By Anam Kibria

Questions on the bus.

How do we lose the ability to be original? To come up with fantastical ideas? What is a creative block anyway? Google tells me “Creative blocks are such abstract notions that it’s hard to pin down a specific definition of what they are and why they occur.” Thanks Google, helpful as always.

What happens?

Is it like our memory, that diminishes over time with age? Or do we just forget how to be original? How can one simply forget?

Is the ability like an unfaithful house cat? The one that goes walkabout for days/weeks/months at a time simply to return out of the blue one day, wanting to be fed, pretending like it never left.

Is it because we become terminally uninspired, jaded by all that life brings? Or do we simply become overinspired? Do we gain a heightened sense of awareness of our surroundings, taking in everything that we possibly can till we pass out from sensory overload? With the rise of social media and the ease of sharing content, we are constantly exploited to seemingly “new” ideas. Even  “new” ideas have lost their intrigue and replaced by this newfound sense of “I could’ve sworn I’ve seen that before”.

Thankfully, my cat has returned after months. I’ve bought a new £14,000 leash and this time its not going nowhere.