Creativity is such an underrated tool that can help support your mental health.

There are numerous studies that have shown the vast benefits of creativity. I’ve personally found it to be tremendously healing and relaxing and cannot encourage women enough to have a creative endeavor for themselves.

Today I’m going to share some of the most important aspects of it when it comes to your mental health.

There are so many incredible ways to practice creativity. Painting, photography, scrapbooking (my personal favorite), drawing, art journaling, sculpting, coloring, storytelling, knitting, calligraphy, and countless others.

Start thinking about what creative hobby you wish you did or did more often while we explore why that creative time is so beneficial for your mental health.

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How Creative Hobbies Improve Mental Health

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1. It Allows You Total Freedom

Creative hobbies allow you so much freedom. Freedom to make choices for yourself- which hobbies you do, what colors you use, what medium you work with, what designs you create.

It allows you to have an element of healthy control because you have total freedom in all of your creative choices.

We often crave that level of freedom to determine our world. While we cannot control the world around us, creative hobbies give us a healthy place to have control and total freedom over our direction.

2. It Gives You a Safe Place to Be Yourself

Creativity gives you a safe place to be yourself. When you create things in solitude, you’re able to express yourself without fear of judgment or rejection.

Creative outlets allow us to process our thoughts, feelings, and experiences at our own pace, with whatever mediums we are comfortable with. It can also be incredibly beneficial because it allows the creator to be expressive and still vague.

If you struggle to write or verbalize your feelings or experiences because you don’t want others to know your story yet, creative hobbies give you a way to express those things without other people knowing what your art represents.

It gives you a canvas to express your feelings and experiences without you writing down things that you may not other people to hear or read.

3. It Gives Your Brain Time to Rest, Recharge, and Relax

Creative time gives your brain a break from input. When you create, it gives your mind a rest from the constant stream of input that comes from music, television, conversations among people in public, advertisements, and all the forms that information input occurs.

This mental break is vital for recharging our mental energy. Recharging that mental energy allows us to make decisions more easily and soundly again, feel calm and at peace, and return to our lives feeling renewed.

When we are creative, it gives us a break from all of the input our brain is usually overwhelmed with and helps us return to a healthier mindset.

4. Creative Hobbies Make Us Feel Accomplished

One of the very best things about creative hobbies is that it makes us feel good about ourselves and how we spend our time.

Not only does it give us a break from the input of the world, but it also allows us to contribute to the world. The sense of accomplishment we get when we create something makes us feel like we have done something healthy and productive with our time.

While we are not obligated to share our creations with the world, it feels amazing to know we created something beautiful that now exists in the world.

5. It Improves Our Problem Solving Skills

Practicing the creative part of your brain is also fantastic because it’s linked to self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is the feeling that we are capable of making our own decisions and accomplishing tasks.

When you’re able to think creatively, your brain becomes better at problem-solving and coming up with creative solutions to issues. Practicing that part of your brain helps you improve your ability and natural tendency to be a creative problem-solver.

Being able to quickly come up with creative and optimal solutions is tremendously beneficial for your mental health.

Not only will it help you make better decisions and solve problems for yourself, but you’ll feel that sense of self-efficacy knowing that you’re able and capable to come up with solutions and execute tasks yourself.

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As you can see, there are a lot of huge mental health benefits to having a creative hobby.

This covered 5 major ways creative pursuits help to improve our mental health, but there are countless more.

If you desire any of these benefits in your life, then it’s a good idea to start prioritizing a creative hobby.

If you have one, make more time for it. If you don’t have one yet, choose one, start simple, and just explore if you like it or what to try something else. There are so many wonderful creative hobbies to try, you’re bound to find one you love.

Remember, prioritizing your mental health is essential to how you show up in the world. Make time for yourself, make time for creative pursuits, and see how it improves your mental health and increases your overall joy in life. You deserve to have a healthy mindset, positive thoughts, and a joyful heart. Make it a priority.

And bonus points for this aspect of mental health- creative hobbies are super fun!

Love, Laura

Creativity Mental Health