WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:03.840 Most people know me as your messy muse 00:00:02.320 --> 00:00:06.240 mentor and host of the Follow Your 00:00:03.840 --> 00:00:08.320 Curiosity podcast. What you may not know 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:10.800 about me though is that I became a 00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:13.840 creativity coach because I wasn't 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:16.400 allowed to watch Doctor Who. I am the 00:00:13.840 --> 00:00:20.080 only science fiction fan in my family 00:00:16.400 --> 00:00:22.800 and they did not understand. Watching TV 00:00:20.080 --> 00:00:26.400 on a weekend afternoon was also not 00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:28.320 allowed. So, I wrote my own. They could 00:00:26.400 --> 00:00:30.640 keep me away from the TV, but they 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:32.320 couldn't keep me away from my own 00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:35.040 imagination. 00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:38.320 I didn't know I was writing fanfiction, 00:00:35.040 --> 00:00:41.040 but I loved it. I wrote all through high 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:43.040 school, and I wanted to be a writer, but 00:00:41.040 --> 00:00:45.520 that wasn't allowed either. It wasn't 00:00:43.040 --> 00:00:47.280 good enough for a gifted kid. I had to 00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:49.200 say I wanted to be a lawyer or a 00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:50.720 journalist on my college application 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:53.120 instead. 00:00:50.720 --> 00:00:55.520 By graduation, there wasn't enough time 00:00:53.120 --> 00:00:58.320 to write, and it wasn't supposed to be 00:00:55.520 --> 00:01:00.400 important anymore. Anyway, I was an 00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:03.760 adult doing adult things, which didn't 00:01:00.400 --> 00:01:06.000 include writing stories. 10 years later, 00:01:03.760 --> 00:01:08.400 I'd done pretty much everything I was 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:11.200 told to do to have a good life. And on 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:14.240 paper, I did. But some part of me was 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:17.600 lost, empty, like the most alive part of 00:01:14.240 --> 00:01:21.040 me had been cut away. I was on a hamster 00:01:17.600 --> 00:01:23.120 wheel each day just like the one before. 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:26.400 Wasn't being an adult supposed to be 00:01:23.120 --> 00:01:29.040 more fun. I met some friends online who 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:30.960 wrote and I felt something stir inside, 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:33.040 but it seemed to be locked behind an 00:01:30.960 --> 00:01:34.800 invisible wall. 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:36.480 Then one of my life journal friends 00:01:34.800 --> 00:01:39.200 said, "We're doing a fanfiction 00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:41.440 challenge. You should sign up." So, I 00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:44.240 did. I wrote a piece of Westwing 00:01:41.440 --> 00:01:46.960 fanfiction and my dormant little spark 00:01:44.240 --> 00:01:49.360 roared back to life. Words that had been 00:01:46.960 --> 00:01:52.560 damned up for more than a decade spilled 00:01:49.360 --> 00:01:54.800 out. My brain fired on all cylinders. I 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:57.520 bounced off the walls. I don't know how 00:01:54.800 --> 00:01:59.680 I slept. My first original story wrote 00:01:57.520 --> 00:02:02.080 itself over a weekend and I started a 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:04.320 novel. I jumped into an MFA in creative 00:02:02.080 --> 00:02:06.800 writing because I wanted more and to 00:02:04.320 --> 00:02:09.760 give my ESL students the same experience 00:02:06.800 --> 00:02:12.160 I'd had. Instead, my teaching job 00:02:09.760 --> 00:02:14.080 vanished just as I graduated and I ended 00:02:12.160 --> 00:02:16.880 up in an office job that started sucking 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:19.360 the life out of me. But I stumbled on 00:02:16.880 --> 00:02:22.320 creativity coaching and I instantly knew 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:24.000 that was where I belonged. I also 00:02:22.320 --> 00:02:26.000 started the Follow Your Curiosity 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:29.280 podcast because I wanted to hear 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:31.840 people's creative stories and it saved 00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:34.160 me. It showed me a side of myself I 00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:35.920 hadn't even known existed where I am 00:02:34.160 --> 00:02:38.560 literally free to see where my own 00:02:35.920 --> 00:02:41.280 curiosity takes me. It also gave me 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:43.360 defiant proof that I am so much more 00:02:41.280 --> 00:02:46.800 than my office supervisors wanted me to 00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:49.040 believe I was. And to the surprise of no 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:51.200 one more than me, I've been able to 00:02:49.040 --> 00:02:53.200 interview quite a few Doctor Who cast 00:02:51.200 --> 00:02:56.720 members, which has been one of the 00:02:53.200 --> 00:02:59.040 greatest joys of my life. I've learned 00:02:56.720 --> 00:03:01.760 twice over that creativity is the 00:02:59.040 --> 00:03:03.520 fastest path back to yourself. The self 00:03:01.760 --> 00:03:05.120 you thought was lost in a world that 00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:07.680 tells you to be less than you really 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:10.400 are. The spark we all have as kids is 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:12.560 our life energy in motion. It may feel 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:15.360 like it leaves us, but it's still there 00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:18.480 waiting for us to come home to it. And 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:20.800 that's why I do what I do. Too many 00:03:18.480 --> 00:03:23.040 women are living dull, deflated lives 00:03:20.800 --> 00:03:24.560 because they followed all the rules. But 00:03:23.040 --> 00:03:26.640 instead of the rewards they were 00:03:24.560 --> 00:03:30.320 promised, they lost touch with the 00:03:26.640 --> 00:03:32.880 truest, most playful part of themselves. 00:03:30.320 --> 00:03:35.520 I help them reconnect with their lost 00:03:32.880 --> 00:03:37.680 inner spark, the one that knows exactly 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:40.000 who they really are and what truly 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:42.720 lights them up. So they can reconnect 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:45.360 with their curiosity and joy and have a 00:03:42.720 --> 00:03:50.160 lot more fun. Because creativity isn't 00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:50.160 just for kids, it's for all of us.