Wellbeing is a complex little construct. It encompasses our physical, mental, emotional and social health. We associate it with happiness and life satisfaction. And let’s face it, the idea of it just feels good.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to lie permanently in a state of wellbeing?
So how do we do that?
There are many different ways.
When we engage in self-care we contribute to our wellbeing.
When we engage in meaningful activities we contribute to our wellbeing.
When we engage in fulfilling social connectedness we contribute to our wellbeing.
And when we engage with Creativity we contribute to our wellbeing.
Obviously there are other ways to enhance our wellbeing but let’s just take a look at the one you may not have thought of before – Creativity.
There is oodles of research to support the idea that creativity contributes to our wellbeing, our positive mental health, our happiness and even work performance.
Now I’m not talking about the BIG C creativity – being artistically talented or exceptionally good at some kind of artistic pursuit (think Picasso or Mozart).
I’m talking about little c creativity – the little creative things we do on a daily basis like
- adding a new ingredient to give your old fave recipe a bit of flair,
- putting an outfit together that looks super cool
- doing a particularly snazzy colour combo in your colouring in book
- writing something thoughtful in a birthday card
Little c creativity can also be how we do new creative pursuits.
I did an art class once and the teacher told us that we stop learning to draw when we’re about five so expect our artwork to be as good as a 5 year olds. It was so freeing to think I had no standards to live up to and I could just go for it with my pencil.
When we start a new creative pursuit of any kind we can expect to be a bit rubbish. And that’s ok.
That’s also little c creativity – the creative ability we all share as something inherent to our humanness- without it being at a professional standard.
So…imagine you wanted to increase your general sense of wellbeing (and seriously, who doesn’t with this pandemic dragging on?). You could think about how you could bring more little c creativity into your life. Or how you could recognise it and acknowledge it more.
You could try to increase little c creativity activities by learning a new creative pursuit.
(BTW learning is also associated with wellbeing through boosting confidence and self-esteem and building a sense of purpose.)
If you start getting judgy on your efforts just remember you’re doing little c creativity.
And even you don’t actually do any of the above, you’re probably using little c creativity to think about it.
Now go get (little c) creative
