What to do when someone copies your creativity

CreativeRx: Originality is a living, ongoing process - and it requires us to keep nurturing our inspiration; plus, what's inspiring me right now.

CreativeRx is your dose of creative thinking in an exhausting world. Every week, I share observations on how creativity, play, and wonder interact with the world - think of it as a peek into my brain as a Creative Health Scientist.

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DW: NO ONE CAN COPY YOUR UNIQUE SOURCE CODE 👾

One of the most common creative wounds we have when it comes to expressing ourselves freely, openly and originally - particularly in the world we live in today - is the fear of being copied.

At some point in our lives, we’ve all experienced it: You finally take the step to share your ideas, inspiration, even vulnerabilities - in a way that is meaningful to you - and then…you see it on someone else. Their feed. Their work product. Even their aesthetic.

Saying that it hurts is an understatement.

And, this experience isn’t just true for professional creatives. It’s happened to all of us: A friend wearing the same exact outfit. A colleague speaking with your tone or gestures.

A few weeks ago, I was being interviewed on a podcast and the host asked me: What’s your advice for when someone copies your creativity? How do you avoid it - and handle it when it happens?

Looking back on how I responded, I gave a calm, scientific, professional answer. Honestly, I was using my logical brain instead of my human one. I said: “Theoretically, no one can copy you - we aren’t machines. We all have such different ways of seeing the world, so your only job is to keep tuning into yours.”

While technically that’s true - I had forgotten the emotional pain that comes with the experience. Until it happened to me…again.

Since we’ve been talking about originality, critical thinking and self-expression over the past few weeks - this moment felt like the perfect one to dissect “copying” from a Creative Health perspective.

I won’t get into my personal details here - it’s not the point of this piece - but the visceral experience of seeing your words, work and deeply creativity ideas in others claiming it as their own is…jarring to say the least.

I will be to be incredibly honest with you all though: Feeling copied is a big wound for me. I place a lot of value on being original, unique and pushing myself to make sure whatever I express feels new and authentic to me.

So, the moment I saw it, my stomach dropped. I felt a mix of both anger and disbelief rising in my chest - it felt like a violation of something I couldn’t quite verbalize. Frankly? I wanted to throw my phone to the other side of the room.

This reaction, if you’ve ever experienced something similar, makes complete sense biologically: Creativity, in any form, is a deeply emotional, personal and vulnerable experience - even if you’re just doodling in the margins of your notebook. The entire point of it is to, truly, bringing your insides outside.

So, “copying” can feel like a threat to our nervous system, because it is. It activates the same threat-detection circuits as social exclusion; our brain literally reads it as identity theft - a fear that the uniqueness of your perspective and your place in the world will be taken away.

Or worse - you will be left behind.

But creatively, the opposite is true.

Copying is really just a lagging indicator that you’re onto something. It means you got there first. And, the Creatively Healthy response to that isn’t to protect what you’ve already made - it’s to keep moving forward.

Because when we honestly look at what’s actually happening: My original podcast advice was spot on. We are not machines - it’s truly impossible for any other human being to see the world, make sense of the world, and connect the dots unique to your life experience in the way that you will.

Our creative expression operates on three levels - and only one of them is copyable:

1. Surface: This is the easiest for other people to copy. It’s the words we use. The aesthetic we embody. The frameworks or formats we put into the world. What I saw last week.

2. Depth: This is hard to copy. It’s the way your creative brain synthesizes your life inputs in a unique way - the timing you have, the information + experiences you’ve collected, the specific combinations of things only you have lived through.

3. Source: This is impossible to copy. It’s your way of seeing the world, your creative embodiment. Your pain. Your appreciation. Who you are at the level underneath everything you make.

In all of this, the thing that we often forget is that our creativity is a living, breathing process. One requires attention, cultivation and constant replenishment from life itself.

So, the antidote to copying? It's continuously deepening your source, which means paying closer attention to the world around you in a way only you can do.

That’s why over the next month at Creative Health we’ll be focused on dissecting the science behind the creative act of Noticing. How we can restore and replenish our attention enough to hold space for inspiration. Understanding the science of aesthetics, environments and our senses so the entire world can be our source.

Because at the end of the day, someone can theoretically “copy” you, yes. But, they can never be you. They can’t move through the world, notice what you notice and piece it together in the unique and original way that is authentic to you.

Your unique creative brain will always be steps ahead of everyone else. We just have to keep tending it.

From my brain to yours,

Katina, Creative Health Scientist & Daydreamers’ Co-founder + Chief Science Officer

Tell me what you think: Did this resonate? Comment below or hit reply - I read every response 🫶🏽

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1. There’s a good reason you can’t concentrate RN: In this piece that was written by Cal Newport earlier this week, he dissects a crisis - and advocates for a new movement - we’ve been talking about here at Creative Health for a while: Exercising our capacity to think. It’s a fascinating read + aligns with my POV on Cognitive Sovereignty. If you missed our Field Guide on thinking as an exercise, read it here.

2. Something that’s inspiring me - we went to space for the first time in 50 (!) years: Tell me why I was sobbing at the Artemis II launch earlier this week. Not only was it an incredible moment of humanity, connection and awe - but it reminded me that the first book I ever published was about becoming an astronaut (okay, it was in first grade, but it still counts!). Alongside wonder, there was a nostalgia in the air - both core ingredients for creative inspiration. If you’re extra intrigued about space + psychology, highly suggest reading about The Overview Effect.

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UPCOMING FIELD GUIDE: HOW TO ACTUALLY NOURISH YOUR ATTENTION 🌾

The big questions I’ve been pondering: What does it mean to restore - and direct - your attention for creativity? How to we shift from being rushed and exhausted to inspired and alive? What does the science tell us about immersing ourselves in the world around us - instead of tuning out?

What I’m excited about: I know I say this often, but this might be one of my favorite topics in the world of Creative Health. I feel like noticing and appreciating beauty speaks to me on such a deep level - and I’ve been waiting for the day to do a complete deep dive on ART (Attention Restoration Theory) and it’s connection to our Creative Health. I think it’s a major, missing link in our well-being. I might be insufferable after writing this 🤓

Why this matters for all of us right now: We have been talking non-stop about the reactionary, rushed, always-on culture that we live in - but often, the conversation around “attention” is channeling it into more productivity. Otherwise, we tune out. Creative Health is about tuning in to the world around you - and amplifying awe, wonder, beauty and your nervous system’s capacity to hold it all. It feels like the underlying system beneath our entire lives needs an upgrade.