The Best Way to Cultivate Creativity Is Through Self-Care
How we can find inspiration by taking care of ourselves
Creativity can be hard to come by. We’ve all experienced a lack of inspiration when we feel like diving into a creative project. When this happens and we lay all our focus and energy onto getting something done, we tend to forget that we must take care of ourselves.
When we can’t find inspiration, self-care might help solve our problems.
When we’re working hard to complete a creative project, we might exhaust ourselves to the point where we end up feeling empty of all inspiration and motivation we need to complete it.
If we’re working on multiple projects at once, chances are we will drain our supply of creative juices at some point.
Because of this mental burnout that we all periodically come by, we must take care of ourselves and make sure that our minds are in check before we try to dig any deeper to find our creativity.
Creativity and happiness
The bad news is that our happiness can easily be affected by our work, especially if we can’t find the motivation we need to continue.
The good news is that happiness can be found in a plethora of different areas of our life, and expressing creativity is one way to feel happy.
James Kaufman suggests that having a creative outlet can lead to a happier life. This is because we’re taking care of ourselves and doing something we feel passionate about while also feeling like we have a purpose.
He also suggests that if we find a way to express our creativity and ultimately, find happiness, then we will become more tolerant and accepting of others. In turn, the world we live in will become a more acceptable and an overall happier place.
“ Creativity represents a solid starting point for the future. ” — James Kaufman
Allowing creativity
When we search for creativity, we first need to take care of our minds and allow ourselves to think clearly despite the constant hustle and bustle of everyday life.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that we should rent a cottage in the countryside or take a week off work, but we can learn to find peace in our minds by letting go of burdening thoughts.
Focusing on the here and now is the key to allowing ourselves to relax and recharge our batteries. If we let our thoughts wander to create unreasonable fears and doubts, then we risk causing concern and stress for ourselves.
Once we’ve learned how to slow our thoughts down, we may be able to put a stop to them altogether. When we get control of our thoughts, we will feel more confident in ourselves and our decisions and also allow more space for thoughts and creative ideas.
“Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.”
— Alan Watts
Listening to our minds
By listening for what we want, striving for our goals and focusing on what it is that brings us joy, then we will feel good. It’s as simple as that.
When we listen to what we need and pay attention to how we’re feeling, we’re taking care of ourselves. That is when we notice our thoughts and emotions that we otherwise might have neglected when we were too focused on finding our creativity.
The emotions we experience when we’re stressed, upset or any other negative emotion, are only hindering our creativity. By pushing them away, we’re slowing our process down.
It’s easier to find a way to allow our creativity when we’re not in a negative headspace, so we need to assess our thoughts and work towards turning them around to positive emotions instead.
This can easily be done by taking some time to ourselves. Prioritise our emotions above our passion or work. If we’re following our aspirations but we feel sad, angry or upset when we pursue them, we might need to re-think our goals.
Taking care of ourselves
It is important to note that we might just need to relax and take a deep breath to allow ourselves to find our creativity. Sometimes we might just need a long candle-lit bath or an evening spent eating two full boxes of chocolate pralines to ourselves to recharge our batteries.
When we relax, we permit ourselves to let go of any pressure we might be experiencing, and consequently, we allow ourselves to let in any thoughts and ideas that spark creativity into the blank space in our minds.
Finding the right balance
As well as the more overlooked ways to cultivate creativity by removing the stressful and burdening thoughts, we must also remember to take care of our body and get enough sleep, eat good food and exercise regularly.
If we add all these things together, we allow ourselves to stop wasting our time and instead find more productive ways to feel and express creativity. Stress is a huge issue when it comes to creativity because that is when our thoughts tend to be hectic, intrusive and uncontrollable.
If we remember to take care of ourselves, we can eliminate the possibility of negativity and unhappiness surrounding our creative workflow.
It might just be that self-care is the key to finding our creativity and nourishing our well-being.
The importance of self-care
Ultimately, taking care of ourselves comes down to making sure that we fulfil all our needs. If we neglect what our body is telling us and prioritise our work, goals and aspirations above ourselves, then we won’t have time to focus on how we’re feeling.
Taking care of ourselves, through all aspects of our lives is important for a healthy and functioning life. In other words, self-care is the key to both creativity and happiness, and if we neglect one thing, it impacts the other.
Self-care is all about taking care of ourselves and making sure that we’re fulfilling all our needs so that we can to create new thoughts, ideas and discoveries.