Creativity: The Balm for Anxiety

I believe that creativity is a balm for anxiety.

I've lived this truth. Not so very long ago in 2016, I was mired in postpartum anxiety and depression. I didn't know it at the time. Left to my own devices, I wouldn't have labeled my experiences as such.

Sure, I had visions of apocalyptic doom. Sure, I would get on Twitter, then see a news headline that filled me with so much terror I could barely breathe. Sure, I flinched when I saw planes overhead, sure that one of them was about to drop a bomb on me and my babies.

Didn't everyone?

In all seriousness, things were bad. A great therapist helped me put the label "anxiety and depression" on what I was feeling--over time, my situation made more sense to me and I learned to have compassion for myself. After all: my hormones were on a roller coaster ride, I was suddenly responsible for caring for two helpless infants, and I barely left the house.

(Hint: Being stuck in the house can lead to increased anxiety.)

In that dark time, here's the thing that helped me most: writing a book.

I picked up a copy of The Artist's Way in a used bookshop and started moving through the exercises. This book is not just for people who want to pursue a new creative endeavor: it's for anyone who wants to live better.

That book gave me the tools to transform my life: mindfulness, self-compassion, present moment awareness, and manifesting vision. It also gave me the wonderful gift of re-connecting me with my creativity.

I revisited a creative project I'd set aside to prepare for the birth of my babies. From this fraught place of deepened feeling, I re-engaged with the project in a more meaningful way than I'd been able to pre-birth.

Working on that book was my bright light. I followed it, and I lost myself in writing. Writing made me feel more alive--more myself--than anything else.

Here's my point: if you find yourself terrified by the events of the world, you're not alone. Acknowledge your fear, grief, anxiety; we're not trying to bypass anything.

Rather, the invitation is to transform anxiety into something precious. If you've got a book in your heart, I believe that working on it will do that for you--I really do. 

Yet whatever your creative outlet, now is the time to practice. Practice sewing, baking, painting, composing songs. Arrange dates with your creative muse; play. Rather than tune outward to stay abreast of every news update, turn inward.

Bring forth the gifts that only you can share with the world.

I can't serve on the front lines of the COVID pandemic, but I can help people access their muse. When I say that I believe creativity can save lives, I'm not being hyperbolic. Creativity allows you to make meaning of the world and hook up with your inner joy.

And right now we need all the joy we can get.