Add Creativity to Your Self-Care
As the weather cools down and we spend more time indoors, it is the perfect time to explore new hobbies. Spending time in a creative pursuit can benefit your mental health, and completing a project can boost your self-esteem and confidence. Many hobbies, like knitting, painting, journaling, etc., can be a way to practice mindfulness or creative meditation. The benefits of these types of hobbies for reducing stress and increasing happiness are easy to find in many mental health articles online.
Other types of creative pursuits have their rewards and can also be done indoors, like cooking, photography and collage. Almost any artistic endeavor will help reduce stress, and hobbies like cooking or baking give the added pleasure of having something to eat and share after your time in the kitchen.
Some of a hobby’s joy is showing off your creations, gifting them or eating them with others. For example, scarves are one of the easiest things to make if you learn to knit or crochet, and once you’ve handmade scarves for all your friends, you can start making them for people living in shelters. Almost everyone living in a shelter could use the added warmth this time of year.
A great way to further enjoy your hobby is to create a social media account for your projects. You can take pictures of what you are working on and grow a following of people who share your passion for photography, cooking, painting, etc. Even journal entries can become blog posts, and short passages or poetic lines can make up an Instagram or Facebook post. Creating a social media account specifically for your craft/art/hobby is yet another way to use your creative muscles.
If you are uncertain how to get started with a new hobby, you can find inspirational and tutorial videos on almost every hobby on the YouTube platform. I know someone who learned to play the ukelele by watching instructional videos on YouTube. Each time I take up knitting, I have to find a beginner's video and start from scratch because I forget how to cast on the yarn and to do two basic stitches – knit and purl.
There don't seem to be any drawbacks of adding a creative outlet to your self-care routine unless you are the type to buy one of every color of yarn, purchase every cute journal you see, and continually add paints or kitchen gadgets to your shopping cart. Besides the possible expense of supplies, adding a hobby to your life appears to have almost all rewards and benefits.
Although most likely, your time spent completing projects will be a solitary pursuit, it is possible to create community from your efforts, increasing the health benefits. I know I will be making this a priority for my self-care practices for fall and winter. Are you in?
Rebecca Chamaa is a freelance writer, workshop instructor, and graduate student at Columbia University. She calls sunny Southern California her home.
