Creativity Unfolding: Finding Your Superpower Beyond the Traditional Arts

“I’m really not that creative” would have been my initial response years ago if asked about my creativity. I remember struggling in art and woodworking classes and taking hours to complete a simple cutting board with curves around the edges. While I loved gymnastics and tumbling across the floor with back handsprings, the artistic arm gestures and musicality came far from naturally for me. I couldn’t sing a song in tune in the choir or even “happy birthday” either. I just accepted that I wasn’t meant to be creative. 

But experiences in college through salsa dancing shifted my perspective on creativity. Even though I began without being able to find the rhythm in the music for months, I learned that by continuing to listen to songs like “Llorarás” by Oscar D'Leon, practicing my basic steps almost daily, combined with taking lessons, I could indeed improve. It was about persistence and the process of getting better over time. 

Cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Adam Green describes creativity as a process and dynamic state, not simply a static trait, and notes that “[b]y looking inward, we can see the process in action and start to identify the characteristics of creative thought. Neuroimaging is helping to shift the focus from creative product to creative process.” 

For me, by being curious and allowing space for my creative process to unfold, I’ve learned that it can manifest in many ways: from problem-solving and brainstorming in a 9-5 job, in entrepreneurship, to the coaching environment, and, of course, the more traditional arts. 

Creativity in Strategic Thinking and Problem Solving

Leveraging creativity with strategic thinking and problem solving can be a superpower in the workplace. According to author Edward de Bono, “[c]reativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.” I’ve come to recognize that the way I approach strategy and problem-solving is inherently creative. For example, several years ago when I became an AmeriCorps member at a K-3 elementary school, I was given significant flexibility to develop after-school programs. I remember how my brain was always spinning with new ideas. What if I had the students in my after-school Latin dance program do a performance with cha-cha dancing in front of their friends and family on the last day? And with the hard work of the students and volunteers, we made it happen! 

I was grateful that the principal of the school was also my direct supervisor and whenever I met with him to pitch my ideas, he almost always said yes and didn’t micromanage me. I loved having the space to really brainstorm and come up with potential activities for the students. I was new to developing curriculum, but the parents kept signing up their kids for the after-school programs, so I knew I must be doing something right.  

However, I wasn’t given a budget by the school to implement programming of any kind. I needed to also leverage my creativity in problem-solving on a daily basis to make the programs happen in reality. I began to cultivate local partnerships with universities and community colleges who helped me with recruiting volunteers and work-study students who were paid directly by the universities. 

Then I trained the volunteers to each work with small groups of students. This meant the participants had more individualized attention as well. It was a win-win situation, and I never needed to turn down anyone who wanted to join one of the programs because of lack of space. 

I used creativity to generate ideas for the after-school program itself and develop content while then leveraging creativity to problem-solve how I could implement and make things happen in reality. I found that this combination of skills served me well wherever I went beyond AmeriCorps. When I wasn’t able to fully utilize my creativity, I felt frequently frustrated and inhibited from reaching my true potential. In these moments, I also began to explore creativity in other forms, including entrepreneurship.

Creativity in Entrepreneurship

I tried diving into entrepreneurship for the first time in 2017 while I was still working my day job. At the time, I envisioned creating a drop-shipping company that sold fair trade clothing with a focus on creating minimalist, fashionable capsule wardrobes for women. However, I wasn’t successful in finding the products through drop-shipping that I wanted to sell. 

Humanistic philosopher and psychologist Erich Fromm shared: "Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties." I needed to continue to brainstorm other ideas and think creatively if I wanted to move forward with the business. As a result, I ended up focusing on fair trade jewelry and purses instead. Nevertheless, I discovered that I really wasn’t all that passionate about selling jewelry and not actually implementing my original vision. I kept the business going for only a short period of time before deciding to close it down. My heart wasn’t in it. 

While I was unsuccessful with the business, the lessons learned from the pursuit of trying and failing quickly were invaluable. I also loved the creative process of developing the business from scratch even though it was an immense amount of work. I felt like I was diving into a whole new world of possibilities with entrepreneurship which is also serving me in the present moment as I’ve returned to it but in a different form.

Creativity in Coaching

After experiencing two layoffs from different offices in D.C. this year alone, I leaned into my creativity and entrepreneurial spirit to become a somatic coach (e.g. incorporating a body-oriented mindfulness approach). I’ve realized just how much I’m able to leverage creativity in a new way, not only through becoming an entrepreneur but also the coaching process. Creativity is included in the definition for coaching itself. According to the International Coaching Federation, coaching is “[p]artnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.” 

As a somatic coach, I intentionally follow the lead of my clients, supporting what wants to unfold for them in the present moment. In one instance, this might mean a client wants to explore what freedom or fun feels like in their body. While I might offer a few ideas for experiments or suggestions, the client ultimately decides how they want to do this and what feels right for their body. 

I encourage them to follow any impulses that they may have. This might mean they decide to make a specific pose or gesture to embody the concept of freedom or fun, or they might explore it through a movement that they create in the present moment. For me, this has been a new form of creative process that I’m continuing to learn from as a coach. Letting go of trying to control the session in any way has also been a lesson learned in how I approach creativity through the arts.

Creativity in the Arts

I’ve been hesitant to dive back into more traditional arts for years because of the old stories that I would tell myself about not being creative. I also notice that fear tends to come up more with drawing and painting. I often feel this as a pressure in my shoulders, similar to the same pressure I felt years ago while in art class when trying to draw perfectly and finish the assignment of a still life bowl of fruit by the end of class time. The more I’ve been able to acknowledge the fear, the more I’m able to move through it instead of simply suppressing it.  

In her work Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert shares how “[t]he guardians of high culture will try to convince you that the arts belong only to a chosen few, but they are wrong and they are also annoying.” By allowing myself to be flexible with time and make whatever I want to draw or paint, I’m more able to enjoy the process and become less attached to the outcome. 

In addition, I work 1:1 with online tutors for painting and drawing and found that the tutors with whom I most resonate are also those with whom I really enjoy the creative process. For me, combining the creative and artistic process with conversation, also makes my learning especially enjoyable and feel less pressured. 

Conclusion

Leaning into my creativity has been a journey for me. It developed in part through salsa dancing and from my experience in AmeriCorps and has served me over and over again throughout my professional career. From working as a 7th grade teacher in New York City, to a job coach for persons with disabilities, and as a senior foreign affairs advisor at the State Department, I was frequently leaning into my creativity in various ways and giving it the opportunity to emerge. 

As Maya Angelou wrote, “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” I developed an attitude of curiosity and kept brainstorming and asking questions, such as who else did we need to talk to about an issue, who could we potentially partner with, what other approaches or creative solutions might work that we hadn’t explored yet, or what was it that we needed to know that we didn’t know. 

My relationship with creativity is evolving further as I become a solopreneur and somatic coach. However, I’ve found that when I’m especially curious, patient, and open, the creative process emerges even more freely. While I love to come up with amazing ideas and design ways to implement them, I’ve found that the more I can enjoy the process, the more joy creativity brings me. 

At the same time, I believe it has grown beyond a process to also become a way of life for me. I’m reminded of the words of Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way, “[r]emember, there is a creative energy that wants to express itself through you.” I’m curious how creativity wants to emerge from you when you give it the courage, patience, and space to flourish.

(Originally posted on Substack on September 30, 2025)