I Brake for Creativity
Is creativity vital in your line of work? Depending on what you do, you might not think so. I certainly didn’t when I first began in the moving industry many decades ago. However, I have been proven wrong time and time again. The truth is, we don’t know when and how creativity will save the day, which is exactly why we need to cultivate it. I recently came across two inspiring stories that reminded me of the potential of undirected creativity. Here’s a quick recap of each:
For one wild Eastern box turtle, creativity saved his life and enabled him to return home to his wild habitat in Maryland. The turtle was found by Maryland Zoo staff with a damaged shell. After surgery, the turtle needed a customized wheelchair that would allow him to move about while keeping the fragile bottom of his shell off the ground. A zoo extern sent a sketch to his friend, a LEGO® enthusiast, who successfully built the perfect wheelchair for the four-legged patient in rehab. Two years later, the turtle was fully healed and set free in his native habitat! Thanks in no small part to one person’s creative hobby.
For Abdoul Salam Nizeyimana, a young engineer in Rwanda, the creative spirit not only gives his life purpose, it saves lives. Check out this video on Zipline, a drone delivery service, that puts its drones to work to deliver vital medical supplies to extremely isolated hospitals in Rwanda in minutes. Abdoul is the company’s first local employee, and in this video he discusses the importance of creativity in overcoming setbacks for successful engineering. What started his pursuit of engineering? As a child, he used old milk cartons and bottle caps to design and create his own toy cars and trucks. Even decades later, his passion for engineering and problem-solving has not dimmed, to the incredible benefit of others.
How has creativity helped me? These stories have reminded me of yet another adventure from my early trucking days—as I teased at the outset of this newsletter. Before drones and cell phones, my driving partner and I found ourselves in the middle of nowhere with a broken throttle spring, which is responsible for returning a gas pedal to upright once you remove your foot. In other words, an essential truck part if you’re not planning to floor it the entire time! Well, we creatively engineered a solution with a heavy-duty mover’s rubber band, typically used to hold large furniture blankets in place when wrapped around fine furnishings. This inventive solution got us safely to the repair shop.
We may feel like creativity is best left to our artsy and craftsy friends, which is exactly how I felt until I was convinced into taking an art class with my wife a few decades ago. I haven’t stopped sketching since! In fact, I take a few sketchpads with me on every long-distance delivery. I have landscape drawings from all across the country! Upon reflecting on my adventures on the road as well as these stories, I am reminded that creativity is an invaluable muscle that we might develop precisely because we don’t know when we’ll need it!
So how has creativity helped you resolve challenges in your life? Perhaps it’s helping you right now. I would love to hear about it!
How can you nurture your creativity, especially if you’re feeling burnout?
We are so grateful for your continued support.