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John, Canada
To answer your question about balance between work and creativity, I suppose the answer is: there isn't any.

My work and creative lives merge and intermingle. Seldom do I find I set aside time for creativity, as creativity is seldom willing to answer to a schedule. Work on the other hand is ably governed by timeslots and calendars, ticking off the days with impenetrable repetition, impossible to interrupt save through the intervention of old age and pensions. Even then, work continues after the supposed formality of it has ended.

Creativity shows up when it chooses, occasionally upon necessity. I find my children call out my creativity, usually in aid of some project or assignment they have from school. For my own part, my deliberate creativity comes during those times when I can steal it, when I can liberate a moment or two during the day on a bus or train perhaps while commuting. Then of course come the moments of 'inspiration' where in the middle of doing one thing an entirely unrelated thought bursts into existence, often without context to the moment at hand. Creativity and work, are often so close as to be the same thing.

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Ramzi, Occupied Palestinian Territory
I never managed that balance. When I was young, I had a double interest in music composition and theoretical physics/mathematics. I did some composing and studied physics. But then I spent most of my life as a university administrator. Only recently, at the age of 71 and 'semi-retired' did I manage to have some time to start composing again. Did I choose my life or was it an accident?

Pilar, Spain Even if one is not an artist, creativity is something that is there all the time, but in smaller doses. I try to apply it to most things throughout the day: rowing in a beautiful pond early in the morning, cooking a delicious meal, making interesting proposals to my clients, and most of all, I devote a lot of creativity and energy daily to enrich my close relationships. Even minor things carry their share of creativity: making an effort to look nice, calling friends to tell them funny stories or make attractive proposals.

Is looking into one's own inner self, while doing yoga or meditating or just lying around daydreaming, creative? I believe so.

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Paula, Australia
I raised my family then took a job to pay the mortgage thinking once the house was paid for and the children had left home I would have time to myself to read and participate in my hobbies.

However, I now find I am needed to babysit while my children pay their mortgages. Perhaps in another 10 years or so I will have time to myself. My family comes first and always has so I guess I am simply a wife and mother and time to myself comes last.

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Abdel Hameed, Kuwait
A massive thank you to, Hamid Ismailov for your bold initiative in tackling a sensitive issue like "Work and Dreams".

I believe that balance is no longer exists in human daily life, I prefer to call it 'Vehicle Bias", I hate spreading pessimism but human beings are either shopaholic or povertyholic. Human beings are no longer real deciders of their own time because their patience had run before, they act according to infinite pressure of modernized and globalized life.

Balancing between daily life job and creativity looks a thorny dream because human beings potential is always surrounded with a mammoth amount of taxes that prevent human creativity. Hungry minds for knowledge fall victims to greedy minds who aspire for lucrative business not for creative one.

I believe that freedom and democracy must eliminate daily slavery to jobs, but alas to say that human beings are bitterly shocked by daily corruption, by stenchy acts that hinder creativity and hide truth. Truth has become an offence to my eye because my wisdom teeth are disturbing my peace of mind.

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Mihaly, Hungary
Pursuing a 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde way of life' seems to be a bit romantic and outdated.

I believe in controlled and applied creativity. This is what I try, and am compelled, to do both in private life and during work hours. To create something from nothing. Be part of a creative community, my family, friends or a project of developing textbooks. Since I have been working in an editorial for literature, I am a bit suspicious of eccentric geniuses whose main drive is to create, no matter by what price or for what purpose.

On the other hand, I am fond of rare masterpieces, which bear the touch of divine creativity. They are the embodiments of what Lessing called, 'the fertile moment,' the ones in which past, present and future are being trapped like a leaf in a piece of amber. To grasp these unique moments, one has to be ready to absorb them.

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Bruce, United States
My creativity is satisfied by writing and posting my thoughts online. The subway commute each day provides enough time for reading and thinking through the concepts and themes I wish to write.

On my days off I then organize my notes and begin writing the first draft, and when the piece is ready to post the essay on blogspot. I try not to lapse into a rant and keep the essay as timely and well thought as possible.

When not writing, I find interesting literature concerning a wide variety of topics including history, essays, and philosophy. My job as a restaurant manager in Times Square, NYC has me meeting a very large cross section of the world and many themes often come from what I have heard from the people I have met.

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Ulric, New Zealand
I have found that my first job many years ago was a non creative one as a humble clerk in an insurance office. Outside of work I did not find any outlet for my creative instincts and although I was not aware of it at the time I was constantly seeking to find it.

Through good fortune and hard work I progressed in management to the point where I could make important decisions and create whole new departments. I suddenly found I was creating a whole new culture in the organisation and even progressed to writing text books on my subject. In this way I have been able to combine work with my dreams.

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Netii, Italy
This is a subject that greatly interests me. I am a creative person. I am a professional singer, I write poetry, and love to sew, knit, and crochet. I am lousy at working crossword puzzles but have found a monthly publication called Crucintarsio to be very challenging. It's a book of word puzzles and can be quite complicated. Since I am an American, living in Italy, Crucintarsio helps me to improve my knowledge of the Italian language.

How I balance my creative life with my daily routine, I still am trying to figure out, since I am married and have household chores including cooking to do. But somehow, it all seems to come together even though not always on time.

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Ruth, Canada
I am now retired after a busy life. I now live in a city so am able to enjoy the cultural activities so often denied when living in the countryside. Each and everyday is a blank canvas. I walk everywhere and swim daily which is my relaxation. Creativity is something I lack.

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Victoria, Bahamas
I am a female writer and poet. I'm 70 years old but have only recently really understood that procrastination, or what appears to be procrastination but is perhaps part of the creative gestation process, still has to have a time limit or structure placed upon it.

Although some of my earning-a-living work comprises writing or creativity, my poetry and my expression of my creative ability and the things I must say, previously guiltily undertaken with 'left-over' time from family or work obligations, now has its own framework and times of day set aside for it. Not necessarily the same timetable each day, sometimes during the day, more often in the evenings when I am able to be peaceful - and not necessarily with a page goal/count in mind but structured sufficiently to allocate that time and then write or edit until my energy runs out.

The discipline for me is in making that time and sitting down to do it which occasionally means just writing a few lines that must be captured or remembered from earlier thoughts but more often continuing until that energy is depleted. Either way I believe it to be the appropriate method that works for me.

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Abhijit, India
It's not obvious that being "creative" is an essential part of everyday existence. Creativity is an aspect of expressing the intrinsic interconnectivity of everything to make something reflect the beauty of those bonds. I am lucky that my work requires me to be creative and find connections where none are apparent.

I think that a day full of mindful behaviour is creative. I don't seek to paint or sing. I seek to demonstrate beauty in a perfect technical solution that is tailor made for users. It is so well made that it appears not to be there. It is the beauty of the well-considered trifle. It is the hinge that gives exactly when it should and the pop-up box that pops-up not a moment too soon.

My work is filled with dreams. Of making technology easy to use. It arises from years of observation for a few moments of expression.

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Don, Canada
Oh my God, do you realize what you're letting yourself in for? All that pent up creative frustration? Anyway, here's mine.

I was a journalist for about 40 years, ending in the year 2000. As with all such people, I believed for years I had one or more books in me but no time to produce them. Then, shortly after retirement, I came upon what I still believe is a great book idea, and I've been trying for 10 years or so to put it together. Friends from former days and others current agree it's a great story, but a *** to write! Because it's all true and the star is an "anti-hero."

There are other difficulties but that's really not to your question. Everybody has problems, of course, but I plead that after having been wiped out in a total-loss home fire at age 40, I've been trying to climb back up that ladder ever since, and that leaves too little time for the book.

So I play with it, at all weird hours of the day and night, between caring for horses, gardening, roofing, plumbing, and every other "ing" involved in trying to get this 170 year old farmhouse into some liveable shape after losing my brand new home to the flames.

I am coming up on 70, and seriously questioning if I'll live long enough to finish this book, a biography of a very worthy individual. The tough part is if I die first, it will never be done. Because some of my research is unique and exists nowhere else except in my head and notes. Wish me luck.

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Mannu Mansoor, Pakistan
I am myself in the creative business being the head of my advertising agency. I am also writing a book or trying to so for many years it is difficult to carry out such passion at work as there are more pressing things to attend to during working hours.

What I do is take some time out from work and go to the mountains take pictures sit besides a river and than start putting my thoughts together and writing. My success has been affected since the Taliban have taken over most places I enjoyed and relaxed for my inspiration. I hope it improves, or I will find other locations such as fishing pond in open area to fully relax me and do the job. Wish me luck to complete this job soon.

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Philip, United States
I am a Christian pastor (Lutheran) in a town in northern Ohio, and this is a most interesting question for me. I have been at this task for 25 years now, and I have been convinced for much of that time that there's a creative writer with me that wants to surface.

Truth be told, that creative writer does surface from time to time. I enjoy applying my creativity in creating liturgies for worship...writing this, borrowing that, reworking something else, with an eye toward creating a focused worship experience for a particular festival or Sunday. Writing sermons would seem to engage both the routine of studying Scriptural texts for meaning and my creativity in putting together something worthy of the listener's attention.

My congregation's monthly newsletter affords me the opportunity regularly to produce a "think piece." Other pastors prefer to offer something "devotional" on their pages, but my preference is to apply faith underpinnings to the broad spectrum of life. I sometimes wax political and sociological; I am sometimes personal and introspective. My sheer enjoyment in writing this piece once a month tells me that creative writer inside is getting his chance to shine forth just a bit.

Thus, in answer to the question, I most frequently find my creative life emerging within my daily routine. And, when it does, that's when I find my vocation most interesting. Perhaps this is a previously unnoticed blessing...the joy of creativity within my daily routine. Your question has helped me discover it!

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Alassan, Tunisia
To be honest, it's very difficult to balance. I know that I was born a writer so whatever I do, it never pleases me until I write some thing. These days my timetable is full and my job has nothing to do with my creativity, that's why I am dying little by little!

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Susan, Israel
Your words really touched me. Partly because I identify with you - am in the same boat, or just about. But more than that, your writing is obviously the most important thing to you and you mustn't agree to die little by little! Keep a little notebook, write down all you can whenever you can. You will discover what to do with it. And no matter what fills your external day, you can still control your inner life. Make quiet moments for yourself, even if it's just when you're falling asleep at night, to see where your imagination takes you. Keep enriching that imagination, so it will be ready when you need it. I wish you all the best.

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Tatiana, Russian Federation
I'm a lucky person to be able and sometimes to be urged to exercise my creativity on daily basis just performing my teaching routine professionally. A good teacher embraces several really creative professions: a script writer, a stage director, a starring actor and a "theatrical critic", when it comes to analyzing the lesson. Well, I couldn't enjoy that kind of creativity teaching in the US, the whole system is overregulated. Here in Russia there's still some room for spontaneous performance within your classroom.

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Keerthi, United States
Where do I begin on "How do you strike a balance between your day job and your creative life?"

In the day, I work as senior quality engineer for one of world's largest medical device companies. And the rest of time, I am an inventor, a budding entrepreneur and a husband (I am afraid exactly in that order of importance too, my wife is supportive but not too amused often, as I don't do house chores on time).

There is no sweet spot or balance really, one has to give up things for the greater passion or need of the hr. It's a juggling act, but one that's worth every sense and satisfaction of every ounce of life in you. In my life, not all days are full days, only a few fit the bill.

A full day is one that starts with five to seven hours of sleep, some internet work of my inventions, then hit the day job-meet Boss's expectations, comeback complete my wife's house checklist and then hit my creative side with all cylinders until I drop. But the problem is something gives in usually.

It's almost like living many fun lives in one, makes life very rewarding.

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Pablo, Spain
When I was six I was asked what would I be when I grew up. To my mother's horror I said "a comic artist." Twenty-five years later and after passing through the grinder of architecture school, I made my dream come true. Now, 40 years after my declaration of principle, I am an illustration and comic artist who learned to balance his passion for drawing with more mundane things like doing the shopping, cooking or exercising and fit it all in 24 hours days - with very little sleep. If truth must be told sometimes I wish I had a routine job (which in Spain is usually synonymous with a job-where-you-don't-do-a damn-thing). But the wish doesn't last long. In practical terms, I wake up at 4 or 5am, work until 2pm, go to swimming for one hour and devote the rest of the evening to other subjects (usually my daughter, domestic chores and some reading or movie watching).

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Alan, United Kingdom
Very easy-- my creative life IS my daily routine. If you truly mean "what do you do about food and sleep" then you have penetrated to the heart of the problem--artists of any kind are still people with the ordinary demands of human life. But there are artists who can only work in bursts of frenzy, or who like Balzac are forced to work by their friends to meet deadlines. We are not all like Crabbe with his 400 lines of verse a day or Trollope travelling by coach in order to use the journey time to write his books. Blessed are the rich or the (rare) happily married who have the domestic chores sorted out by others and don't have to cook a kipper on a gas ring.

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Jacques, Brazil
I think that what your profession is can have a lot to do with how you balance your creative life with your daily routine, but a lot is up to individual initiative. Years ago, I overheard a fellow musician in our touring opera orchestra when informed that the same Offenbach opera was to be performed the following season ask the conductor if he could play the same second violin part. To many musicians having to repeat the same performance over and over again would be unviable which makes one wonder about musicians in the pit who perform for musicals that run on and on for years and yet there are those who have performed Beethoven's Fifth 200 times that say each time is a fresh experience; Jazz musicians certainly have more leeway.

My wife and I, both professional musicians from families of musicians, became interested in education when our first child was born and eventually founded two international schools. The second school (family run with our four children and their spouses having become teachers/ administrators) is where the fine arts are solidly integrated in the curriculum on a daily basis and as a result the students love learning and can't wait till the weekend is over. It's really wonderful for both teachers and pupils when one's daily routine is involvement in creative activities.

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Daisuke, Japan
I never think of taking balance between work and dreams. It's highly possible to feel happy enough with your being of what you are unless you heartily 'want' something you cannot reach, for instance, to win the World Cup! (this would be one of the greatest agonizing dreams you'll come across..)

I think a reason why so vast people entering another language world, watching satellite television channels, or tuning in ´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service, is that they instinctively have strong curiosity for possible another lives of themselves. What if you're born in Iraq, the US, Kenya, or India? What if the same sort of incredible events happened in your region? What if you could exchange your thoughts or feelings around the globe? What if you can find something fantastic you'll never know unless tuning in another dimension from where you are?

Daily life is full of eye-opener and itself would be a kind of dream. Modern information technology can make it for everyone. Once I frequently watched films but, latest favourite is ongoing up-to-date situation of world today, and that's why I tune the ´óÏó´«Ã½ along with my daily routines.

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John Paul, Mexico
I am an artist by profession, and I am terrible at balancing my creative life and work life, but a lot of us artists are. I have no steady job ever (that explains why I am still single) I am always creating a new painting, or thinking about my next art exhibit, but I am not good at sticking with a job, especially here in Mexico where most jobs are not creative jobs. People that live in Europe or America are lucky, they can work at art galleries and somehow make a living in the art world, but in developing countries that does not exist, so people like me tent to have to work in offices or factories and have no time for art.

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Susana, Argentina
The thought is nice indeed. I would love to sing more even in the bath, but, alas I've decided not to write a line until the intellectual property law is recognized and respected in this part of the world. Some people care about things like that, but most do not care whether their economy and politically correct thoughts and actions are manipulated to the point of ignoring the praxis of our rights in a plural, democratic country.

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Sonya, Nepal
With difficulty! I'm an examiner for a worldwide English test and I do online work marking students work in preparation for their English test.

I home school my son (we live in Nepal, the schooling is either too expensive or inadequate). I'm my husband's manager - he's a musician and I'm involved in promoting his debut album. I've also written lyrics which he has magically turned into songs. I help my husband (J Ryan) when he performs live twice a week as a solo artist by preparing his backing tracks and controlling the sound. We also run karaoke once a week, which I host. I began a music journalism course last November and have only reached Module 10, which is disappointing , as I don't like to take a long time doing things.

My dreams - I'd like to finish my music journalism course and I'm looking to see what I can follow this up with. It'd be great if Ryan gets the much deserved recognised recognition he deserves, and I hope my son, Will (who's only 12 and is taking another two Cambridge IGCSE's next week) reaches his aims to be the world's best animator!

I guess I'm good at juggling and I don't sleep much!

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Kumari, India
I am glad you asked this interesting question. I did my Ph.D. in Microbiology. I am an artist. I specialize in art from science. I am also a poet, a writer, a designer, a business woman, a social activist and a network creator.

How do I manage so many things? I see & observe very keenly the world around me for some time. Then I cut it off, go into my own world, then think a lot about them. Everyday some new inspiration emerges out of those thoughts - for my research, paintings, poems, write-ups, designs etc.

There is no specific time for these thoughts. They occur the whole day. But I must put them on paper immediately even if is midnight or while I am travelling - otherwise I become restless. I will be in some sort of "grip" and can't get out of it unless I complete doing my creative work based on those thoughts. I forget about food, sleep and everything else.

If I don't bring a form to my creative thoughts as soon as they occur, they become less effective after some time and as the intensity decreases, the work I do then won't be as good as the work I do when I am in a grip. As people here say - you can do Your best creative work only when your trinity (heart, mind and soul ) speaks. I feel all the creative people will face similar situations without any exceptions.

Daily routine? I myself don't know how I do it. Because I won't be in this world to do it properly. I won't sleep at all for a few days or sleep very less, won't eat much - don't give importance to these things at all. I say strange things, give money in shops etc to buy things more than needed, forget to take change, forget things and lose my things most of the time.

My mind knows what is importantand& what is not. So it keeps itself away from normal things. I make lots of silly mistakes because I don't think much about normal things. (my painting, The Mind of a Scientist, is based on this situation of my mind) You have to lift yourself above this mundane world to become a great creative person!

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Emmanuel, Ghana
I work as a legal clerk in a flamboyant law firm but I'm also at university which means I'm very busy. Waking up as early as 4am and sleeping between the hours of 10 and 11pm is quite unthinkable with my work schedule always taking me in and out of office, on foot mostly, because of traffic within the central district of the capital. I'm not surprised dosing off sometime during my weekly evening classes just chasing a degree.

But guess what, I'm a prolific song writer too. Within me, I feel it is the single most important reason I came into the world to write songs. It's the only thing in life I do without struggle but not without keen interest and dedication.

Inspiration comes from listening, watching and or looking or observing, reverence, meditating and more importantly, reading. Writing is beautiful. It simply brings out your strong inward man and character and diffuses all other weaknesses in and around you into thin air.

But imagine mixing writing with all the hell afore time stated, I admit stress but I'm strong. And because reading the lyrics and singing the songs I've written bring me peace and joy within me, I do anything and everything humanly possible to write what I've received and to sing what I've written and I'm determined to defy all odds just to do so.

Life's still beautiful with all it brings and contains.

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Steph, United States
As a curator and research specialist whose work has often crossed international borders, I consider myself to be most fortunate in that the daily routine most always involves the use of creative thought. Due to the nature of exhibitions, each project provides opportunities to explore given subjects regardless of age or culture in new ways. The dialogue is an ever expanding discourse involving currents of ideas with peers and the public.

Presently, to dream is a luxury not afforded to all: for the dream often implies change that often evolves out of some degree of self awareness. And, with the recent rise or revival of dogmatic approaches in numerous quarters around the globe, many individuals are "encouraged" to abandon thought for a belief that there is "security" in a formulaic and orderly daily routine.

All work, depending upon socio-political attitudes, can result in alternative forms of creativity, provided one is given the permission to question and participate in the dialogue without fear of reprisal. A sound structure of civil accord based in mutual respect and responsibility are the portals to an environment in which dreams may flourish and provide benefits not only to the individual but, to all.

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Eva, Barbados
I don't think I consciously compartmentalize my life between work and dreams, because I strive to enjoy life as it is, and don't worry too much about the dreams. From observation, I see that there is the possibility that you could spend a significant part of your life dreaming about things which if you were to achieve them they would not add significantly to the quality of your life anyway.

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James, Kenya
When I was a young teacher I wrote in the evenings and night after marking and preparing my next day's lessons.

In my late years I have written in the evenings, night and very early in the mornings.

Today as a professional writer I write because I have to. I always find time to write, either in the night or anytime I notice something that gives me an idea. For example I have ever stopped my bicycle to write something which I finally build on to produce what can be read.

When I retired from teaching two years ago I had all the day devoted to my writing. One of these days I will have a steady flow of finished work coming out of my computer.

Although I am also a new multilevel marketer of preventive health care products I find it difficult to give writing a second slot just as I find it as hard to remove my MLM activities from the first slot. I enjoy the dilemma and give each project a goal to reach within a given set time.

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Lucinda Clark, United States
I am a publisher/poet of a small press here in Georgia. Between getting my two teens to complete their last year of high school and working on upcoming projects, I have learned to write down my thoughts as they occur to me in a journal so that they do not get lost in all the organizing that must currently be done. It is my hope to get back to what I have written this summer.

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Steel, Germany
I reckon I must be lucky, my creative life is my daily routine, this of course at a price which is a general lack of wealth as commonly accepted, one isn't exactly a "poet starving in a garret" but many things which most people seem to take for granted are non-existent and unnecessary.

I don't need the latest gadgets. merely enough tools to get on with the work in hand, I'm a composer (contemporary classical - so called avant garde) which involves a great deal of time if one is to produce a work worthy of the name as opposed to some sort of obligatory convenient pandering mediocrity.

In effect one lives within a different time-scale, there is always time and no "obstacle" becomes insurmountable when the focus and attitude is correctly orientated, always with a certain gratitude that one has been given the opportunity to work thus. We're all one huge human family and one works for all despite the momentary seemingly small if not minute interest group, but this is the world of ideas where all are a part, whatever creed or social status.

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Alaric, Canada
Poetry, as yet unpublished, gets written in the quiet moments at the end of a day, when there is always time for reflection if one chooses time for oneself. It is the same for creative wood-turning...one has to pick the moments.

I am refocused, [NOT retired!] and enjoy volunteer work with St John Ambulance and with Victim Services. Interaction with people is essential for me...perhaps after 37 years of teaching I am able to balance being creative with daily routine as I have always done...by choosing to frame things in a perspective related to the needs of people around me.

Some days therefore have no time for my creative side...others by contrast have lots of room for creativity and positive dreams.

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Parita, Kenya
I am a teacher by profession. I teach at a primary school in Nairobi during the day time and work as a part time lecturer at the University of Nairobi in the evenings or towards my PhD.

For me, creativity has no time limit or borders because I am an artist in my own way. I make things out of waste material - envelopes from wedding cards, draw and paint but only when in mood and create my own songs - but that's only for myself.

At the moment I am writing a book on poems. I don't have to sit and think. The thought comes anytime - when eating, bathing, sleeping. A paper and a pen are my best friends and always next to me. So anytime a thought comes, I just pick the pen and paper and put them down. I also create my own designs in clothes.

Whenever I feel that I need to make a new design especially on Indian saris, I just do it. And when worn, they look gorgeous. One thing I have realised is that when it comes to work, work. But don't let work kill the talented brains. This is the secret to success in life.

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Hyacinth, Nigeria
It is very hard for me to balance my creative life with my daily routine, waking up in the morning, pray with my wife and off I go with my self-employed job and I have to work so hard during the day for me to make it. Coming back in the evening I read newspapers online and other related articles. But not much time for me to exercise my creative life.

It's simply not easy.

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Edward, United Kingdom
I find that there are two sides to my creativity, a technical side and a scientific side. The technical side can be progressed using logic, for example, if you need a tool or equipment in order to carry out a task, you can design it and get someone to make it.

On the scientific side, there may be a question you need resolved, another piece of the puzzle, in order to gain insight into a problem. This may occur through painstaking research, but is more likely to be a flash of inspiration when one is doing something completely unrelated, or even asleep and dreaming.

Either case is followed by feverish activity to develop and complete the idea and I carry on until it is finished. This can disrupt family life. Once the creative burst is finished, I go back to my normal routine.

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Keith, United States
Procrastination is important. Write, deposit text in file cabinet for two weeks, then retrieve & edit if necessary. Editing is usually required, so rinse and repeat. Unfortunately, myself tend to hit the "delete" key and start over. But capturing what you are thinking at a particular moment and time is correct. Do not discard.

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Ulrik, Denmark
First of all, and without meaning to demean anyone's endeavours, I don't really accept that creativity is the privilege of those who wish to contribute to the social realm commonly referred to as "Culture", and I resent as arrogant and blinkered any claims to the contrary.

Rather, I believe creativity is inherent to all humans and that it may find expression in multiple and varied ways, all of which are equally worthy of interest and admiration.

So for me, the question is less about creativity per se than about conducting one's life in such a way as to allow one to pursue one's dreams and aspirations to the fullest, while balancing individual desires against the desire to take on obligations toward others.

My personal solution is to accept modest material circumstances and therefore obligations - as least in comparison to the majority of my rich-country compatriots - and in exchange enjoy the freedoms this affords me to do as I please.

As a result I have limited sympathy for those fellow citizens who, unthinkingly following social conventions and pressures, have taken on huge financial obligations only belatedly to discover that this did not lead to a life they actually wanted.

My response is this: stop whining and start taking responsibility for your own existence. If the desire is truly there, we all have the capacity to pursue our dreams. All else is but idle, tiresome chatter.

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Katia, Brazil
Well, first of all, I totally agree with an earlier comment. It is very difficult to balance my creative life with my daily routine. But, I've been trying hard.

When I am not working, I read a lot, I also love painting Mandalas. This activity makes me feel calm, because you need peace and concentration to paint. I like especially to think about the colors.

I also like to go to the cinema, swimming...but it is not easy to keep these "creative" activities regularly but I do my best to practice some of them at least three times a week. My favourite creative active is painting. I really love, and it makes me feel relaxed, calm. I recommend!

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Heather, China
Simple...with great difficulty!

Once upon a time my day job was my creative life. As a youngish (and extremely naive) classroom music teacher, I had dreams of teaching scores of pupils wonderful music and every child being greatly enthused just I was at school (we can dream!). Sadly, government policy, company policy, school policy, parental policy, policy, policy and more policies have meant that the majority of my day is spent justifying myself on reams of paper to...well nobody exactly!

Do parents read it? No. Do pupils read it? No. Do teachers need it to teach effectively? No. Am I bitter...well just a bit!!! The only time this paperwork ever gets glanced at is if there is an inspection which happens once in a blue moon. That's when it's difficult to stay motivated.

I still try to stay as creative on a daily basis as much as possible. I am passionate about my subject so it's a daily challenge to explain and present knowledge, information and develop children's key skills in an interesting and active way. I teach from ages 3-16 which means that I can teach in a wide range of styles which keeps the job interesting.

But one of the main reasons I like this job (it's rather corny) is no two days are ever the same. You can never predict how children will act and react together or what questions they might ask so in that respect I have to answer creatively everyday. Even something as simple as changing the display boards can be creative (or not!).

Now, if only I could get excited enough to make my paperwork creative!