26 MAR 2019: Creativity is such an invaluable yet elusive skill. What does it mean to be creative? I had an interesting conversation about the death of creativity as a result of our technologically driven, convenience-centred lifestyle. We are constantly bombarded with endless streams of information, readily available at our fingertips. Always a ping, ding or ring away, we feel anxious about turning our phones off overnight, preferring to compromise on sleep to avoid disconnecting or being unreachable.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful we no longer have to schlep our clothes down to the river to wash them, but with the convenience of technology we’ve eradicated boredom as well. On the surface that may sound like a good thing, but without ever activating our imagination to create new and fun ideas, the creativity side of our brains start to atrophy.

Your brain has the ability to learn, rewire, and form new pathways as new information is processed and skills develop, but the opposite is also true. Arnold Schwarzenegger is no longer the muscular Michelin man he used to be, having scaled back his workout regimen and likely other questionable substances. The point is, you either use it, or lose it.

We already know travel to be a transformational experience, but there are now studies that support what we’ve always believed to be true. Studies have associated travel adventures with boosted levels of creativity and innovation. To put it simply, your brain works by firing particular neural pathways based on the information it has received. This means that your brain function is very much dominated by your environment, lifestyle and habits. By continuing to do the same thing day in and day out, you reinforce these same few circuits you use all the time, while the rest of your mental capacity starts to wane.

Visiting a new place, navigating unfamiliar streets and foreign languages, trying new and wacky culinary delicacies, new sights and smells, all of this is an incredible exercise that is utterly revitalizing for your noodle. It exercises problem-solving skills and fosters resiliency that become complacent with the mundane tasks of regular life.

Please recognize that your routine can also include your vacation habits, and the real value that travel can offer comes from going somewhere different and really immersing yourself in the foreign culture. Let the record show a yearly Spring Break trip to Cuba with your buddies eating french fries and participating in drunken shenanigans, is not quite the same thing. Contrast this resort experience to renting an AirBnB with a local percussionist in Havana, or a local fisherman and really immersing yourself in another way of life.

We are innately creative beings, which means our brains are designed to create ideas, not store them. The beautiful part about this is that creativity comes in many different forms, so exercise this muscle as much as you can, because unlike Arnold, it’s not always going to be back. If you have the opportunity to travel and live abroad, soaking in all the different perspectives and experiences this world has to offer, make the most of it and stay curious. Consider it an investment into your creativity bank.

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” – Mark Twain