Why Creative Hobbies Are the Ultimate Form of Self-Care

So, in a world where self-care has become synonymous with bubble baths and essential oils, why are creative pursuits any different? The answer lies in the fact that engaging in a creative activity actually requires both your body and your mind to do something. This means that it has the potential to affect your mood and your behavior over the long-term. The type of attention that you need to pay to, say, watercolor or embroidery or journaling encourages you to be present, but doesn’t demand that you do so. In turn, it calms your thoughts, and over time, it becomes a routine that you can count on to help you feel better when you need it. What starts as a calming distraction eventually evolves into a full-blown coping mechanism.

Another gift of a creative hobby is that there’s no “right” way to do it – there’s only your way of doing it. The lack of a “right” way means there’s less expectation, which means less room for perfectionism and more room for curiosity. When you make a “mistake,” it’s a cool new texture. A color you didn’t expect to like is a happy accident. And the practice teaches you how to be gentle with yourself. Over time, you may find that the gentleness you offer your creations starts to seep into the way you treat yourself. This gentling, this transition from self-criticism to self-acceptance, is one of the greatest benefits a creative practice can offer, especially for people who have been hard on themselves for a long time.

This sort of making is also an incredible tool for calming the nervous system. Actions like sewing, squishing clay or smearing paint on paper encourage your body to switch out of fight or flight mode, into rest and digest. Many people find that even 20-30 minutes of making can reduce their anxiety and stress headaches and help them sleep better in quite an astonishing way. This happens without much effort because our hands are occupied, and our focus is gently drawn into the present. When you repeat this kind of activity over days, weeks and months, it becomes an effective source of embodied self-care which reduces stress and supports your mental health.

But perhaps most important, creative pursuits give back a feeling of control and autonomy when life in general seems to be spinning wildly out of it. When work, the news, childcare, and every other aspect of life feels overwhelming, drawing or painting or colouring puts you in control of one thing. You get to choose the colours, the shapes, the content, the tempo. That little thing can be a very important rebuke to a sense of powerlessness, a reminder that there is something you can control, however small. And that little resurgence of power can translate into other parts of life as well.

Lastly, I think having a creative hobby helps you to remember that sometimes it’s okay to just have fun. In a world that is obsessed with productivity and “value”, doing something that is aesthetically pleasing just because you enjoy it is incredibly empowering. It’s all of those moments of joy that have built up and helped me to weather some really tough times in my life. It’s what’s reminded me that sometimes it’s okay to rest, that pretty things aren’t a waste, and that play is an integral part of life (not something to be grown out of). It’s the physical embodiment of me granting myself the permission to live more lightly, to see the world with more curiosity, and to be kinder to the woman I am still growing into.