I think it's a bizarre feature of modern society that we're quite generationally segregated. Isn’t it strange that we can go years of our lives without interacting with a single child? Or a teenager? Or an elder? I think this is a huge loss on many levels, including the impact it has on creative inspiration. 

Each generation has its unique vantage point on the creative process. Its unique wisdom about how to approach creative work.

This week we’ve been traveling in Italy. After a friend’s wedding in Milan we went to Como for a few days to bask in the beauty.

Traveling with a toddler is challenging to say the least. But one of the joys has been seeing how many strangers completely shift their state when they engage with Laila. 

It started on the tube to Heathrow. Laila was sitting on the seat closest to the door, holding onto the pole. A middle-aged South Asian man was standing on the other side of the glass partition, also holding onto the pole. Without any words he started a little game where they would chase each others' hands up and down the pole. It was very sweet. Laila loved it.

Later, Laila decided it would be fun to throw her stuffed cat up in the air. She has no sense of aim yet, so the result is truly random, and she found that randomness hugely entertaining. A few times the cat fell at the feet of a stranger who gently tossed it back to her. The joy on his face was shining. 

Italians love children and we had many more interactions like this on our trip.

It made me realize that our child-like joy is so close to the surface.

As adults we generally go through our days with our generic persona held up like a shield. Being serious, professional, matching societal expectations of how adults behave. But often all it takes to scratch the surface and let that inner child out is a tiny invitation to play. 

Play is a close cousin of creativity. They share the same root of intrinsic motivation -- doing something for its own sake. If you're feeling creatively stuck, introducing more play into your days is one of the best ways find your creative flow again.

And play is part of the creative wisdom of children.

The creativity of the child is playful, light and easy. It's all about what interests them, what pleases them. Their impulse of self-expression is uninhibited. 

Children see the extraordinary in the ordinary and can turn anything into a game. We visited the breathtakingly beautiful Villa del Balbianello and all my daughter wanted to do was build little "towers" with pebbles.  

When we’re feeling creatively stuck, calling on the energy of the creative child can give us more freshness and freedom in how we approach our creative work. 

Similarly the teenager energy holds the creative wisdom of challenging the status quo and breaking rules. Teenagers can see the failings of the adult world and have the idealism to believe a better world is possible. Teenagers also bring an experimental mindset, trying on different identities and activities and taking risks. 

So if you’re feeling creatively stuck, it might be helpful to channel your inner rebellious teenager to give you that boost of energy to break through barriers and push boundaries. Or burn it all down and start over.

Equally, I think we can take creative inspiration from our elders, despite the fact that we generally associate creativity with the young. Elders know that our time is precious and they've lost the illusion of immortality we have in our youth. Feeling the proximity of the end can be a valuable cure for procrastination.

Elders have a healthy equanimity. They’ve lived through the highs and the lows and the know the wisdom of “this too shall pass”. So they know that failure is not forever. The world will not end because your book proposal was rejected or nobody liked your post or the investor passed. 

Elders also have a stance of “zero f’s given”. They no longer care what anybody else thinks and are unapologetically themselves. I remember a funny moment many years ago when I was backpacking solo through Europe. I was sitting in the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris. A bunch of teenage boys were playing football, using 4 chairs as goalposts. An old lady just walked up and took one of the chairs. The guys offered some weak protests, but none of them dared approach the woman to try to get the chair back. She just didn't give a ****.

So if you’re creatively stuck it may be the energy of the elder that you can call on to give you a pep talk. “Who cares what anybody else thinks!” “What are you waiting for! The clock is ticking!” Or as Andy Dufrane says in The Shawshank Redemption:

PS - As a fun bonus check out this Saturday Night Life sketch that speaks to what can happen when we go too long without interacting with children.