When we were children, we would fill our lives with creativity, whether through drawing, playing imaginary games, or cutting up cardboard to make… things marvelous creations to impress our parents! As we got older, our creativity became much more focused into either what we really enjoyed doing, and become quite proficient in our chosen medium of creativity. Although from our safe, chosen medium, we might stray into related fields – scrapbookers might dabble in card making, quilters with garment sewing, and knitters with crochet.
Of course, while there’s always exceptions, I feel like it’s safe to say that once we essentially lock ourselves into a chosen hobby, we predominantly focus on that hobby. It’s our safe place – we know what we’re doing, we know how to do what we want to do, and it’s easy. You’re no longer a beginner, and while there may be some new techniques to learn, it’s all building upon previously learned skills.
Other hobbies that you haven’t tried feel daunting; it can be scary to be a beginner. What if it fails? What if you’ve wasted your time? What if you’ve wasted the supplies?!
Spoiler alert – So what if it fails? You haven’t wasted anything, instead you’ve gained some important skills and bonus side effects, and I’m not just talking about the opportunity to grow another craft stash… Ahem.
Here’s just three more reasons why it’s important to play and experiment creatively, in case I haven’t convinced you already over the past few weeks that it’s ok to just play and try!
Creativity is great for your brain
When you learn something new, you gain new skills. Duh! But what you also gain is an increased ability for your brain to adapt to changes… in a positive way, not in the way that 2020 has brought change to our lives 😉 Scientifically speaking, we’re talking about the white matter in your brain – myelin. The more you learn, the thicker the myelin gets, and the easier it is for your brain to learn new tricks.
Thus as your brain becomes accustomed to dealing with new situations, learning something new won’t seem as daunting in the future because you’ve learned that you can grow from these changes. Plus we have all heard about playing “brain training games” to help keep our brains active and prevent dementia… I’d much rather learn a new creative skill to get the same benefits!
For example, I thought sewing curves were scary and daunting, and I stubbornly refused to try. Then one day, a friend demonstrated how to sew curves, so I tried it, and whaddaya know?! It’s not so hard!
Bonus side effect? Having learned that skill gave me more confidence to dabble in garment sewing. Am I particularly confident in my garment sewing skills? No, but I don’t fear it like i used to.
Creativity provides a sense of accomplishment
We all know the thrill of finishing a quilt and having that ta-da! moment of showing it to friends or family. We get that same sense of accomplishment when we try something new and complete it, but to an even greater extent. We are proud of ourselves for trying something new! And it makes us feel good.
Many quilters share that they started quilting when their children were young, as it was the one thing they could do in a day that wouldn’t need re-doing the next day (like washing and dishes). It’s that sense of accomplishment that you’ve done something that can’t be taken away. And as such, it does wonders for mental health – no wonder sourdough baking exploded in popularity this year!
Us human beings like to do and achieve, and when you mix that with the benefits of creativity, I firmly believe all the positive effects are multiplied! Gotta love that.
Creativity provides rest
In a world of chaos, creativity provides a safe bubble, and it provides a place to rest. Creativity helps our minds to slow down and focus on just one task in one moment of time. There is a mindfulness to our creative play that brings a calmness to our bodies, whether that’s from the rhythmic motion of chain piecing quilt blocks, colouring in a design and seeing colour fill a page, or hooking yarn in and out.
Playing creatively is a stress-reliever, and combine that with the fact that learning something new can also be a boredom-buster, well… I rest my case. Pun intended. Over the past few months of dealing with burnout, I had to re-learn how to rest, and part of that was simply playing creatively – making something just for the sake of fun and creativity.
One of those creative rest activities that I’ve picked up has been colouring in, which has been a nice way to wind down at night and to calm my brain down from thinking all the thoughts.
Have I convinced you of the importance to play and try new things?? Well, I’ve got something super special for you to encourage you to just PLAY!
For this week only, you can grab a massive bundle of Creative Home Projects for just $19.97 that includes a wide range of creative patterns, eBooks, and courses to get you started on your next creative endeavour. Included are two of my patterns – Milky Way Sampler and Aurora – which alone are worth $36 together, so even just to grab those two patterns this is a huge deal.
I’ve already been enjoying the colouring printables from Passion for Patterns by Catherine Davis (RRP $8.54) as a way to distract my hands while watching the news and politics recently (see above for two of the printables!). There’s 30 different patterns and designs inspired by iconic designs throughout history, but I especially love the geometric designs. And once I can shop in person to get supplies (to avoid maaassive postal delays), I’m going to dig into the macrame online course by Lindsey Campbell (RRP $30) and try to make a fun wall hanging for my newly reclaimed office space now that there’s no children home learning in it!
All up, we’re talking:
- 11 eCourses
- 30 eBooks
- 9 workbooks & printable packs
- 14 tutorials & patterns
Plus if you buy the bundle by midnight tomorrow (EST), you can also get a free subscription box from KiwiCo (value $19.95). They offer a box for every age and interest, so you can choose the box that fits your family best! So that’s some creative fun for the whole family right there. So we’re talking over $1200 of value of products and bonuses for just $19.97… are you in?!
I’ll be honest and say that out of those 64 available courses, you might only find 10, or even a handful, that you want to learn from. That’s sort of what happens with these bundles. There’s so many goodies included so that a wider range of people can enjoy it. But you only need to use 3 or 4 different projects to get proper value from this bundle. Plus you get two of my best-selling quilt patterns, so what else could you want, really?! 😉
You should know that I do receive payment when you purchase through my link. If you purchase through someone else’s link, they receive the affiliate payment instead (and either way is fine – just letting you know how this all actually works). In fact, I make less that if you were to purchase my two patterns directly from my store, but I’m just happy to be part of a community that helps others get easy access to more options for creativity and for growing our skills.
So have a look at what’s included in the Creative Home Projects bundle and let me know what you’re most excited to dive into and try!
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