philly pH I ll y.com. And that basically has everything in there. It has my publishing house for multi author and solo books. It has my podcast, it has all of my experience, show kids workshops, everything is there. So basically, the thread of everything I do is just to empower people to use their voice and talents. Hmm.

I love it. Well, thank you so much for being on with us today and sharing all your tidbits and inspiration with us.

Thank you. Thank you, Kristen. Thank you, everybody.

I love that interview with house because I think it was such an important conversation about curiosity and creativity, and how we do need to get out of our comfort zone, how we need to change things up. We need to look for the wonder in the world and in our life. We need to be comfortable and get more comfortable with self expression in all of the different ways that we can in our lives because it truly allows us to have a creative outlet. And I want to share this quote with you from the book, wonder switch by Harris the third, he says wonder is like that light switch. Having the Wonder switch on leads to a healthy form of curiosity that is connected to dreaming innovation and creativity. Wonder switch also controls how you use your imagination. It doesn't affect whether you use it because your imagination was at work while you sat in the dark. Wonder simply changes what you use your imagination for everything you want. And then some is on the other side of turning the Wonder switch back on. But what if your wonder switch stays off? What's the cost? The stakes are high without wonder your life is rode by cynicism, stress, worry and anxiety. Research shows that your lifespan will likely be shorter to maybe you feel unmoved by the information because you feel apathetic or complacent. But I believe there's still hope regardless of your current state, that you've cracked open this book and read this far means a voice inside your saying there's more for you. Even if that voice becomes a fate whisper. The reality for most of us is that life and the art of living. It is an ongoing journey of the wonders which being turned on and off. I think that's so good. You know, but basically, he's talking about much of what our conversation was about, which is we have to be open to new possibilities. We have to be open to seeing how all of our decisions are actually us using our creativity in the world. You know, whether it's through business or through our personal decisions. And so I would just encourage you to step into more curiosity, more wonder and more creativity. In you will truly find your world becoming more joyful and enjoyable and you will find yourself being more fulfilled. So my wish for you is that you will step into more wonder as you go about your week. Once again, thanks for listening to the podcast and if you enjoyed the podcast, we would love it if you could leave a review on Apple podcasts because that helps us get discovered by more people. We'd also love your feedback. So email me at Kristin at Kristin Fitch comm or DM me on Instagram, I'm at Kristin Fitch and let me know what ideas or ideas for shows or for guests that you have. I would love to hear from you.