What is creativity to you? I’m partial to how we discussed it in many of our university drama classes: creativity as innovation; finding new ways of unpacking the human condition.
I also think creativity is specifically the process of finding new ways of understanding each other. And we can’t truly get to know one other unless we’re willing to be vulnerable and step outside our comfort zones.
In that sense, creativity necessitates a level of personal risk. Stretching beyond what we know and expect, imagining what life is like for people unlike ourselves, can lead to discomfort. But those empathetic muscles need to be flexed if we’re going to meet our full creative potential.