Overcome Anxiety and Depression, Young or old, the onset of stress, depression and anxiety is fast becoming the norm in our everyday life. This article discusses 5 Creative Ways to Overcome Anxiety and Depression.
Have you ever noticed that when you are deeply involved with an activity that you are doing that you completely resolve yourself to just that? Doing something constructive or creative achieves results and improves your overall mental performance and health.
Create and stimulate your senses.
Now without going into the whole left or right hand side of the creative brain explanation (which by the way is proving to be a myth) Creativity can be used to stimulate our 5 senses in a positive way by interrupting the intrusive thought messages and uncomfortable feelings from occurring.
Sight, Sound, Taste, Touch and Smell all play an important role when it comes to being creative. Our senses kick starts our feel good hormone serotonin. Yes that’s the chemical that helps relieve anxiety, depression and keep mood swings under control.
5 Creative Ways To Overcome Anxiety And Depression
#1 Gardening
Well, this may not be everybody’s cup of tea, but gardening is much more than just pulling weeds and raking leaves etc. Being creative with your planting or landscaping in your own space does reap its rewards. You may have also noticed an ever-growing trend of community gardens starting to appear within your city.
Why? Well besides the added benefit of a community sharing and growing its own organic produce, studies have confirmed that being immersed within a green earth environment helps promote better physical health, improve mental clarity, as well as overcoming stress, anxiety, and depression.
So create your own green space, big or small, trees or bonsai, it doesn’t matter. Nature is a place to enjoy and unwind.
#2 Cooking:
Without question! We are flooded by the amount of cooking programs that surround our everyday lives. This can be a bit of overkill with numerous amounts of individuals getting onboard the food movement.
The message here is to use cooking as a creative mechanism to overcome anxiety and depression. You see, when we look at something delicious we want to eat it, when it smells and taste good we smile, when we create it, our minds are focused on what we are doing at the time.
These pleasurable sensations will help weaken your depressive emotions. Enjoy the process of cooking, don’t try to be perfect with it and delight yourself with your efforts. There is no need to hurry here; it’s not a competition.
# 3 Music:
In its entire splendour, music can be used anytime, anywhere, to change your mood from an anxious depressive state of mind to absolute contentment. Some of the positive impacts music has on our mental health will include better focus, relaxation, motivation, and improved mental clarity.
Ok so listening to music makes us feel good, but we want to go beyond just hearing it, we want to create it. “OH,” I can hear you say it. “I’m not a musician and I am tone deaf “. Sorry, no excuse’s here. Everyone has the capability to create a sound that will help with mental wellbeing and positive self-expression.
If you’re having trouble learning an instrument or trying to sing there are other options. Programs like Apples “Garage Band” suited for Mac and Windows is an excellent program that lets you create and edit music. But be warned, it can be addictive.
Even if you laugh at your creation, so what! Laughter actually helps overcome anxiety and depression. Now get that creative brain juice flowing. Get into music.
#4 Writing:
Writing! Be it creative and or expressive, is a way that us humans can share our own experience with others. Stories about anxiety and other forms of mental health issues are being shared on social media every day.
Not only is this information educating others who may be experiencing the same scenarios, but also at the same time the writer is actually using writing as a “mental punching bag” to offload the dilemma.
Writing about our anxious feelings, frustrations, anger, or whatever is causing us grief and then reading our own words is a powerful visual tool that can lessen the anxiety. This is therapy at work.
But don’t just limit yourself to writing about your anxiety and depression. Let your imagination run wild and write about topics that interest you. Be creative and write what you love to talk about.
#5 Art:
Creative art therapy is not a new concept but one that has proven to have positive results when dealing with mental health issues. Leading international arts therapist Cathy Malchiodi, Ph.D., LPCC, LPAT, ATR-BC, REAT, has written 13 books on this subject alone.
The practice of using art, as a medium to overcome anxiety and depression is not to become an artist, “even thou nothing is stopping you from doing so”, but rather to use the process to create than what the end result of your project will be. This also helps with self-discovery.
There are many art forms available. Drawing, painting, pottery, photography, and colouring in books have been the popular choice for some time.
Why is art so powerful? There are no rules or boundaries with this creative form. Art lets you immerse yourself into a world of self-expression and do away with unwanted emotional and mental clutter. Use the method that you feel drawn to and turn your pain into pleasure.
Start Being Creative:
Being creative to help overcome anxiety and depression is a powerful tool that you can add to your arsenal for better mental health, reducing the risk of any panic attacks, social Isolation, fear, and anger that you may experience.
Being Non-productive and or non-creative can lead to a depressive and anxious life. Pleasure and creativity reduce the pain of poor mental health. So disrupt your feelings of depression and anxiety. Get creative.
