Pick Up The Pencil. Take Out that Guitar.
How the Creative Arts can aid mental health
Depending on where in the world you are, you may be experiencing a lockdown right now, or getting out of one. Here in Victoria, Australia, we are champions of lockdowns. Yes, champions of the world: we have endured the longest lockdown out of every state on the globe!
Arguably, 2020 was the year of indoor creativity. People everywhere took up learning how to make sourdough, bake cakes, sing, dance with online classes, and paint by number…Yes, and a lot of other things. I started writing here, so there’s that.
If this is proof of anything, it is that it’s possible to do art at home. It’s even more possible when we’re free to decide when and where. So, now’s the time to go get those guitar lessons you were planning on taking.
Creativity, and the creative arts, have been shown to provide people with a sense of deeper learning and meaning-making. Moreover, it helps us regulate our emotions.
Emotional regulation is the process through which people control the emotions they have when they occur, and how emotions are experienced and perceived, and how people express their emotions. . And the arts may help us gain a deeper awareness of our emotions while also assisting us in properly regulating them.
As I said before, I manage my melancholy by listening to sad music. But also, I relax by painting and putting order to the world (both inside and outside my brain) by writing. It helps.
So what to do with this information?
Is there anything you always wanted to do? Or that you are doing less? Well, it may be time to start, or start again. Take this as the sign you were waiting for.
If you already make use of your creativity, good on ya mate, just continue doing what you doing!
Sources:
The arts and Australia’s mental wellbeing | Pursuit by The University of Melbourne (unimelb.edu.au)