It’s life-changing when you find ways to express creativity that align with your natural talents and passions. Being creative is crucial in life, and having an outlet for your creativity serves a great purpose. After all, creativity (when expressed) can improve your mood and reduce anxiety. Expressing your creativity also improves your self-confidence, reduces your impulse to engage in unhealthy habits, and helps you build a stronger sense of self.
Not only is finding ways to express creativity good for your mental health, but if you become talented at something, you can monetize your creativity. For example, what started out as making handcrafted jewellery for fun could turn into a bespoke jewelry business on Etsy. Many people have turned their creative outlets into small businesses. Even if you don’t cash in on it, expressing your creativity does wonders for your health and state of mind.
Perhaps one of your New Year’s Resolutions is to be a more creative person and broaden your range of interests or hobbies. This is a very healthy mindset to be in.
Below are 6 healthy ways to express creativity that might speak to you. Think about what you personally love to do, what you’re passionate about, and what you’re naturally gifted at. From there, you’ll be able to find ways to express creativity that add real substance and joy to your life.
1. Upcycling
Upcycling is when you find old furniture or household items on the cheap at thrift stores or yard sales. Then you buy some paint and refurbishing tools to transform it into something beautiful. Not only is this a great way to get creative and a lot of fun, but it can also be monetized as you can sell a beautifully upcycled furniture item and make a hefty profit. It’s all about repurposing old, boring furniture into something unique and beautiful. For example, you can buy an old wooden dresser for $25 at a thrift store, paint it a beautiful shade of mint green and switch out the handles for nicer ones, and sell it for a couple hundred dollars. (Or keep it for your own home.) Upcycling is one of the most fun ways to express creativity out there. Even a beginner with no painting or furniture repurposing experience can still try their hand at this. Upcycling is a creative hobby that can be self-taught and requires zero previous experience. Check out this article on how to decorate your bedroom using upcycled thrift store finds.
2. Photography
Photography is something anyone can learn or start at any time, and no photography course is needed. Many of the best photographers are self-taught, and there are many online resources available to learn. Some people also simply have a natural talent for photography. It’s fun to get creative with staging, location scouting, costumes and more.
Everyone who uses photography as their creative outlet has a different style. For example, some people love going out in nature and scouting locations for landscape photography. Others enjoy coming up with creative stages and costumes for a photoshoot. Since photography is an art that is very multi-faceted, you can get very creative with it.
3. Writing
Writing is one of the ways to express creativity that comes in many forms. There are many different types of writing you could try, from journaling to writing fiction. Start by writing some simple, one page short stories. Write a fictional short story based on whatever comes to mind. If you find that you enjoy being creative through writing fiction, you might even come up with an entire fictional plot and write a book. Whether it’s just for fun or with the hope of being published, writing is a very healthy creative outlet.
4. Art
If you like to draw, paint, colour or do lettering, your creative outlet of choice may be to do art projects. Perhaps you’ll start creating greeting cards from scratch (which comes in handy when you need a thank-you card or birthday card) utilizing your artistic skills. On the other hand, maybe you’ll just find ways to express creativity through art for fun when you have down time at home.
5. Home Decorating
Think of your home as a blank canvas, which can be transformed into art with your creative eye. Home decorating is one of the ways to express creativity that greatly benefits you since a beautiful home is great for your mental health. After all, it’s important what you’re surrounded by and what your environment looks like. Why not make it beautiful? Interior design is a creative skill that some people find they’re naturally gifted at. This is when people start getting very intentional and creative with their home decorating projects. The best part is that you get to look at the result of your creativity each and every day.
6. Jewelry Making
If you love jewelry and enjoy working with your hands, why not try your hand at jewelry making? There are many YouTube tutorials for beginner jewelry makers, and all you have to do is buy the materials and start teaching yourself how to do it. You could even get creative with your themes, such as only making jewelry from certain gemstones that hold meaning to you. There are many different ways to get creative with jewelry making, and you can develop your own unique style. You might even be able to monetize your creativity by starting an online jewelry shop on Etsy. Everyone starts somewhere, and if you find that you’re talented at jewelry making and you realize you’re a fast learner, this could be an amazing path for you to take.
Is Creativity in Your Genes?
It’s important to note that there are many more ways to express creativity than the above examples. Dancing, soap making, and playing the guitar, for example, are more ways to express creativity that could speak to you.
You might be wondering if creativity is genetic. Some people speak of the ‘creativity gene’ and if you’re wondering if you’re genetically more likely to be a creative genius, you can get some insights with the CircleDNA test. One of the 500 reports from CircleDNA is about creativity. However, know that anyone can be creative, whether it’s in their DNA or not.
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