My high school senior and I were having a hard night at home. I’d gotten us movie tickets for some father-son time together. But things were quickly derailing.

As a creativity coach, I’m frequently asked to help people discover their gifting. Most don’t realize how their current job and interests are pieces of a larger creative calling—and possible story. As Madeleine L’Engle noted in Walking on Water, we are “always a becoming.”

This is where some of the ideas you’ve been trying on in the Curious stage start to come together in a purposeful way. Where desire, anointing, talent, and interest align.

When the Creator of stars, stallions, and sunsets offers to reveal marvelous, great, unsearchable, and remarkable things to us (see Jeremiah 33:3), this generosity should set our hearts racing. Our human limits no longer matter. The previously impossible is more than possible with God.

We’ve all had those awkward moments while listening to a song or watching a movie when suddenly we’re overcome with emotion. I even experience this when watching animated movie trailers!

You may have a beautiful voice but no interest in singing. You might be an excellent accountant, but numbers bore you. Or you make couches but long to be a coach.

The most significant class of my entire college education wasn’t even part of the core curriculum. We had to compete against several hundred for one of forty spaces. Somehow, definitely not due to GPA, I made it in.

We’re not to rush through the Curiosity stage of Creativity. Even if you feel certain what’s next, it’s important to ponder what’s possible. You may be surprised to discover a long-forgotten longing. Or how what you’re doing now is just a foretaste of a deeper calling.

One of the best ways to grow your creativity is to stay curious. This allows you to see the world around you—and within you—with fresh wonder. It is the time to allow your heart to be drawn to what makes it beat faster. But it is essential we don’t become more enamored with the created than our Creator.

As I shared in the last reading (Six Stages of Creativity), it’s important to know the various stages of creativity. We’ll take our time going through them in the coming weeks—with several readings on each stage. 

The first stage is Curious. But what does that look like?

We’ll now explore the Six Stages of Creativity.

While each project is unique, the creative journey involves specific stages.

As we pursue our groove, we must be careful not to find ourselves in a house of mirrors.

There are two very different kinds of grooves.

The first kind is an indentation made over time. I experienced this recently when snowmobiling.

People often reference the voices in their heads when describing the creative process.

Are you waiting before taking on the project that God has been stirring in you? If so, what’s the reason behind your hesitation? There’s never a perfect time to do anything, but if you’re sensing God’s green light, why are you not moving forward?

Getting unstuck feels so good. The immediate desire is to rush forward into whatever is next. That’s understandable, but it can cause us to quickly be on the wrong path.

I hope you’re feeling less stuck. If so, may this be a new beginning for you. We could all use a fresh start. Some days, I need more than one!

I regularly speak to—and coach—creatives from every industry. I’ve had thousands of these conversations over the decades. And as diverse as these creators are, many find themselves stuck in some of the same ways.  

When we have an original idea, we often hesitate to share it until we can make it first. After all, what if someone steals it and all our efforts are lost?

George Orwell and C. S. Lewis have such different—and definitive—worldviews. Orwell is the author of 1984 and Animal Farm, while Lewis wrote Mere Christianity and The Chronicles of Narnia series. Can you imagine either wandering through the other’s created universes? How would they have reacted?