Preserving Your Creativity with Self-Care

All of us are creative beings. We thrive on inspiration, deep emotions, and messages from our subconscious to get writing.

But, as writers, we also have to practice good self-care to ensure we aren’t burnt out. Feeling stressed, depressed, or drained will not help you.

I decided to write this blog after realizing it took me a year to process the stresses and uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. I barely wrote or read anything during quarantine, which was strong evidence to me that we all need to work on creating the conditions for our own creativity.

Our mental and physical well-being play a role in our work. Forget the clichés of the tortured artist or alcoholic writer. There are a few famous cases of these types of writers throughout history, but this is the exception not the rule.

Besides, how did things turn out for those tortured artists? Not very well.

Below, I have listed a few self-care activities that may help you stay mentally and physically healthy.

1. Regulate Your Social Media Use

If you’re anything like me, your free time on the couch is spent surfing your Facebook feed or reading the latest headlines on Twitter. It’s important to stay informed but the truth is social media causes anxiety.

One of the most interesting studies I’ve ever read was about how social media platforms made users feel. For example, Facebook made people feel anxious they were missing out, Twitter made people feel angry about current events, and Snapchat made people feel silly.

This means you need to keep a good perspective on social media and understand how easy it is to get worked up over what you see or read.

2. Get Physical However You Can

Writers spend most of their days sitting and drinking caffeinated beverages. Have you ever heard the phrase, “sitting is the new smoking?” Sitting for long periods of time can have devastating effects on your body.

Some writers buy standing desks or create them from scratch using piles of books. One of my creative writing professors said he would write all morning and then walk three miles on the beach (he lived near the Atlantic). It kept him healthy and strong, and often new ideas came to him as he walked.

Exercising regularly will make you feel better (thanks to an endorphin release), decrease your stress, and ensure you don’t develop any chronic issues. I’ve known writers who’ve permanently damaged their backs and tore their shoulder muscles from being hunched over all day.

Your version of exercising could be anything: yoga, hiking, biking, or lifting weights. The point is to disconnect from your thoughts and increase your heart rate for a few minutes a day.

3. Develop Your Mindfulness

With all of the electronic distractions in our lives, it’s hard to be present and focused. Developing our mindfulness can make us feel less anxious and improve concentration, which is a benefit for writers.

So how do we develop our mindfulness exactly? Most experts will recommend meditation. I participated in one guided meditation a few years ago and it did calm me down that day, but I’ve never done it consistently. There are classes, services, and even apps you can download on your own to get started on meditation.

If you’re like me and you have no experience meditating, you can do informal mindfulness activities. These include eliminating distractions (including social media or television) and focusing intently on what you’re doing in the moment.
Focus on the little things you normally ignore. Think deeply about the physical activity you’re doing. From a practical standpoint, this can improve your observation skills for writing.

4. Seek Out Inspiration

While true inspiration is often random and elusive, we can get the motor running by doing things that get us excited.

Find something that is enjoyable and fulfilling to you. It should get you in the proper mindframe to write or engage in a creative activity.

Here are some examples of things I do to feel inspired:

1. Reread books by my favorite writers to remember why I wanted to write in the first place
2. Watch my favorite movies or television shows as long as they aren’t troubling. (Recently I’ve been watching old episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.)
3. Attend an art opening in my city or visit a museum nearby. Tthe last place I visited before quarantine was the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg.)
4. Get outside to feel the sun on your skin and experience nature. (It sounds overly simplistic but it actually works.)

Take Care of Yourself

Hopefully, these four suggestions are helpful in preserving your creativity. There are probably many other things you can do to stay in the right mind frame. Try searching for some on the web.

The most important thing you should be doing is to take time for yourself and not feel guilty about doing it. Caring for your mind and body takes you away from the act of writing, but it will pay big dividends for your work.