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Self-expression could serve a powerful purpose in life as it’s how a person interacts with others and the world around them. It’s a way you can express your feelings, thoughts, opinions, ideas, personality, and more. There are several ways you can express yourself, and one of the most prominent is through creative expression.
Creative self-expression is taking an idea and bringing it to life. A way to assert one’s creativity is through art, dance, songs, paintings, music, writing, and many other similar arts. The need to express oneself is believed to be important for mental health. When you suppress yourself, you’re harming no one else but your own self.
Mental health covers the psychological, emotional, and social well-being of a person. It’s a state of well-being wherein a person is able to control their emotions and stresses, realize their internal and external capabilities, work productively, and make contributions to society. Mental health and creative self-expression may go hand in hand and coexist for the betterment of a person’s well-being. Here are some ways creative self-expression could help maintain mental health.
1. It May Help Focus The Mind
Some people struggle with stress and having their minds consumed with numerous different things at one time. Stress and anxiety may contribute negatively to your mental health. Engaging in a creative activity could be an opportunity for you to focus on one thing and be able to enjoy it because it’s a channel for self-expression. Gaining focus and actively developing an art form may allow you to gain a great level of comfortability within that form, maybe even until you’re able to acknowledge an unforeseen talent.
This element of focus and calm may spread over your life, and you may adopt a mentality where you only think about one thing at a time. A focused mind would allow you to maneuver through life more seamlessly. Whether you’re seeking advice on creative expression from platforms like MamasUncut or similar platforms, you’d learn that the arts may make you more conscious of the human experience itself rather than the numerous stresses that the human experience holds.
2. It May Help Overcome Trauma
The traumas you experience through life could only be entirely and honestly understood by you. Despite the hours of therapy, counseling, family interventions, getaways, or any outside intervention, you know the depth of your trauma. And a good level of self-discovery or expression may help you in understanding it.
The arts could allow you to express yourself and perhaps even reveal to you the complexities of your past trauma. Trauma could be developed from numerous experiences, including abuse and problems with family dynamics. It could run so deep, to a point behind your consciousness.
Creative self-expression could be a conscious way of encountering, acknowledging, and perhaps confronting your past trauma. You may discover that you’re talented and your artistry is unique. This way, you’d begin to acknowledge that you’re defined by your artistry and true self, not by your traumas.
3. It May Help Reduce Depression
Artistic forms may range from dances to comedy to songs to drawings to poetry. Through creating something beautiful, abstract, or honest, you may find yourself at peace or your energy revived. Doing activities you enjoy and make you feel at peace could contribute to your happiness. Alleviation of depression is one of the ways through which creative expression could improve your health and well-being.
Depression is described as a constant or recurring feeling of sadness, melancholy, or severe despondency. It could make you feel demotivated in doing activities and may leave you wallowing in your existing sadness. Creative self-expression could grant you the opportunity to confront your depression and discover yourself. Some things in your subconscious could be encountered through the arts and self-expression.
Artistic expression is a form of self-expression that could increase your dopamine (a natural antidepressant) levels. This form of expression could present you with an enjoyable way of engaging in self-discovery and emotional release.
4. It May Increase Self Esteem
‘Love yourself’ appears to have been the center of social media and other spaces in society. However, it’s easier said than done. Self-love is less like a transaction and more like a journey. Self-esteem and self-love go hand in hand, in that an increase in your state of self-love and awareness could result in an increase in your self-esteem.
Creative self-expression could be one of the channels that would propel or guide your journey toward increased self-esteem. Whether it be through realizing a hidden artistic gift, encountering a great level of joy and enjoyment, or just doing things as a channel for release, part of your self-esteem journey could lie within the arts.
Expressing Yourself Is Healing
When it comes to mental health, there’s nothing more healing than being granted the opportunity to be yourself and express yourself. Your creative side may have been slightly neglected, and perhaps revisiting or being introduced to it may grant you improved mental health. Mental health is an important part of your life and could be considered the center of everything you do. Creative self-expression may just be the thing your mental health needs.
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