Maximize creativity does not mean perfecting a skill. At least, not where healing is concerned. It’s safely practicing new things, recovering from mistakes, and learning to associate our creative lessons with life.
Not all healing work has to feel like work. In fact, this article addresses the magical healing powers of right-brain work. Creativity, that fun stuff that activates the right side of the brain. You see, when we do fun work, well, it doesn’t feel like work. And yet, time isn’t the only thing that flies when having fun, so does our healing.
Pop quiz time: What sort of hobbies do you have? And how open are you to trying new creative outlets? For most of us in the Complex-PTSD community who take the time to develop a hobby, we tend to stick with one and say no to, or assume “I can’t” when we see other creative outlets. Much in the same way we tend to stick with what we know – our so-called “comfort zone”, which isn’t really that comfortable – while continually looking outside ourselves and think, “I can’t”.
I get it, it’s scary out there when we have a lot of trauma. We imagine the worst-case scenario if we try something new in the outer world and then, because we fear mistakes due to our programming – that mistakes mean failure – to us, it means “Everyone will see me fail!” We know this as catastrophizing in Trauma Glossary 2. But if we maximize our creativity, we get to practice reframing “I can’t” thinking into believing in ourselves, one creative outlet at a time.
Maximize Creativity: A Directory of Dirt Cheap Beginner Kits
These beginner kits have everything you need in one package. And did I mention that they are cheap? (Under $40.) And not just that. You will also find that you have leftover material to use in future creative projects, if of course, you’re interested in building on what you have learned from your beginner kit. Because it isn’t about developing a new hobby. It’s the practice of trying something new and daring to stick with it long enough to learn something valuable. But more on the valuable learning experience later.
Jewelry making kit (here).
Epoxy/Resin kit (here).
Paint Pour (here).
Mandala kit (here).
Embroidery (here).
Crochet (here).
Calligraphy (here).
Sketching “kit” is the only one bought in a bundle. But add it up and it’s under $40:
- A tutorial book by Erik Barrett (here),
- a 17-piece set of drawing pencils (here),
- and a quality sketchbook (here).
Polymer Clay kit (here).
First, I am not making a commission from any of these kits. But I am encouraging you to pick something. Is there anything from the above directory that piques your curiosity just enough that you have an urge to explore it? Then that is the beginner kit for you. But if there is nothing from the list that interests you, there are creative outlets outside beginner kits. Martial arts, gardening, cooking, or free-style painting (to name a few) also count. In which case, there are beginner tutorials for all of the above on YouTube.
Curiosity, Exploration, Play, and the Human Connection
In childhood trauma, we were denied our basic rights for development. Act upon our curiosity by exploring our environment. Play time is how we interact and develop confidence and trust with our environment. And then of course, playing and sharing with our peers helps us develop the human connection. When we aren’t allowed to develop this way, we tend to have trust issues both with ourselves and the outer world. And that’s where creativity has the power to bridge our developmental gap. Being curious enough to be willing to try it is step one. Creativity is play time for grown-ups. So, if you find something from the directory that you’re willing to try, you just took care of three out of the four basic needs.
Healing and Growth Opportunities from New Creative Endeavors
Open new neuropathways.
Every time we try something new, we open new neuropathways in our brain.
Recovering from mistakes.
Creativity removes the fear factor because it’s just you and your beginner kit. So what if you make a mistake? (And you will, because we all make mistakes when trying something new.) No one is looking over your shoulder and waiting to ridicule you for the mistake.
Put your perfectionism aside and practice patience instead.
The only expectation you should set as a beginner is the full acceptance that it will not be perfect. Many of us struggle with practicing patience and self-compassion. Two must-have attitudes we must adopt with ourselves to heal our trauma. And so, learning a new creative skill forces us to practice patience with ourselves.
If at first you don’t succeed…practice.
Some mistakes can be frustrating. And in those moments, it’s okay to take a break and calm down. But don’t give up. Get yourself to a place where you can try again. Your future self will thank you, because by trying again and not giving up, you are simultaneously teaching yourself how to recover from life’s setbacks. (Remember, you’re opening new neuropathways. So, make it count!)
Self-discovery and Self-awareness.
When we maximize our creativity, we get to know ourselves. We learn our unique creative “range”, what we like, and what may not be our thing. For example, we might discover we are attracted to “messy” or “wet” textures. In which case, we will prefer paints or pottery over sketching or polymer clay. Just as no two healing journeys are the same, the same applies to our creative journey. However, one major sign of our healing is when our creativity starts to flourish. So, the two are more closely linked than we may at first realize.
It counts as Mindfulness practice and strengthening our Window of Tolerance.
Mindfulness means being present. Our window of tolerance is where we can tolerate being outside our comfort zone without going into fight, flight, or freeze. Trying something new automatically takes us outside our comfort zone. And we aren’t likely to learn much if we aren’t in the moment. So, creativity is a fun way to practice mindfulness. Unless of course, you prefer all those boring mindfulness exercises on the internet…said no childhood trauma survivor ever.
It counts as Self-care.
Creativity is one of the most pleasurable activities we can do for ourselves. Not only are we teaching our system that challenges are not threats, but we are also leaving behind a creation that represents how we spent our free time. When we maximize our creativity, we are also learning how to be proud of ourselves by taking pride in our creation.
Meeting like-minded hobbyists as student and teacher.
Once you get the hang of whatever creative outlet you try and you decide it’s something that interests you, then you have just developed a new hobby. This a perfect opportunity to move into that fourth need we talked about earlier – the human connection. Share that part of yourself with others who enjoy the same activity. You will meet some who are more advanced than you and you can ask for their tips or advice for improving your craft. It’s one of the ways we can practice asking for help. And asking for help is one of the best ways to activate our social engagement system.
Conversely, you will also meet those who are less advanced than you and they want your tips and advice on how to improve. In which case, you’re giving yourself a positive experience of helping someone without people pleasing. Teaching also happens to be the best way to fully digest what we are learning. Don’t believe me? Look it up.
All professional artists, musicians, performers, and writers began with a hobby.
I know I haven’t talked much outside art in this article. There just aren’t (to the best of my knowledge) beginner kits for the latter three. But if you unlock your inner musician, thespian, or writer, that’s even more creativity for you to work with in all the ways already listed. Digression aside, every creative professional has two things in common. 1) It began with a hobby and then it became their passion. 2) They all know how to maximize their creativity. Who knows how far today’s creative learning will take you?
Today’s “hobby” is tomorrow’s healing tool.
Life will continue throwing setbacks at us. And no matter how much healing work we do, certain “stuff of life” traumas have the power to drown us. Particularly when we suffer a major loss: financial loss, relationship ending, or death of a loved one. At least one, if not all these major hitters tend to happen in life the longer we continue living. And when it does happen, the emotions are so overwhelming, we have difficulty thinking clearly. In other words, the left-brain isn’t functioning well. In such difficult times, you will be grateful for creativity. Because when you can’t go left-brain, go right. In fact, it seems an appropriate time to share this meme I created on my social media page. It may help you remember the healing powers of your own creativity.
Believe me, as someone who has been grieving the loss of my Grandmother – the most important person of my life – these past five months, I am grateful to my past self for unlocking my inner artist mere months before I lost her.
Final Tips to Maximize Your Creativity
Be sure you set a specific intention with whatever beginner kit you choose. Just because they are cheap doesn’t justify wasting money. Set the following realistic commitments to ensure that your kit doesn’t become a forgotten item on the shelf gathering dust.
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- Consider how much free time you can spare for working with it.
- How often will you be able to do this?
- And finally, how many sessions of working with this kit are you willing to invest before – in the unlikely event – you give up and tell yourself “This isn’t for me”?
That last question is most important. Because the process of learning something new tends to come with frustration until we get the hang of it. The last thing any of us should do is give up and tell our kit “I hate you and I will never touch you again!” on our first day. That defeats the purpose of all the healing and growth opportunities we went over. When we give up prematurely, it’s usually because our “I can’t” thinking has been triggered. So, in case you end up prematurely deciding whatever kit you chose isn’t your thing, explore yourself and ask this important question.
How does the reality of working with this differ from the expectations I had when I purchased it? Be honest with yourself. There was a reason you chose this particular kit. If the reason lies in doubting your abilities, encourage yourself to keep going. Remind yourself that with practice, you will become more adept. However, if the reason is you legitimately don’t like working with the kit you have, and it has nothing to do with your lack of confidence, then it’s fine. You just gleaned new information about yourself and will have a better idea of a new thing worth trying.