A healthy lifestyle isn’t just firing up a regime of eating well, keeping fit, and going to therapy. It’s about finding joy and filling your life with it. It’s why people want their salads to taste nice, and take Zumba classes with their friends rather than just work out alone in the gym. If you can enjoy your healthy pursuits, you’re much more likely to reap the benefits of them!
This is the reason you should throw a few creative pursuits into your healthy living schedule. If you have hobbies you enjoy, don’t let go of them in favor of things you think will be healthier. Dedicate more time to them as and where you can!
Really, creativity should be part of a healthy lifestyle. The more you can tap into that artistic center in your brain and express yourself, the happier you’re likely to be. And that’s not the only benefit to think about. Here’s a quick list of the most motivating reasons you should get creative for the good of your health.
Being Creative is Great for Stress
Pursuing creativity leads to lower stress in life. It’s a pretty big statement to make, but it’s the truth! When you have the time and space to be creative, you have the chance to pivot your mind to focus on something in depth and enjoyable.
You’re not, on the other hand, spending all your mental energy worrying over what’s going to happen next or what something means. Instead, you’re putting it all into the task at hand!
And seeing as this is a hobby you’re carrying out in your own time and home, there’s very low stakes attached to it as well. That means it doesn’t contribute to the stress you’re feeling, and can work to bring your heightened anxiety level down.
Chronic stress does not make for a healthy lifestyle. It’s overwhelming and distracting and can make life much harder than it needs to be. If being a bit creative here and there can prevent the feeling from getting on top of you, why not try out as many hobbies as you like?
Creativity is a Good Emotional Outlet
It’s not just your stress levels that benefit from being creative. Any and all other emotions can be channeled through it as well. Happiness and sadness alike can be poured into creative works, whether that’s a cake you’ve got in the oven or a painting you’ve spent five days on already.
With a creative outlet, none of your feelings bottle up. They’re poured out in a safe and controlled way, which makes for a lot less drama and confusion in life!
It also means you’re less likely to deal with physical responses to your emotions, such as feeling sick or taking multiple trips to the toilet. After all, you’re not churning things up inside and going over the same worry fifty times an hour. You’re letting it out and giving your brain and body a break.
You Might Make Some New Friends
A lot of creative hobbies come with online groups you can join, forums you can sign up to, and real life classes in and around your community. As such, the more you focus on your favorite creative activities, the more likely you are to make some new friends.
Turn up at the same class a few weeks in a row and people will start to expect your attendance, start saying hello, and it’ll be much easier to strike up a conversation. For example, if you’ve been seeing each other around a lot, it’ll feel much more natural to ask them how their project is coming on, how they’re finding the class, or how long they’ve been into the activity.
Working with clay and firing kilns, drawing and painting life models, learning how to build your own computer – any and all creative hobbies will have groups like this out there somewhere. Find them and you’ll make new social connections in a safe creative space, and that’s very good for your mental health.
There are Many Pursuits to Try
We’ve mentioned quite a few creative hobbies in this post thus far, but the list is longer than any of us even know! With so many pursuits to try out, you’re never going to get bored. You’ll always have something else to turn your hand to, and even if it doesn’t feel like ‘your thing’, you’re going to be glad you tried it.
All of these feelings are very positive and feed back into that healthy lifestyle planning you’re keen to live by. Boredom can be a pretty pervasive feeling, and while it’s not bad per se, it can be very frustrating to live with. And when you get a bout of frustration on a regular basis, your stress levels are going to steadily climb their way back up.
They’re Fun!
When you have fun, your brain is flooded with neurotransmitters that raise your mood and make life feel shiny and warm. When you have fun, your entire body follows suit, and you end up feeling like you’ve got more energy and focus. Simply put, when you’re having fun, you’re happy! When you’re happy, it’s much easier to feel healthy.
That’s the main reason creative pursuits should form part of your healthy lifestyle. Being creative is one of the best ways to have fun, and the more fun you have, the more stable your mood is going to feel long term. This can have positive effects all around your nervous system, and while you don’t need to be having fun every second, the more you seek it out and incorporate it into your life, the better those healthy benefits are going to be.
And so many activities have creativity at their core! Writing, painting, sewing, model making, coloring, gaming, coding, cooking/baking, etc. Even if you wouldn’t count it as being a creative thing to do, if it requires a bit of clever thinking, it’s a way to indulge your creativity.
So load up those games of solitaire when you’re on the bus, or read a book you’re enjoying when on the train. Listen to music when you’re making dinner, or put on a podcast when you’re in the shower. Make the time spent doing these mundane activities feel a little more enjoyable to allow a few more of those happy brain chemicals to spread.
When You Love What You Do, It’ll Make You Happier
Love is quite the complicated chemical reaction, but if there’s one thing we all agree on, it does wonders for your health. When we feel like we love something or someone, it triggers a release of those neurotransmitters we mentioned earlier, but typically in greater amounts.
As such, if you’re regularly doing a creative thing that you love, you’re probably going to end up much happier. No need for special measures or equipment here; just keep doing what you love and you’ll end up better for it.
Let’s reiterate the point once again – creative pursuits should be part of a healthy lifestyle! When you’re having fun spending time on creative outlets, and you’re not letting stress and negative emotions build up, you’ll feel lighter, stronger, and more secure in your body.
Plus, you might make some new friends along the way, and that’s never going to be something that feels bad! You’ll have more people to talk to and spend quality time with, and your brain loves that more than anything else.
