Stressed out? Then you are probably stuck in your existing thinking patterns. You currently have – for your feelings – insufficient choices. Is it difficult to step out of the contemporary ‘rat race’? Then it is time to reinvent yourself again.
Recreation or re-creation as a means to relax. In this article, I explain that allowing your creativity is more natural than you think.
Stress versus creation
Do you also enjoy wonderful inventions or creative ideas? It gives you the realization that your life is greater and more vast than your own everyday reality. In moments of creativity, you feel the life streams inside. Unfortunately, long-term stress does precisely the opposite. This chronic tension makes you cramped and prevents you from broadening your mental horizon.
The power of creativity
Creativity: a beautiful phenomenon and the positive is: it is within reach!
Creativity comes from the word ‘creation,’ which means ‘creation.’ [1] It is also described as the ability to form new ideas. But it’s not just about coming up with something new. Creativity also means that you can produce something that is meaningful. For example, something that offers a solution to a problem or that improves the quality of your life.
It is your inner resilience that makes it easier to deal with the pressure from outside.
With ‘creative’ you might soon think of ‘eccentric’: people with beautiful clothing, an alternative lifestyle and the ability to create the most exotic works of art. But creativity is much more than that, and there is probably much more imagination in you than you initially realize.
Think out of the box
To escape from everyday stress, you have to be able to think outside the existing paths. Finding practical solutions is just as much a form of creativity as, for example, inventing new things or creating beautiful works of art.
Creativity does not necessarily have to do with complicated or eccentric things, but also with solutions that are meaningful in the here and now. For example, a working mother who combines her route through the school of her children, supermarket, pony club and football club so that she has five minutes to buy a flower for her single neighbor.
Think of a teacher who is good at coming up with examples so that the pupils always understand it or someone who knows how to turn every home into a warm home. So creativity is in every one of us. The reason I mention these examples is to offer you a stepping stone. Because if this is in each of us, if it turns out that we all have a degree of creativity, then you are also capable of dealing with situations that are stressful. As long as you have the confidence to think ‘Out of the box.’
Dare to be more child
Perhaps you have become stressed while reading this article and you say: “Yes, but I’m really not creative. I can not do that.”. Let me explain to you the following. Some studies indicate that, for example, school reduces the natural creativity of children. Children are uninhibited, are not led by fear but by trust and see opportunities everywhere. Give a child a cardboard box or a tin with buttons, and he’s sweet all afternoon. In my opinion, this is also why large restaurants or residential boulevards have such appeal to children: an exciting world to be discovered, children running around, climbing up and down until every corner is explored. A voyage of discovery through the world around you.
In traditional schools, however, you learn to adapt, you learn to sit still and listen to the ideas of others. The world around you is presented in boxes: math, language, geography. Fortunately, something is slowly shifting around in the regular school system, but there is still a long way to go.
Stress and booths think.
At stressful moments your brain starts to narrow. For the short term, this is fine, because this gives you focus. But in the case of chronic stress, you risk losing the overview. You lose sight of the coherence and connection. Unfortunately, you see that often happen in the regular health care. Because each specialist has his expertise, the mutual relationship can be missed.
This is in contrast to the Eastern medicine, where more is looked at holistically. After all, you can not disassemble a human body, put all the parts next to each other on a shelf and say ‘this is a body.’ Yes, in theory, that’s right. But you have nothing left. The parts only have meaning if they are connected to each other. That consciousness, that open look, hey do you need to be creative?
If you now know of yourself that you are by definition creative, then it is no longer the question ‘or,’ but ‘how.’ This also means that you can see the world through the lens of solutions, instead of from the existing boxes.
Do it now…
Do you find your work deadly boring and do you see it as a disappointment to continue doing the same until you retire? Is there a recurring problem with stress in your life? There is a solution. Do you have dreams or desires to develop yourself in a particular direction? There is a way. It often starts with small steps; see it as a building where you only come on top if you climb up the stairs. (In line with this, reread the blogs about your passion and enjoy it.)
“Top,” you may now think, “from now on I am creative!”. Very good, only crazy enough it seems so easy not always to go. Sometimes you can even be afraid of it. How come?
In 2010, a study was published with the title ‘The prejudice about creativity: why people long for creative ideas and at the same time reject them.’ [2] This research denounced the opposition that people often reject creative ideas, even if they indicate they are in favor of it.
The underlying idea is that people have an unconscious bias about creativity and that this bias is triggered in situations of uncertainty and stress. Where people experienced a certain degree of difficulty or pressure, which was deliberately generated in an experiment, they turned out to think more negatively about creativity than people who did not. It also showed that people in uncertain situations are less likely to recognize the creative ideas of others.
Every creation requires a change.
Creating requires change. And every change costs energy. This can explain why it is sometimes stressful to be creative, especially when this involves risks – such as an investment, but also why you have to be aware that your environment may respond negatively to your creative ideas. Because the known often feels safer than the new.
Besides, something else also plays a role. In a Swiss study involving marketing staff from a large company, the effect of feedback via social media on the creative ideas of these designers was investigated. [3] This showed that the final designs were less unique, that the designers themselves were less satisfied with it, that the last customers used them less often and that the products were seen as less valuable. This is interesting! To be creative, you have to be able to move away from the opinion of the crowd, even separate from the viewpoint of your immediate environment and fully follow your own idea. That does not mean being weird or stubborn, but daring to be original in the practice of your own originality.
Stress-free living starts with creative autonomy.
What does such a creative person look like? So not with a colorful outfit or exotic hairstyle? Well, that is possible too, but creativity is mainly about being yourself and having an open attitude, full of expectations that the solution is just around the corner.
According to various sources, creative people are described as follows:
- They have a broad interest.
- Are open to new things.
- Can autonomously think: Their creative process is not influenced by peer pressure or the opinion of others.
- Are often flexible.
- Like to work together.
- Have humor.
- Do not take everything just like that, but look with a critical eye: You also have to be able to test your own ideas. Creativity is, perhaps even more than with eccentricity, connected with effectiveness. Critical thinking is needed to get there.
It happens for 72% in the shower.
How can you finally unlock your creative gifts? Well, by just believing that you have them. And then by using them. The next time when you notice in your life that you are stressed somewhere, then consciously expand your gaze and think about the possibilities. Maybe you will get a very lovely idea. Try it out. The most prominent ideas are born that way.
Furthermore, it is important to stay close to yourself. It is not for nothing that many creative ideas are born in the shower. Research shows that 72% of people sometimes get a new idea while they are showering. [5] Just yourself, under a warm jet of water, without a tight tie, full agenda or eyes that are focused on you. Believe and relax. And dare to do that from there. This seems to be an excellent open end to stop. I wish you a lot of creativity!
How do you use your creativity to prevent stress? Inspire other readers by sharing your idea in the reaction field. Or click on one of the social media buttons. That is a graceful way to your friend and helping the family.