LA Music Review | Art, stories and advice
by Carley Varley
It is always important to look after your mental health, as creatives it can be easy to neglect the need to rest properly and look after our mind. Today I’m going to be covering mental health for creators and looking at ways to improve your mental health when it comes to being a creative.
1. Take breaks away from your projects.
Creatives minds are always on the go, and you never know when inspiration will hit you. However, it can be easy to fall into the trap of working overtime and never really switching off. It is important to disconnect, particularly if you are active a lot of social media and making content.
If you overdo it, creating can leave you feeling stale or stuck, and that’s why it is important to take breaks away from creating and your projects. You can always come back fresh to a project, but if you burnout it can take longer to recover, and your mental health will suffer as a result.
2. do things that make you feel better mentally.
Going out for long walks, having a bath, hanging out with a friend, it can be a small thing that takes an hour or two but if it helps your mental health do it. It is also important to talk to people if you are struggling with your mental health and don’t be afraid to put trust in those closest to you.
Whenever I feel like my mental health is struggling, I always go to see my family, hang out with my friends or if I’m feeling mentally exhausted, I tend to go for a walk and grab my favorite drink/food from a local café. It’s very simple but little things that increase your happiness are important to your mental health.
3. Go back to lists or goals that you have set for yourself.
Often when being a creative, it can feel like you haven’t achieved anything in the day to day, especially if you have set yourself big goals.
One thing I like to do is look back over to do lists to see how much work I have done and how much time I have put into projects, this really helps my mental health as it reminds me what I have achieved.
Even looking at your big goals, or putting a goals list on your wall can encourage you. Ticking off little tasks can also help, I find this very therapeutic and it helps my mental health.
4. Check in with those around you.
Being a creative can be very time consuming and it is important to talk to those around you and lean on them if you need them. I often go to my friends with my creative ideas and they always cheer me on and make me feel like I’ve done well with my songs and projects.
Being social is amazing and detrimental to your mental health and so making sure you set time aside to see your loved ones is so important. It can be easy to get caught up in deadlines and feel isolated so make sure you have time to see your friends and chat to those around you about your worries and anxieties.
