I believe that creativity is vital for our mental health and wellbeing.

I’ll be exploring not only how the brain works, but I’d love to talk to others who have found the keys to unlock their creativity and hear how it’s brought positivity into their lives. But first, here’s a bit of context:

I’ve personally discovered how vital it is for me, as I have been learning to live with Fibromyalgia and symptoms of chronic fatigue over the last six months. I’m reluctant to share this and how it’s affected my mental health. Why? Because of fear of judgement and partly sharing it makes it more real. I have two choices: wallow, or learn and share. Why share? Because I want my children to be able to feel free to talk about their mental health, and I need to lead by example. Because I know I’m not alone, and we must all do our bit to break the stigma.

I Choose Learn And Share:

I want to make it clear; this blog isn’t going to be for self-cathartic reasons; instead, I’m interested in taking what I have, and find out what it can teach me about how the brain works, how I can modify my actions to aid self-healing. An example of this is that when I’m feeling trapped with fatigue, it’s depressing and overwhelming. Writing, although hard to get myself to start, has a way of being so absorbing that when I stop, I very often feel some improvement mentally – and sometimes physically, too. I struggle the most when my body needs rest, but my mind is active and that’s when it has time to amplify negative thoughts.

Creativity Can Be Anything:

It could be creating the ideal strategy for a football team just as much as writing, drawing, singing etc. That’s why I know that everyone is creative. Everyone has an imagination, and I believe its importance is very under-valued. I’ve put in a link here to a Ted Talk from someone who feels the same way. She explains how creativity can be used, rather than words, to communicate how we’re feeling. It’s a little over 16 minutes long, but if you don’t want to watch the whole thing, the last couple of minutes (from the 13 mins mark) sums up how I feel pretty well.