Creativity can be a great way of helping to cope with many of the aspects that living with a chronic illness can bring. And recently, Dizzy and I have been exploring them. 
Over the last few months, my anxiety has been running a little wild. During the summer, it was confirmed that I had experienced my third MS relapse in 14 months, and my mum had a stroke. It was a struggly summer, so I decided to sign up for a Creative Minds drawing programme. West Kent Mind is running these over the course of 8 months. All are completely free, with a focus on looking after your mental health – which we thought would be perfect for us!
Now, Dizzy says she is an expert artist, but it is not something I see myself as having much talent in and not something I have explored since childhood. But doing creative things has loads of super, amazing benefits:
Creative outlet – art allows you to release feelings and emotions
Emotional outlet – you can express emotions that might otherwise be hard to explore
Reduce stress and anxiety – art has been proven to lower people’s stress and anxiety levels
Self-esteem – it has also been proven that art improves people’s self-confidence
Cognitive health – doing these activities can help improve memory, processing skills and attention spans
There are lots and lots of creative activities out there, but we are focusing on art. And these are Dizzy’s favourite 5:
- Drawing – this can be anything! But Dizzy says you can draw a Dizzy if you are stuck for ideas.
2. Collage – I love this one! Sticking coloured bits of paper on other coloured bits of paper is just the most fun thing ever!
3. Painting – our little attempt at watercolours…
4. Knitting/Crochet – I adore the little cute crochet animals people make, but I have no idea how to do it! So if you would like to teach us, we would be very grateful.
5. Writing – a slightly different kind of art – but Dizzy just loves this one as she can write hundreds of stories about a wonderful Donkey named Dizzy…
For myself (not Dizzy, who states she is perfect at all forms) I have realised that art is not about being perfect. It is just having fun with splashes of colours (or not if you would prefer), and letting yourself relax and enjoy the process. Then, everything you create will be unique and amazingly you.
Have any of you tried these different forms of art? Or maybe a different one that we have not thought of! What benefits do you feel you gain from being creative? xxxx
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