My mission with Whatever Bright Things is to help you design a beautiful, creative, organized life. One of the reasons that I am such a big advocate for finding, embracing, and cultivating your creativity is because it has the power to heal and center us. Creativity is all about creating something out of nothing, about making something extraordinary out of the ordinary. When life spins out of control, having a creative outlet can help you get your feet back on the ground.
In this post, I want to share 5 Creative Ways to Deal with Stress. Through thoughtful acts of creativity, we have the power to turn otherwise negative, destructive emotions into something beautiful. What if, instead of letting negativity consume you, you could channel the negative energy into creating something positive?
Here are 5 Creative Ways to Deal with Stress:
1. Baking/cooking
Baking cookies (and frosting cookies) is one of my favorite ways to deal with stress, anxiety, and even anger. Choosing a recipe, measuring out all the ingredients, and going through a process step-by-step helps to get your mind off the emotion for a little while. And when you’re done, you have a sweet treat to make the rest of your day or week a little brighter.
2. Snail Mail
Sometimes, the best way to get our mind off of our own problems is to focus on someone else for a bit. If you enjoy paper crafting, creating, writing, and sending a letter to a friend will not only help you deal with negative emotions, but it will also delight the receiver. By doing something nice for someone else, you are making the world a kinder place. Check out my post on Snail Mail Essentials to make sure you have everything you need to create a thoughtful letter.
3. Journaling
Processing your emotions in words, on paper, through writing is a creative act. Naturally, our thoughts come faster than we can write, so writing helps us slow down and actually think through our emotions. If it’s difficult to translate how you’re feeling into words, try visual journaling.
4. DIY
The feeling of accomplishment that comes from finishing a DIY project is a great way to fight off negativity. When little else is in control, it’s nice to know that we can still create beauty out of the smallest things. I recommend keeping a Pinterest Board full of DIY ideas you can turn to when you’re in a funk. (Or, you can browse through and follow mine here.)
5. Reading
Losing yourself in a book is an easy way to forget your troubles for a little while. Whether you’re picking up an old favorite or starting something new, the imagination involved in reading helps to reset your mindset. Even if you’re reading a book that isn’t exactly uplifting, it can be encouraging to know that you are not alone in your struggle. Need a new read? Check out my favorites here and here and here.
Each of these 5 Creative Ways to Deal with Stress are things that I actually do to relieve stress and negativity. Of course, there are many, many more ways to turn negativity into something beautiful – whether it’s through knitting, or music, or spending time with your loved ones, or volunteering in your community.
Find what makes your life a little more beautiful, and what you can create to make the world a little bit brighter. ✨
I’d love to hear how you deal with stress and negativity – be sure to leave your favorite creative outlet in the comments below. Let’s support each other, promote positivity, and remember to take care of ourselves too.
