Why A Winding-Road Career Is The Most Creative Of Them All

If you had to define a “creative” role you’d probably start with the classics. Artist, photographer, dancer, musician, writer, etc. Maybe you think of the typical “starving artist” trope of someone working multiple side gigs in restaurants or retail to make ends meet. Maybe they have rich parents footing the bill. These are all the stereotypical ideas that pop into your head when you think of someone working in creative industries. But what about non-traditional creative pursuits?

Growing up all I wanted to do was write. One of my earliest memories of using the computer was writing a neighborhood newsletter on my parent’s Windows 98 desktop. By high school, in typical cliche aspiring writer fashion, I had seen every episode of Sex and the City a dozen times and had amassed a stack of Vogues and Vanity Fairs the height of my ceiling. These were the days when Carrie Bradshaw was still aspirational and nearly every female RomCom antagonist wrote at a fashion magazine while living in a loft apartment.