8 ways Creativity improves your well-being
Are you stressed from work or bored out of your mind? Or maybe you simply cannot find any enjoyment in your day to day routine? If yes, it's time for you to get creative!
In this post and video below, I share 8 ways on how creativity can improve your well-being and bring you joy to your routine.
As a bonus at the end, I share with a tool called Life Pie and a free downloadable template that can help you identify the areas in your life that can benefit from either creativity or a change.
Watch the below video or keep on reading.
1. Self-expression
Creativity allows you to express your thoughts, emotions, and your unique perspective of the world. What better way is there to display your uniqueness than by bringing your imagination to live in the form of a character design, a decorative crafts projects for your home or even a handbag you made and wear?
When you are able to translate your imagination into reality, you will get a sense of fulfilment and satisfaction which in turn can only bring you happiness and increase your self-esteem.
To tap into my self-expression, I usually tap into my personal life experience and things that I enjoy.
2. Flow state
Engaging in creative activities often leads to a state of flow. This is where you are fully immersed in an activity, losing track of time, and experience deep focus. When I am in the state of flow, my mind slows down, my thoughts get quiet, I feel more relaxed and can enjoy the moment more vividly. This is fantastic for people that have anxiety or have a tendency to overthink. It’s another way of destressing or meditating.
To get myself in the state of flow, in the background I’ll put on an old 90s movie I love but have seen multiple times and start drawing. I loose myself drawing for hours… so much so that I easily work throughout the night going to sleep at 7 am in the morning feeling sleepy but very fulfilled.
3. Sense of accomplishment
When you complete a creative project or reach a creative goal, this will bring you a strong sense of accomplishment. This may be because you learned a new skill, or you challenged yourself to do something you didn’t think you could do, or you are just in love with the result and cannot wait to show it off. Whatever it may be for you, these feelings will boost your self-esteem and overall happiness.
In my journey as an artist there have been many moments like these for me where I learned a new skill or overcame a misbelief I had about myself. The sense of accomplishment is reinforced further when you create something tangible, like a handmade leather bag, because you can see and touch it. You may even get compliments for the hand-painted scarf you made and are wearing.
I remember when I was doing local markets, seeing the smiles on people’s faces when they would approach my stall and see my creations, was just unreal.
4. Stress reduction
Creative activities can serve as a form of stress relief. When you engage in creative pursuits, you will get absorbed in the process. This helps reduce stress and anxiety which will help you to relax.
For me this goes hand in hand with the state of flow. Already when I am at the research phase of a creative project my mind focuses on this fun project instead the challenges that may be going in my life. It’s a way to take a break mentally.
Another way I look at it, is that when you create you block all those often overwhelming stimuli of the world and focus on creating from inside out. This forces you to be in the moment and your body rather than your head. A bit like when you are doing sports and you use your energy for an exercise that then relieves stress.
5. Social connections
Depending how introverted or shy you are, creativity can lead to social connections. When you share your work or meet like-minded and like-hearted people, this can give you a sense of belonging. This is such an important factor for all human beings as it makes you feel loved, that you have a place in the world and that you are needed.
Even just now, the fact that you are reading this post, means you are connecting with me and all the others reading the post too. I need you to consume my content, so that I know I am creating valuable content and you need this content to learn about creativity and feel encourage to start or continue your creative journey.
There are many ways to engage with others like using social media, going to local markets, doing a workshop or courses and attending sketch/painting/animation festivals, you name it.
Fostering these positive relationships will increase your happiness.
6. Personal growth
Creativity encourages you to think outside the box, learn new skills, and overcome challenges. The best way to grow is to do activities that are just a little outside of your comfort zone because these are enough of a challenge yet feel achievable. And little by little you will expand your comfort zone.
Being creative is a method of self-expression which requires exploration time and getting to know yourself better. You will grow when you know where you are and where you want to be and that is personal growth.
7. Sense of purpose
Many people find meaning and purpose in their creative pursuits. When you have a creative outlet that you are passionate about, it can give your life a sense of purpose and direction.
One of the things that gives me a great sense of purpose is helping others succeed and find joy. So when somebody purchases a product from my store, a sewing pattern, just knowing that somebody that I don’t know across of the world is having fun sewing one of my design gives me a huge sense of purpose. I feel I am contributing to this world positively.
And this doesn’t mean that you have to sell something to find purpose, but you could create a bespoke greeting card for your friends during Christmas, like I did by drawing the pets of my friends.
8. Positive emotions
Engaging in creative activities often leads to the experience of positive emotions such as joy, excitement, and satisfaction.
The best example for me would be when I am video editing. I get to make fun of myself making mistakes, looking weird and just random funny bloopers (See a few examples in my video). But also I love the creative process of coming up with cute and fun ideas to make the video more engaging through images, sound effects and music. I laugh like a crazy person all by myself usually in the middle of the night when video editing.
Let me know in the comments which of these benefits of creativity would be the most impactful to your well being?
Bonus: Life Pie
The bonus is a tool called “Wheel of Life” or Life pie. It helps you identify the areas that need attention in your life for you to have a more balanced and happier life. Here is how it works:
- List the areas of your life that are important, e.g. family & friends, work, recreation, spirituality etc.
- Draw a circle and divide it into pies, each representing an areas that is important to you.
- Now evaluate from 0-10 (10 being the best) how satisfied within each of those pies.
- Go a step further in writing down in bullet points what satisfies you and what doesn’t in each pie.
The scores will show you which pies/areas in your life need more attention and the bullet points will tell you what you need to change.
I've created a Free Life Pie Template you can download with the below button. All you have to do is adjust the life areas and scores to you and the graphic will automatically populate.
Tech details: The Life Pie template is an Excel file that you can open with Excel or import to Google Sheets. For the latter, follow the instructions 2.4 Import Excel data into Sheets and select "Import Theme".
Now that you know how much creativity can contribute to your well-being and that you cannot live another day without it, check out my products made for creators.
