Creativity is a messy group?chat.

Creativity is less about solving problems and more about uncovering who we truly?are.

Creativity is more than just hard. It is absurdly, spectacularly hard.

Creativity is hard because it is an eternal group chat between three versions of ourselves. This chat is not about colors, shapes, or ideas—it’s about navigating an existential battlefield of identity. It’s a beautiful battlefield where joy wrestles with doubt, and rebellion argues with deadlines.

The inner?child

Our inner child shows up first, wide-eyed and reckless, wanting to splatter joy and imagination all over the universe. It believes in magic, unicorns, and glitter as a design tool. It needs no budget or a timeline. It dreams wildly and wants to play without boundaries. It’s fearless, boundless, and they haven’t yet learned the word impossible.?

Is creativity a reckless, brilliant interruption to the ordinary?

The inner?teenager

Then our inner teenager storms in, angsty and bold, rolling its eyes at clichés, moody, rebellious, and misunderstood, wanting to smash every rule, burn the template, and create something so original and edgy that it gives the world a paper cut. It thrives on rebellion but secretly wants validation. It says, “This has been done before. Where’s the risk? Where’s the grit? Make something that punches people in the face with its brilliance.” It doesn’t just want to be seen but also wants to be remembered. “Rules are prisons,” it shouts, and honestly, it’s not wrong.

What if the prison isn’t the rules but the belief that we must always defy them to prove our worth?

The adult?self

Finally, our adult self enters, tired but quietly determined, carrying the weight of the world and two overdue invoices, holding a cup of coffee and an even heavier fear of failure, striving for purpose, functionality, and meaning, muttering about deadlines and why “this doesn’t feel quite right.” “How do we monetize it?” “What’s the ROI on wonder?”?

It is the responsible one but longs for freedom. It knows deadlines are real and that clients pay bills, All the while secretly terrified that someone will call it out as not good enough.

Is the fear of failure truly ours?? Do we fear failure because it threatens our work or because it forces us to confront the parts of ourselves we’ve yet to embrace?

How creativity shapes?us

Creativity isn’t just about making something look good?—?it’s about negotiating a truce between these three versions of ourselves?—?The dreamer. The rebel. The realist. It's an exquisite tug-of-war between all the selves we’ve ever been and all the selves we are too scared to become.

It’s about negotiating a truce between these three versions of ourselves. It’s a game of emotions, where every decision teeters on the edge of wonder, risk, and reality. And when we think we’ve nailed it, the world changes the brief. Creativity is about who we’re becoming while we make it. It’s being kind to the chaos and being gentle with the doubt. Because somewhere in that messy, awkward group chat, magic happens. That magic is us.

Creativity is a conversation between who we are and who we are becoming.

Creativity is self-discovery disguised as problem-solving. It’s where wonder wrestles with doubt, rebellion dances with discipline, and purpose tries to soothe perfectionism into silence. It’s not about designing perfect things?—?it’s about designing better versions of ourselves along the way.

Creativity isn’t a lightbulb moment?—?it’s a searchlight, forcing us to illuminate the corners of ourselves we’ve avoided for far too long.

But here’s why it’s worth it?—? because every time we push through the doubt, the mess, the fear, we’re not just designing a product or a poster or a campaign. We’re designing ourselves. We’re teaching that inner child to dream bigger, that teenager to take smarter risks, and that adult to believe that even chaos has a purpose.

No wonder the greatest designs are the ones that make us feel more human!

Himanshu Bharadwaj is an innovation and NeuroUX design expert based in the US, known for his transformative approach to design, strategy, leadership, and innovation. A digital nerd with the mind of a Himalayan yogi, he created ‘Joyful Design’ https://www.joyful.design, a philosophy that harmonizes business chaos with the serenity of human-centric thinking. Himanshu blends the art of design with the science of human cognition and behavioral patterns, crafting deeply resonant solutions for startups and large enterprises.

His unique process integrates modern science & design principles with ancient wisdom, inspiring teams to transform stress into success, confusion into clarity, and even making Monday mornings something to look forward to. Whether in the boardroom or on the meditation cushion, Himanshu believes life should be joyful, meaningful, and a little bit magical.