This past school year, I had the opportunity to volunteer in my son’s classroom working with students to review spelling words and math problems. I felt confident my previous experience volunteering in classrooms and homeschooling my own kids would be an asset, and I resolved to ensure each student I worked with during my one-on-one time would complete their assigned review work. The first few weeks, I diligently kept students on track, redirecting conversations and tangents and encouraging them to concentrate. Initially, our interactions were strictly centered on the task at hand and the students, for their part, seemed willing to buckle down and focus.

Eventually, after a month or so of weekly volunteering, our review time started to evolve. The students began to share stories from their day, information about their lives, and opinions on random topics. And, as our connection grew, their individually unique and creative approaches to learning started to show through. After I would correct the extra letters in their spelling words, one student frequently made up stories as they rewrote the words correctly, “Oh, the ‘e’ was kicked out by the ‘i;’ the ‘e’ took their cell phone and walked to the end of the line and texted their friend while they waited for the next word that they needed to be added to.” Their imagination brought joy into our review and as the year continued these detours were regularly incorporated into each session. I discovered that although I was committed to making sure each student completed their assignments as thoroughly and completely as possible, this was not always the outcome of our time. The more I witnessed their creativity, the more I was reminded of the importance of imagination, even in the learning process.

By its very nature, creativity seems to require extra time and gradually I learned to slow down and allow students space to intermix stories into their learning, rather than simply drilling them on rote review of spelling words and memorization of math facts. Although I was apologetic to the teacher when I would return to the classroom and explain that we didn’t make it through all the worksheets, the response was always the same, “That’s okay. They really just needed some attention.” This particular volunteering experience reminded me that I often fixate on the goal, emphasizing the busyness of accomplishing specific to-dos, sometimes overlooking the journey itself and almost always forgetting to allow space for creativity throughout the process.

Kids are perpetually imaginative, usually at the expense of the most direct and efficient route. For example, it takes my son about ten minutes to brush his teeth. This is not because he is being especially thorough, but because he is usually either making faces in the mirror or singing to himself. Whenever my kids have to complete an assigned chore, say picking up their rooms, it inevitably turns into a game of sorts. After an interminable amount of time has passed, I’ll check in on their progress only to discover their rooms have been completely upended, toys moved out of organized storage bins and instead shoved haphazardly into piles while furniture has been rearranged into random and odd configurations. Both kids are usually in good spirits, proud of their work, excitedly sharing, “Mom, look how we reorganized our rooms! Don’t these layouts make way more sense?”

Imaginative experiences can take place in all manner of forms. Sometimes creativity comes in small moments, intertwined within daily rhythm. Other times, it shows up in annual traditions. For example, I grew up with the tradition of dying eggs at Easter. I have many fond memories of joining family around the table as we all decorated and shared stories and silly comments. We’ve continued this long-held tradition and expanded it slightly to conclude our egg dying by working together to create one ridiculous egg. Although it’s such a small part of the holiday’s traditions, it’s an imaginative moment that makes me laugh just remembering the goofiness of it. Creativity, especially during busy holiday times, reminds me that life is more than completing accomplishments and to-dos; life in all its fullness and unexpected imaginative components is also at the heart of the journey itself.

Although I do love life’s journeys, I also struggle to find a balance between enjoying moments of slowing down into the unexpected detours and also getting caught up in the whole focus-on-the-project-in-order-to-get-to-the-next-project perspective. Sometimes I take life a little too seriously. Sometimes I find myself struggling to live in the moment (or even figure out what, exactly, that means) and this summer has been no different. Take gardening, for example, a relatively creative and prolonged endeavor. I will walk around the yard to view my garden beds filled with the growth of carefully transplanted seedlings and think to myself, once the plants have firmly established their roots then I can truly enjoy the garden and pride myself on being a gardener. Except, the plants are firmly established and growing. So, my thoughts evolve slightly to, once I can start harvesting tomatoes and see that the pumpkins are getting bigger, then this garden will be a success. The growing season is still in full swing and I’ve already had thoughts of next summer and how I might better plan, prepare, and organize my 2025 garden so it can be even better than this year’s. Even within the creativity that is inherent in gardening, I easily find myself getting caught in a pattern of planning, anticipating, and planning again, hardly slowing down to simply enjoy the creative process as it unfolds in real time.

Of course, not all of life’s journeys are enjoyable or provide a natural avenue for creative exploration. Sometimes life’s journey is unexpected, complicated, difficult; sometimes it’s downright devastating. Sometimes it is enough to simply endure and get by. However, even during the times when I find myself fixating on just getting through a life season in the most expedient manner possible, I still often find myself surprised by unexpected creativity along the journey. Not unlike the imagination of a child inching their way into a spelling lesson, moments of creativity have a way of changing aspects of the day-to-day. Although it has taken me many difficult months to get to this point in my own grief journey, I am starting to realize that imagination and creativity are very real, integral components to healing. I’ve begun to accept that, whether due to unforeseen circumstances or simply the complexities that are a natural part of life, sometimes the journey itself has to be reimagined.

So, here I am, still learning to allow for creativity at least in small moments along the way, and, I can’t help but wonder if part of my journey, part of my current path toward healing, is to simply enjoy the space between now and the next moment, and to simply enjoy the diversions found along the way in the imagination and creativity that are woven into the very fabric of each day.

Wendi is co-author of The Unexpected Ever Afters blog and enjoys sipping extra hot coffee, sharing a love of reading with her kids, and exploring bike trails.

photo credit: personal photos