World Mental Health Day is coming up on October 10th and we’d like to do a post on our social media raising awareness and highlighting the impact the act of creating has on mental health.
Anyone willing to share? I’ll go first…
For me, getting into the zone on a project allows my brain slow down and let go of trying to keep track of all the spinning plates in my life. It’s really soothing for me to get into a state of flow and just jam on something. I find myself in a more relaxed state of mind after creating (sometimes even after creating on a ridiculous, sleep deprived time crunch )
I am at my most calm when I am using my hands to make something, and then I am listening to an engaging story (tv, podcast, audiobook). I feel both accomplished and entertained.
I tend to choose larger projects, and space them out a bit. This usually leads to periods of 1-3 months where I’m working on one project, and then a few weeks or months between them where I may do some smaller things, try something new, or really make not much at all. I always find that I am somewhat less “happy” and just have lower general life satisfaction in those in between periods. I’m at my best when in the middle of something.
Even though I’m always much busier in those periods and sometimes projects can have frustrating days, they’re a great boon to mental health and happiness and I think everyone should be making!
I really do believe that humans were meant to be making things (perhaps necessarily not strictly as “work”), whether it be cooking, drawing, woodworking, knitting, music, code, or anything else, and it’s my personal opinion that a good amount (certainly not all) of the the generational increase in unhappiness and depression over the years can be explained by the fact that people tend to consume a lot more than they make nowadays. I don’t want to diminish anyone’s experience to say that’s its the only or main factor, but sorta like how exercising always tends to improve mental health, I think creating is another necessary nutrient of life
The creative process is frequently described as making something. It is empowering to transform something that only exists in our mind into something with a physical presence, a thing. That thing becomes something of importance when that thing transforms a part of our lives. But it’s good to remember not all creations are things.
My wife and I are aging, and “cognitive decline” is often on (and in) our minds. Aging has offered me opportunities to create solutions to the challenges of aging. That said, it helps a lot to distinguish intelligence from memory. Forgetting where we put our keys, a purse, or glasses is frustrating for both of us. Finding creative solutions to daily challenges is engaging and exercises our minds.
The cutting edge of aging gracefully is maintaining a joyful demeanor while passing through a period as transformative and challenging as adolescence, only in reverse. Living on that edge forces one to be creative. For my wife and me, creating solutions to those challenges and working together has transformed our relationship, building compassion, trust, and love.
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