It’s Good For You
By Hamilton White
From all our best science, we know that creativity is good for us. Being creative can boost your immune system, reduce stress and anxiety, increase self-esteem and feelings of accomplishment, improve concentration, increase positive emotions, and reduce distress and negative emotions. It’s also fair to say that creativity comes in many forms. Whether you’re painting, drawing, writing, making music, scrapbooking, gardening, knitting, sewing, or dancing (and the list doesn’t stop there), you’re also increasing the quality of your life.
But, do you have to struggle to be creative? Let’s frame it another way. Do you have to have suffered to be creative? The “starving artist” trope, the mad musician, the alcoholic writer, etc. You’ve probably heard every version of this idea, and it has reinforced in so many of us the notion that without some form of substantial struggle -mental health or otherwise- what could one possibly create that is worth creating? Creative types, jokingly or not, often talk about how they fit within these definitions themselves, but guess what? Science says there’s no link between the strife and the creativity.
It’s certainly true that there have been plenty of creatives who struggled with some problem or another, whether it was mental health, blindness, or whatever the struggle may have been. For example, when Ezra Pound was adjudicated for insanity and incompetency, his work, The Cantos was allegedly used as proof regarding the situation.
This example, and others like it (Van Gogh), beg the adjacent questions of how we define creativity, and how are some people seemingly more capable of it than others? And make no mistake, these are interesting questions to consider. However, in our consideration of these questions, we should all be aware that our best science suggests that suffering is not necessary to create, but also that creativity is a beneficial practice in our lives.
Another major takeaway is that these benefits are not dependent on any sort of greater recognition. Your paintings don’t need to appear in galleries, your writing doesn’t have to appear on the New York Times Best Seller List, you don’t need to be a famous dancer, or create clothing that celebrities wear. The health benefits of creating come from the experience of creating for yourself. Paint with watercolors because the fluidity calls to you. Experiment with blackout poetry and collaging, because only certain components of the message resonate with you. Create just for you, and you will be healthier for it.