5 Creative Activities to Help Boost Your Mental Health
Kyle Burns
Aug 1, 2022
Coming up with new ways to prioritize and boost your emotional well-being throughout the day can be a tall task for all of us. Whether it’s due to the extenuating circumstances of daily life or trying to have some sort of semblance of harmony between work and life, it can be hard to find time for self-care! That being said, it is definitely something that everyone should try to do through the week. Whether it's for only 30 minutes or an entire day, making sure you set that time aside to nurture your own well-being is crucial in taking the next steps towards a healthier lifestyle
Once that time is set aside, though, what should you do? This may seem like a daunting assignment at first, but that is what we are here for! We have come up with five exciting activities and experiences to grow and support your mental health that can either be done solo or with friends:
1. Take an art class
Finding new ways to express yourself is what art is all about and it has been proven to be an excellent way to improve one's own mental health. Art provides you with the freedom to create whatever your heart desires, with the only limiting factor being your own imagination. Letting your mind run free and expressing yourself and your emotions through what you create is such a rewarding experience and is what makes art a great way to escape from the everyday mundane.
When it comes to choosing a class, that is the best part because there are so many options! There are painting classes, pottery classes, and even digital art classes, the list goes on! There are so many different options for you to choose from and they all can help you take that necessary time you need for
2. Go on a nature walk or hike
Being out in nature in some capacity has always been a sure-fire way to improve your mental health and combining outdoors time with a walk or hike can elevate those benefits. Taking a walk or hike allows you to be more mindful and attuned with your surroundings and allows you to not only reconnect with yourself but with the Earth. Albert Einstein once said, “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” The more time we spend in nature the more opportunity it provides us to ponder our own life and consider the steps we can take to improve! Whether you go solo or with friends, a hike is an amazing way to unwind after a stressful day or week.
3. Go out to see a live performance
Whether it's live music or a comedy show, going out to see a live performance is an awesome way to improve your overall mental health. We are social creatures and crave social interactions with one another. This became even more evident after the pandemic when most social interactions and live performances came to a screeching halt. However, now as we try to get back to some semblance of normalcy, live performances are the escape we need. Not only can they lower the stress hormones in your body but they can also contribute to more positive feelings in general. Remember whether it is singing along to your favorite artist or laughing with a crowd at a comedian's jokes, get out and experience life!
4. Improved mental well-being
Well-being refers to your overall happiness and quality of life. Deleting, erasing, or taking a break from social media boosts your quality of life! In positive psychology there are 6 aspects of life and wowe encompasses all of them: relationship, physical, transcendence, environment, passion, and emotional.
5. Develop a new hobby or skill
This one may seem obvious at first but sometimes people really forget about this as they get wrapped up in the day-to-day demands of life. Taking the time to learn a new skill or hobby is an extremely rewarding experience and can be healing if you are struggling. Overcoming obstacles and challenges set forth by these undertakings can remind us that we can truly do anything we set our minds to. Whether that’s picking up a new sport like golf or trying to learn how to use a camera professionally, developing a new hobby or skill can help you get over that hump in your life!
6. Read!
Just like our last suggestion, people may see this as an obvious answer but it can often be overlooked when it comes to activities to aid in supporting one’s own mental health. Reading time and time again has been proven to reduce stress and can offer a healthy escape. A 2009 study from the University of Sussex found that reading can reduce a person's stress by up to 68% by the lowering of their heart rate and the easing of tension in their muscles. Also as opposed to television or movies, reading a novel truly allows you to visualize the words on your own and let your creativity take over. There are no budgets for a novel which means the possibilities for the stories to be told are endless! So pick up that book you have been waiting to read and crack open those pages!
We hope that you will try some of these suggestions and use them to help support your own mental well-being. Even if you just use them as a stepping stone to spark your own ideas for bringing more well-being boosting creativity into your life it will be a win in our books .
If you are looking for even more suggestions and ways to care for your mental and physical health wowe can help you get there. At wowe we recommend activities to you based on your interests to help you create greater health, happiness, and meaning in your life . Let us help you build those long-term habits. You can download wowe here to take that first step!
mental health self-improvement mindfulness social interaction physical activity well-being health