Back in my youth, I used to spend every free second I had drawing, painting, writing and generally just MAKING. I had so many ideas for stories and drawings oozing out of my pores, it was almost overwhelming, this need I had to create. When I wasn't actually writing/drawing/painting I was thinking about what I would do next. I had the mental dexterity to think it all at once. I used to think BIG Thinks.
When I am training and doing three hour long runs, I can compose entire stories, complete with illustrations all in my head. But then I come home and POOF! The idea has escaped my mental hatch. I would like to think this is not merely a result of growing older, but rather a growing laundry list of tedious but still important day-to-day thinks. Who needs to be at practice first? Which child has a doctor's appointment? Why does the house smell like burnt plastic all of a sudden???!!! The older I get, the more I realize I have limited mental bandwidth and can only entertain one idea/thought at a time. I call it mental triage. So now when I have a Big Think, I know I need to literally write it down lest it fly away into the atmosphere.
creativity