Keeping your creativity alive has always been a challenge, but in the era of work from home, where the lines between work life and home life have blurred and where burnout and social disconnection are rising, creativity is at risk. We’ve asked some of the most creative folks we know for advice on how to keep one’s creativity alive.
Lina Zinecker
I love to consume art that’s different than the one I make. Since I’m a performer, I like to go to the museum, or to a concert. It’s interesting to see artists in their element who aren’t acting. Surrounding yourself with people who aren’t in the arts at all helps as well. You get a glimpse into lives that are completely different than your own! Read More>>
Angel Langarica
Hello world my name is Angel Lagarica aka BounceCX. The way I keep my creativity alive is to never lose the inner kid in me who had dreams and just went for it. Never take myself so serious that I forget why I started in the first place. Taking risks is part of the story. Read More>>
Kianna Daye
I keep my creativity alive by staying rooted in who I am a Durham native who loves food, community, and storytelling. When the space feels crowded, I remind myself that no one else has my voice, my taste, or my perspective. Stepping away, trying new spots, and creating for fun keeps me inspired. Oversaturation doesn’t matter when you’re tapped into what makes you you. Read More>>
Sharon Cruz
I keep my creativity alive in the fashion world by constantly staying inspired by fabrics, colors, textures, and the beauty of everyday life around me. I allow myself to experiment, sketch freely, and turn ideas into tangible pieces that express emotion and identity. Read More>>
Jainson Cedillo
My creativity comes from my everyday consumption of pop culture and my Hispanic roots. What I have noticed recently is that a lot of my love of portraits comes from album covers. I collect them and use them as inspiration whenever I’m trying to think of some new material. Read More>>
Kristine Overacre
I’ve learned that my creativity stays alive when I stay connected to joy. My work is rooted in color, playfulness, and emotional storytelling, so I treat creativity less like a lightning strike and more like a daily practice. I start most mornings in my studio with gouache, even if it’s just making a few marks on paper. Read More>>
Justin Emord
For me, keeping my creativity alive happens in a few different ways, but at the core it’s driven by a hunger for the new and the unknown—by the things I haven’t yet tried. Read More>>
Zachary Lamothe
I try to see every day as an adventure. Even if I’m researching a topic or an area that I want to investigate further and one day explore, part of the adventure is the planning. Having a list of adventures-in-waiting helps me achieve a goal even when life may seem mundane or routinized. Read More>>
Ryan Thomas
For me, creativity stays alive through constant reinvention. I’m always exploring new ideas, new approaches, and new versions of myself. I never want to get too comfortable in one lane, because that’s when things start to feel stagnant. By challenging what I think I know, taking risks, and allowing my work to evolve with me, I stay inspired. Read More>>
Shaan Govind
For me personally, I have a different meaning of being creative and it might even seem unconventional. I am far from being the traditional artistic creativity, like painting or poetry. I am an analytical person, so creativity to me is finding solutions to a problem within restricted parameters. Read More>>
Shadan Mirzaei
How do I keep my creativity alive… hmm, great question. I actually get as creatively blocked as the next person, so I’ve learned to think of creativity as problem-solving rather than waiting for inspiration to strike. Every design challenge is basically a puzzle with endless solutions, and that’s what keeps things interesting for me — whether I’m working on a building or doing research. Read More>>
Merryn Spence
I should start by sharing that creativity is not “mine.” I am a channel for creative energy and action, and my intention is to keep that channel open, connected, and attuned to what is actually present. For me, the flow comes from being, not doing. Creativity, for me, feels like a pulse of curiosity. Read More>>
Shawna Fletcher
As a creative individual, I nurture my imagination through a variety of avenues. Immersing myself in a diverse range of literature, spanning from fiction to non-fiction, fuels my creativity. Additionally, I find inspiration in movies across all genres. My dreams also play a significant role in sparking creativity, with scenes sometimes evolving into full-fledged novels or recurring dreams featuring unforgettable characters. Read More>>
Brian DeRosa
I keep my creativity alive by constantly feeding it. I make a point to consume a wide range of content—design, tech, culture, long-form journalism, podcasts, even niche corners of the internet—because the best ideas usually come from unexpected places. I’m always collecting inputs, connecting dots, and letting those sparks influence whatever I’m building. Read More>>
Cordell Winter
In regard to the world tour across the U.S. and Europe coming up in 2026 — supporting the new album Leave This World Alive that I created with members of Cage the Elephant — and your question about how I keep my creativity alive, I’ve always felt that balance is a necessity. Read More>>
Mary Grodman
I keep my creativity alive by staying curious and immersing myself in new experiences. Whether it’s exploring new places in the outdoors, experimenting with new lesson ideas for students, or trying hands-on projects, I make sure to keep learning and observing. I also set aside time to reflect, take notes or just thinking through ideas helps me connect the dots in unexpected ways. Read More>>
Bella Bedrosian
I keep my creativity alive by staying curious and letting my work evolve with me. My creative path actually started in fashion. While I was in college, I ran a fashion and beauty blog that allowed me to attend NYFW shows and industry events. Being in that world at a young age taught me how to observe design with intention. Read More>>
Hayley Sawyer
Inspiration for my flower art comes in all forms. I’m a visual creature so I’m constantly noting different color patterns, shapes, movement, and texture everywhere I go. I love to create outside the conventional art standards by using abnormal things with my flower designs like wasps’ nests or snake skin, and to challenge the normal composition with asymmetrical weight. Read More>>
Marques Harris
There are several ways I keep my creativity alive, and one of the most important is through collaboration. While many photographers today approach collaboration with a “what can I gain?” mindset, I see it differently. For me, collaboration is less about personal gain and more about stepping outside of my comfort zone. It’s a refreshing opportunity to try something new and push creative boundaries. Read More>>
Brittney Bailey
I keep my creativity alive by staying connected to the things that inspire me the most — real life, real emotions, and real people. Every design I create for BrittneyBCreationz comes from a place of purpose. Sometimes it’s a customer’s story, sometimes it’s a tribute piece, and sometimes it’s my own growth journey. Read More>>
Joyan Calhoun
Having ADHD is honestly a cheat code for creativity. I don’t run out of ideas — my brain gives me a constant stream of concepts and solutions, and I sift through them to pull out the best ones. I’m also great at integrating other people’s input, mixing it with my own ideas to create something better than either one alone. Read More>>
Rob DeVenuto
Anyone who creates art has to be creative.. I mean being a creator is powered by creativity. They both come from the same Latin root word, creare, meaning ‘to bring forth, to produce, to make’. So one cannot be a creator without creativity. But keeping your creativity fresh and alive is one of the deepest struggles any artist feels from time to time. Read More>>
Holley Snaith
For me, keeping creativity alive is closely tied to remaining curious. I never know when inspiration will strike. It may happen while I am watching a classic film, as it did with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, or while listening to a classic country song like “Crazy” by Patsy Cline. Even reflecting on earlier experiences can spark new ideas. Read More>>
Shyrone Cyph Smith
People always ask me how I stay creative, how I keep producing, and why I’m always working on something new. The truth is creativity isn’t a moment for me, it’s a lifestyle. It’s motion. And the moment I stop moving, I feel myself growing stagnant. So I keep creating. I stay curious. I challenge myself to evolve. Read More>>
Nichole Blackburn
I keep my creativity alive by staying curious about the world. Travel plays a huge role. Whenever I’m exploring a new place even if it’s just a neighborhood in Los Angeles I pay attention to colors, textures, symbols and the back story of the neighborhood. Those impressions stay with me and eventually find their way into my work. Read More>>
Amanda Parlin
My creativity stays alive because it was never just a hobby for me. It’s always been part of who I am, but it shifted the day my daughter needed support with her fine and gross motor skills. We started making bracelets together as part of her occupational therapy, and those tiny beads and small movements became this unexpected bridge between us. Read More>>
Valentine Alvarado, and Naomi Orange, and Valentina C. Avila n/a
Valentina: I have always just been a person who has opinions about everything around me. I think so much of what inspires me is when I feel like I have something to say. And beyond that, my creativity just comes from the world around me. People, connections, cultures, etc. Read More>>
Lia Coleman
I keep my creativity alive because I always look forward to finding new things and opportunities. My mind always wonder a 1000 times when I want to come up with new ideas and also see them in the for front . I just enjoy seeing the smiles and the wows when I put everything together . Read More>>
SL Redd
I use the inspiration around me to create as often as possible. A small spark of inspiration can lead to creating for hours. Once I begin working on a composition, I get lost in it until I come up with something I’m proud of. I believe my creativity stays alive because there’s always something to inspire me to create. Read More>>
Zhilin Cai
What keeps my creativity alive is the way design brings clarity to complexity. Every project begins with uncertainty, yet design has the power to turn that chaos into something people can see, use, and understand. Urban design, to me, is not just about shaping cities but about connecting people, data, and imagination. Read More>>
Sofia S. Maestro
For me, creativity is something I cultivate daily — a way of looking with intention into myself and at the world around me. As a concert pianist and creative, I’ve learned that my best ideas appear when I take care of my inner life just as much as my craft. Movement helps enormously: walking, stretching, or simply allowing my body to breathe freely. Read More>>
Crissy Speaks
I absolutely love this question, one of the ways I keep creativity alive is by practicing a work life balance mentality. Many of us are very busy and the world is constantly moving. Many creatives, entrepreneurs and freelancers can’t always agree to any and everything. I made it a priority to prioritize different tasks . Sometimes it’s no and sometimes it’s not now. Read More>>
Tori Buck
Capturing moments through the lens allows me to express emotions and stories that words often fail to convey. Each photograph is a canvas where I can experiment with light, composition, and perspective, constantly pushing the boundaries of my imagination. The world is full of fleeting beauty, and photography gives me the power to preserve it, transforming ordinary scenes into extraordinary works of art. Read More>>
Andrew Sjodin
I don’t really think of myself as a very creative person in the way that most people think of the word ‘creative’. I’m not extremely unique. I don’t have a notable persona or presentation of myself. I don’t create art work that is wild and out there. I’m creative in that I am compelled to create work. Read More>>
Lashon Turnipseed
Honestly, my creativity isn’t something I “keep alive” — it’s something I have to learn to wrangle. My brain is pretty much a nonstop airport runway for ideas: some are landing, some are taking off, some are circling overhead waiting for clearance. I’ve just learned to build systems, routines, and habits that help me catch the ones worth developing before they fly away. Read More>>
Yumei Feng
For me, creativity isn’t just about abstract thinking — it comes from being deeply observant of everyday life. I pay attention to what people around me are doing, what frustrates them, and what small frictions they quietly live with. Those little moments often spark the most meaningful ideas. I also look inward. Read More>>
Saira Mary Netto
I believe that creativity is everywhere and the more you are aware of it, the more you will notice it. There was a lot of this awareness that was instilled in me while I completed my studies in Fibers. And one of the main reasons for this was that I was surrounded by wonderful growing artists and designers from all walks of life. Read More>>
Dean Conrad
I’m always looking for story and plot ideas. Therefore, I read a wide range of online and newspaper articles to determine if I can mine any nuggets for use. Also, I keep asking ‘what if’ for any idea, which can lead to surprising and unusual outcomes. All might be suitable ideas for a plot twist or character trait. Read More>>
Param Patel
For me, creativity grows out of curiosity. I have always had varied interests beyond architecture. Films, especially cinematography and editing, music from classical to soft rock in different languages, books, Broadway shows, concerts, and poetry. Each of these opens a new window into how people express emotions, tell stories, and solve problems. That mix keeps my mind open and willing to experiment. Read More>>
Christy Ross
My main source of creativity comes from interacting with other people. A two days a week I get to teach students, K-8 at St. Didacus Parish School. They are a huge source of how I keep my creativity alive. Being an art teacher for K-8 students requires a lot of creativity and practicality. I try to put myself in their shoes and ask myself, if I were ten years old, what would be fun to do! Read More>>
Dr. Ananya Singh
I keep my creativity alive because it has never been just a skill for me—it is the air I breathe. Creativity is my field, my language, my lifelong companion. I have lived with it since I was a child, sketching ideas before I even had the words to explain them. Today, as an artist and an Assistant Professor, that same spark fuels every second of my life. This field is not what I do—it is who I am. Read More>>
