This Creative Bite is dedicated to all the little children we used to be at some point in our journeys and those who have remained in us and are awaiting discovery.

I decided to re-introduce myself as over 7000 of you are subscribed to my LinkedIn newsletter. My LinkedIn profile misses all the tiny and unexpected twists in the plot that I have been experiencing since I was born (rebellious).

And what I mean here is more being a curious and creative kid perceived as a rebellious one because of being curious and creative. My curiosity and creativity were being kidnapped year after year of schooling in a system devoted to disregarding anything different (aka curiosity and creativity).

And its tipping point arrived one late Friday afternoon at the high school when my teacher came to my desk, put my essay in front of my eyes, and said that I failed. (To give you some background, I spent the whole weekend writing that essay passionately.). I failed because “It was impossible that I wrote it. I’m just 16 years old, and students my age don’t write like this.”

So I took the essay and left the class leaving everyone, including myself, in shock not just because I (obviously) cheated but also because I disrespected the teacher in front of over 30 wild open pairs of eyes.

The reconciliation came shortly after when one of my teachers found me crying on the school steps and promised to help clarify the situation. It happened a few days later, and my pen’s honor was returned.

But in that classroom with that teacher – before ChatGPT, before personal computers were available for everyone, and certainly before any smart devices (except for brains – we used them very extensively) – was the moment when my creativity was kidnapped for good.

And it took me thousands and thousands of metaphorical and physical miles to bring it back home, where it belongs, to bring it back to myself.

Ok, Iwona – nice story; why are you talking about it?

Because I know for a fact that not many things have changed in this regard. Children, teenagers, and frankly, you too -> are too often deprived of exercising their basic abilities such as creativity and curiosity. It takes #courage and #space to awaken our curious inner children and let them play.

When was the last time when your creativity was kidnapped?