EPISODE · Jul 8, 2025 · 51 MIN
Listen Again: Why you don’t need a purpose to be creative with Elizabeth Gilbert
from Everything Happens with Kate Bowler · host Everything Happens Studios
During our summer break, we are re-airing some of our favorite episodes. In this live conversation recorded at Duke University, the indomitable Liz Gilbert (of EAT, PRAY, LOVE fame) joins Kate for a discussion about the courage to create. Listen as Liz helps us expose our exhausting American need to make everything useful and lets us embrace beauty as a way of really living. In this episode, Kate and Liz discuss: Why we stop ourselves from being creative How we are all capable of making anything (badly! medium-well!) But how our creativity is best if it is for no reason whatsoever (not for impact or legacy or money or acknowledgement) How curiosity quiets fear and control CW: some spicy adult language Watch clips from this conversation, read the full transcript, and access discussion questions by clicking here or visiting katebowler.com/podcasts. Follow Kate on Instagram, Facebook, or X (formerly known as Twitter)—@katecbowler. Links to social pages and more available at linktr.ee/katecbowler. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
What this episode covers
During our summer break, we are re-airing some of our favorite episodes. In this live conversation recorded at Duke University, the indomitable Liz Gilbert (of EAT, PRAY, LOVE fame) joins Kate for a discussion about the courage to create. Listen as Liz helps us expose our exhausting American need to make everything useful and lets us embrace beauty as a way of really living. In this episode, Kate and Liz discuss: Why we stop ourselves from being creative How we are all capable of making anything (badly! medium-well!) But how our creativity is best if it is for no reason whatsoever (not for impact or legacy or money or acknowledgement) How curiosity quiets fear and control CW: some spicy adult language Watch clips from this conversation, read the full transcript, and access discussion questions by clicking here or visiting katebowler.com/podcasts. Follow Kate on Instagram, Facebook, or X (formerly known as Twitter)—@katecbowler. Links to social pages and more available at linktr.ee/katecbowler. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
NOW PLAYING
Listen Again: Why you don’t need a purpose to be creative with Elizabeth Gilbert
No transcript for this episode yet
Similar Episodes
Mar 26, 2026 ·1m
Jan 2, 2026 ·47m
Dec 21, 2025 ·46m