What does self-care mean to you?

For most people self-care means nothing more than looking after our daily needs of eating, sleeping and washing if they’re lucky. For others, it can be an entire world involving using all of our senses on a daily basis.

For me, self-care also includes using both sides of my brain. My logical side, which for me has become over the years a more dominant side, and my creative side, which I allowed to go unused for so long it felt very rusty to start using it again.

If like me you have not used that creative side of yourself for a long time it can feel daunting to begin again. But let me tell you, it’s so worth it for your life/work balance.

What does creativity mean to you?

For many people being creative means, you have a wonderful talent for writing, painting, playwriting, poetry, songwriting, singer or sculptor. But being creative involves so much more, it means doing something you like to help you relax and lose yourself for a few hours or even just half an hour in.

For me, yes that does involve painting, but I don’t get to do this often enough. So I also use journaling and writing my blog, these help stimulate my creative side. Some of it is work related, but in doing so I also get to create some motivational quotes for others and get creative with photographs. 

Creativity for me also involves cooking and gardening with my grandchildren too. Creativity can mean anything you want it to be, including that walk along the beach looking at a wonderful sunset.

Creativity can be very helpful in reducing your stress levels. Just switching off from work by taking up a hobby/interest that is the exact opposite of what you work at.

But sometimes if you’re lucky your work is relaxing or your hobby because it’s something you love to do. Just like some lovely ladies I know Helena Gilhooly of Busy Beaders Caroline Cunningham of Authentic Reflexology , Annette Byrne of Julsulove, Susan Caplice of Susan Caplice Art and Deirdre ní Dhubhghaill of Design & Art .

9 Ways To Use Creativity In Your Self-care Routine.

But what if I can’t paint, sing or write?

Art is so much more than just drawing or painting as many of you will have realised and as I’ve said so is creativity.

Whoever said you had to be great at something did you a disservice. You can try your best, enjoy the hell out of it and whatever the outcome doesn’t matter.

So how can you incorporate being creative into your daily self-care?

Let’s explore some ideas:

Visualization 

Visualization can be used in two formats and I’d use both. Firstly, every morning before you get out of bed, begin by visualising how your day will be. Stick to positive thoughts only, say goodbye to all those “Oh God here we go again!” comments.

Your day doesn’t have to be bad, you have a choice here, just as much as you can look on the negative, you can also look at the positive. (see below for tips on affirmations, journal and gratitude work to help with this).

Secondly, create your own vision board. What’s a vision board? A vision board is a large piece of paper or cardboard (or screensaver) onto which you put: pictures, small drawings, poems. Just about anything you like in order to help you create a vision of what you want in your life.

You don’t have to pick your whole life, but just one area you would like to work on. You can also create a vision board for your business – most companies do.

Journals

Using a journal can be very creative in so many ways. Firstly, just starting to write out how you feel at the end of each day. This could include a brain dump of everything on your to do list also.

This will help you develop your writing skills and boost your self-confidence and self-esteem and reduce your stress levels. Particularly when you include some gratitude for your day by including three things you are grateful for that day..

Secondly, you can also use some great artwork or little drawings/ doodles/photos or poems/affirmations into your journal.  Build up the colours you use, let your mind wander and see what happens.

A therapeutic art coach I’d recommend is Kelly Ann Jones of Kelly’s Art World.

Thirdly, bullet journaling is another great way to express yourself. It isn’t just about keeping a diary/planner. But people also include drawings, affirmations, poems, stickers, photos etc., too. If you need to know how to start a bullet journal and start using some creativity in it, check out this YouTube video

Hobbies of all kinds including sport.

Yes, sport can be creative too, sometimes you need a little creativity in strategizing to get the best results, so don’t rule it out completely.

Other hobbies can be much more creatively obvious like art, photography, etc., but you can also include things like gardening. Whatever takes your fancy try it, you don’t have to be great at it, you just have to give it a go!

Try different things at night classes until you find the one you like the best. You’ll also get out of your routine, your home and make new friendships. A word of warning please try something different, if you knit or do artwork already try something else, stepping outside of our comfort zone, even just a small bit, is good for us.

Make a list of all your ideas.

Get in the habit of making a list of your ideas and do some little doodles on the page too. Get into the habit of carrying a small notebook to write down your ideas in them.

This tells your brain it’s okay to get creative and come up some ideas for your work, your business, your home and garden, holidays or hobbies, travel or family gatherings too.

Mindful colouring.

This allows you to not only practice a form of mindfulness meditation, but it also allows you creative mind to come into play. We all loved colouring books as kids and these newer adult versions are a brilliant way to let your inner child out to play alongside finding some relaxation. For some ideas and freebies check out pinterest or you can download a free one here.

Affirmations as artwork.

Just like mindful colouring we can use affirmations as pieces of artwork we can create for our homes. All you need is an affirmation that means something to you or you wish to work on, a piece of paper to write it on and some colouring pens or pencils.

Write the affirmation out on your piece of paper and then colour some designs around it. If you are not confident enough to do it this way use a page from the mindful colouring books to colour in your design and try to write your affirmation in on the page.You can now put this piece of art up where you’ll see it every day as you work on the affirmation.

You can also print some for free from Wink Design  Love grows printable or you can again find them on Pinterest as I’ve said. If you know your way around Canva you can also use some creativity to design some affirmation artwork for your wall. Something similar would be a site called Visme 

Singing

Yes, I know, I can hear some of you going “No Way I can’t sing!” But you see you don’t have to get up and suddenly start singing Karaoke. You can use CD’s or a playlists in your car or kitchen to sing along to your favourite tunes. No more listing to drive-time radio, you need to be uplifted and relaxed, not worried and stressed further.

So why not give it a go, who’s going to hear you anyway? If you have children or grandchildren, it’s great to sing along with their favourite songs too. You’re helping build their self-confidence along the way as well as spending some good quality time with them. So go ahead and let your inner child have some fun, you know you really like those Disney movies!

Creative activity as a form of self-soothing.

This is also very much a part of your self-care routine every day. I have compiled a list of self-soothing activities you can start with, that use all your senses to build healthy habits. This is a 6 part blog (very short blogs on each sense) just scan down the lists provided and pick one to start with.

Daydream

Just sit and let your mind daydream like you did as a kid. If you feel a little rusty at this, use either music, a scented candle or a book to get lost in first. There’s no harm in getting lost in some positive daydreams once a day. You will even come up with something wonderful goals, dreams and ideas you can implement into your life.

Why is creativity so important (or the technical stuff to convince you to do this)

Creativity can fill our life with joy and give it the sense of wholeness, it is open to anyone. Just because you work hard doesn’t mean you have to leave your creativity behind you.

Stress reduction:

Remember the saying All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy? Well, it does more than that, it makes him stressed out, burnt out probably, heading towards all sorts of mental health and physical health problems.

Getting your life/work balance is so important, notice I used the life/work balance not the work/life balance. That’s a big hint for any of you who think work comes first. At the end of the day, work won’t be there on your death-bed, family and friends will and all the love they have for you.

Mental and Physical Health issues:

Yes, any of the above techniques will help you when you need to address your mental and physical health, and not just stress reduction either.

If you suffer from any mental health problems some of the ways listed above will help give your serotonin levels a boost, improve self-confidence and self-esteem.

Helps with your work:

No matter what you do, creativity is part of every job. Producing ideas and original content needs practice and where better to get it than outside of the job. Creativity is something entirely different that helps develop those skills.

Research by Baer & Oldham, (2006) suggested that creativity helps boost productivity and profitability of companies. Maybe that night class or mindful colouring book should be included in expenses!

Bottani (2010) found that staff’s flexibility and speed of reaction were strongly dependent on creativity.

Leadership Skills: 

Leaders and business owners need to be creative to be able to solve problems in new and useful ways, to enable companies to stay abreast of rapid changes in their respective marketplaces.

Economies and societies will need to be creative in order to stay successful.

 “Creativity may be the most powerful of all the resources to be rich in. With vast numbers of people entering the workforce, huge improvements in productivity, and continued globalisation, the rewards for innovation and creativity will become even greater.”  2010 Winning Ingredients report from Standard Chartered.

So what are you waiting for? Start something creative today it’s got huge benefits to add to your work, physical and mental health as well as bringing you a more balanced life.

Work With Me.

Remember you are allowed to ask for support. No one is an island. If you need extra support then you can also work with me. We all struggle with stress and overwhelm from time to time. If you find this has become a problem for you and you’d like some support then schedule an appointment with me.