When Do We Lose Our Creativity and Sense of Wonder? (And How to Get Them Back Before It’s Too Late)

Somewhere between the crayon stage and the corporate memo stage, something happens.

We stop asking “What if?” and start asking “Will this meet the deadline?”

We trade in curiosity for compliance.

We stop experimenting and start editing ourselves into invisibility.

If you’ve ever wondered when and why your creativity dried up, you’re not alone. As a content creator, I’ve seen it in my clients, my colleagues, and yes, in myself. That wide-eyed wonder we had as kids? It doesn’t vanish overnight. It’s chipped away, bit by bit, by systems, rules, and the daily grind.

POV: you can teach creativity back into your life but only if you recognize where you lost it.

The First Leak in the Creativity Tank: School

Remember kindergarten art class? Glitter on your shirt, marker on your hands, a smile so big it practically knocked over your paper cup of paste?

Then first grade came. Suddenly, there was a “right” way to draw a tree. Trees were brown with green leaves. The sky was blue and at the top of the paper not wherever you felt like putting it.

The lesson was subtle, but it stuck.

There’s one right way, and you’d better follow it.

By middle school, grades mattered more than ideas. By high school, your essays were graded on structure, grammar, and adherence to rubrics, not imagination. We were taught to memorize, not to wonder. To repeat, not to reinvent.

It’s no wonder so many of us show up in adulthood creatively dehydrated.

The Workplace Creativity Drain

If school pokes holes in the creativity tank, corporate life rips it wide open.

Here’s the reality:

Deadlines. Budgets. Processes. Approvals. Risk management. Compliance departments that can say “no” faster than you can finish your pitch.

By the time you’ve climbed a few rungs on the career ladder, the system has trained you to value safe over spectacular.

And here’s the brutal truth:

Safe doesn’t sell. Safe doesn’t inspire. Safe doesn’t make people care.

When I work with business owners on their content, one of the first things I do is try to untrain them from the “corporate voice.” I teach them to talk like real humans again. To tell a story, ask a question, make a bold claim.

Because here’s what most people don’t realize, you can’t accidentally get your creativity back. You have to actively go find it.

Life Happens and Creativity Gets Boxed Up

Life has a way of filling every waking minute. Bills need paying, kids need feeding, and clients need answers.

And creativity? It becomes the dusty box in the attic you’ll “get to someday.”

But the longer you go without using your creativity, the harder it is to get it back.

It’s like a muscle, stop working it and it atrophies.

And here’s the other thing no one tells you:

You don’t have to wait until your calendar “opens up” because it won’t.

Creativity doesn’t need eight uninterrupted hours and a private island. It needs ten minutes and permission.

Why Wonder Matters for Business

If you’re a business owner, you might be thinking: “Sure, creativity is nice, but I have to focus on sales.”

Here’s where I’m going to stop you.

Creativity is sales.

Wonder is the spark that makes your customer stop scrolling. Creativity is the hook that gets them to read the second sentence.

Without it, your marketing becomes wallpaper. And no one notices wallpaper.

As a content creator, my job isn’t just to string words together. It’s to teach you how to think differently about your business so your audience sees you differently.

That means taking creative risks, asking new questions and telling a story no one else is telling.

How to Teach Creativity Back Into Your Life

Good news: if creativity is a muscle, you can strengthen it. Even if you’ve been sitting it out for years.

Here’s what I teach my clients and what I practice myself:

1. Question Everything

Adopt the mindset of a five-year-old. “Why?” “What if?” “Why not?” The more questions you ask, the more creative connections your brain makes.

2. Break Your Patterns

Drive a different route, listen to a genre of music you normally avoid, read outside your industry. Creativity thrives when you disrupt your own routines.

3. Play Without Purpose

Do something with no measurable outcome. Doodle, bake something from scratch or build a pillow fort with your kids. Not everything has to be monetized or optimized.

4. Steal Like an Artist

Austin Kleon teaches us that nothing is original. Pull inspiration from everywhere, then remix it into something new.

5. Create Small and Often

Don’t wait for the big project. Write one sentence, take one photo, make one post. The more you create, the easier it gets.

The Lie We’ve Been Sold About Creativity

Here’s the dangerous myth:

“Some people are just born creative.”

Nonsense. Creativity is a skill. It’s learned, practiced, and expanded over time.

If you’re telling yourself you’ve “lost it,” what you’ve really lost is the habit. And habits can be rebuilt.

When I work with clients on their content, we don’t just create copy, we create a process for sparking ideas. I’m not just delivering a finished product; I’m teaching them how to think differently, how to look for stories, how to notice what most people ignore.

Because once you learn how to see the world differently, you can’t unsee it.

Wonder Is Contagious So Spread It

One of the most surprising things I’ve learned as a content creator is when you share

your sense of wonder, you give other people permission to share theirs.

It might be a blog post about an ordinary walk that turned into an unexpected moment of beauty.

It might be a social media post about a question you’ve been chewing on.

It might be a photo of something small that made you smile.

These little acts of sharing tell your audience: “Hey, I still notice the magic in the world and you can, too.”

Creativity in Action. From Wonder to Words

Here’s the cycle I teach my clients:

1. Notice something big or small, beautiful or bizarre.

2. Ask why it matters to you, to your audience, to your industry.

3. Connect it to your business, what lesson, insight, or metaphor can you draw?

4. Create and share in your voice, in your style, without sanding down the edges.

When you do this consistently, two things happen:

• You start seeing creative opportunities everywhere.

• Your audience starts associating you with fresh ideas and human connection.

That’s how you stand out in a world where most marketing feels like it was generated by a blender.

The Takeaway: You Haven’t Lost It. You’ve Just Forgotten Where You Put It

If you take nothing else from this, remember:

Creativity and wonder are not childhood souvenirs. They are renewable resources.

You might have buried them under years of deadlines, school rules, and real-life responsibilities, but they’re still there waiting for you to dust them off.

So teach yourself to notice again. Teach yourself to ask better questions. Teach yourself to play.

Your business will thank you. Your audience will thank you. And, maybe most importantly, your future self will thank you.

Because the world has enough safe, enough predictable, enough boring.

What it doesn’t have enough of? Your unique, unapologetic, creative voice.

So go find it. And when you do, use it.

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