If you feel a bit stuck – don’t work even harder, have some fun instead

OK, first of all, a disclaimer …. ‘fun’ covers a lot of options. I’ll leave you to choose an action that keeps you out of jail/hospital/the Daily Mail. For the purpose of this piece, ‘fun’ means something a bit creative. Something you might feel a little intrigued by or something you might feel you shouldn’t/can’t do. It might be something that doesn’t fit neatly into any life plans or just something that makes you smile when you think about it.?

For me, it was poetry. God only knows why, I decided one lunchtime, at the beginning of the year, that I was going to write a poem a day. I had no real affinity for poetry, I certainly had no talent, I just decided that I was pretty bad at keeping a diary and this might be a different way of keeping a record of my year. Also, I teach creativity. Here I was, sitting on Zoom, day after day, urging people to set their minds free, take risks, celebrate the unexpected and the riskiest thing I’d done recently was change my jam from raspberry to blueberry.

?I set up an Instagram account (ayearinwonkypoetry) and just got started. And slowly, but surely, magic happened. There were beautiful gestures from friends and strangers, who had somehow found the account; a cocktail delivery out of the blue from an old uni friend ‘to keep the creative juices flowing’; a picture someone had drawn to accompany a poem I had written about my dad; a note of thanks from someone who had chanced on the account and then begun her own poetry journey. So many of these treasures came my way.?

And for me, finally practising what I preached, creativity wove its magic in my mind:?

On Mothers’ Day, I thought I’d write about my mum. My poems are wonky by nature, so I don’t overthink them, I just write what’s jumps into my head. I wrote about the calls I would make to her as a I walked home from work. My mum died 12 years ago, and her loss has been a strange lump in my throat ever since. Like grief was trapped and the memory of her somehow blocked. This odd little poem brought her back to me. I was able to remember her warmth and love more clearly than I ever had. A gift indeed.?

I have always loved writing, but a voice has always told me, “you have nothing to say” – I live a pretty tame life, my background is unremarkable and now, I’m a middle-aged woman who quite enjoys early nights. But I just gave myself permission to write about the little things that made me smile or think and tiny details were able to explode into colourful moments as I recorded them each day. I don’t think I have nothing to say any more. I realise that the everyday stuff that??catches our attention is important, it can be as fascinating as flamboyant characters or huge events.

And I just notice living more. It’s like the colour has been turned up on my life. I’m more aware of how I’m feeling, what I’m seeing, my experiences throughout the day. I like to play more, with ideas and conventions, I challenge the way I see the world.

Doing something fun and creative is proven to reduce stress and anxiety, it increases the levels of the “feel good” hormone, dopamine, into the body. When we’re engaged in a creative task, we also lessen activity in the area of the brain where we think deeply and engage critical thinking and judgement; we're thinking more freely and will be more likely to generate novel ideas.

I’d say to anyone, inject a bit of creativity into your life. Obviously, I’m putting a good word in for poetry, but it could be anything that just pushes you out of your comfort zone and makes you feel free. Doing something creative is like offering your mind a holiday. It gives it space and new pathways to take a fresh look at your world. It can unknot tricky issues without overthinking and pressure. And it might bring other lovely gifts too.?

I’ll leave you with my mum’s poem. She really was the business.?And please feel free to follow or share the wonky poetry .... the content might be imperfect but I'd love the idea to inspire others.?