How creativity improve all aspects of your life

Creativity is regularly overlooked. In the workplace, at home… even at school it is placed lower on the priority scale. However, embracing your creativity can make a real difference to the way you behave and engage with other aspects of your life.

In this blog, we’ll aim to prove why creativity is important and why you shouldn’t overlook it.

Why is creativity undervalued?

Despite being an important skill and quality to have, creativity is often valued less than it should be. Part of the problem stems from the fact that you can’t fit it neatly into a box. Creativity likes to be free; to expand and to grow into something new. As a result, people are often suspicious of it.

Similarly, people who are creative tend to be complex, contradictory and regularly frustrated. They are able to view the world in all of its complexity and as such can often frustrate those around them. Similarly, their indecisiveness – in a modern culture that demands decisiveness – can make it harder to fit in.

Now before you start thinking that these are all reasons why you should keep your own creativity lower on the list; take a look at the following positives of having a creative mind:

1. Creative minds are better at problem solving – we’ve all been faced with a problem where we struggle to find a solution. No matter how you try to view it, you can’t come up with an answer. Having a creative mind can help you to overcome this. By being creative and allowing yourself to think outside of the box, you can access a wider range of solutions and find the one you are looking for. Yes, it is good to be logical, but linear thinking will not always provide you with the solutions you are searching for.
2. Live longer – you might think this statement is a bit of a stretch, but according to an American study of 1,349 male veterans; they discovered that alongside poor lifestyle choices (leading to poor health), those who were creative in their decisions/choices – and whom described themselves with ‘adjectives’ – tended to live longer than their non-creative counterparts. In fact, they had a 12% lower mortality rate.
3. More confident – we all have days where one moment we are oozing confidence and self-esteem and the next we are self-conscious. It is natural. For creative people, they understand this movement better than most as being creative is similarly subjective. They recognise the days when the words and paint flows easily and the days where they struggle to see the beauty or put pen to paper. Yet they are willing to take the risk. As a result, this helps them to build up their self-esteem and feel more confident in their ability, as they accept there will be days when they might fail and they aren’t afraid of it. Instead, they view it as part of their creative success.
4. Discover new ways to express yourself – we are more aware of our mental health than we used to be, and as such take more time to encourage ourselves to express our emotions, talk with others and be more expressive (across genders and generations). Good emotions or negative, as a nation we are encouraged to let them out.

   Being creative and investing yourself in a creative activity -such as writing, singing, painting etc. – can all help you to express your emotions in a safe environment.

5. Very satisfying – there is nothing more satisfying than the moment when you view a fantastic photo you have taken; add the last finishing touch to a story or painting, or pull out a perfectly baked cake. The moment you achieve them is immensely gratifying and life-affirming.

Being creative and opening your mind to new things can be very liberating, and can open doors to new aspects in your life, including your career. So if you are looking to make a change and aren’t afraid to think outside the box, then why not unleash your creative side and see what it can do for you?

To learn more about how you can broaden your creativity, take a look at our range of online courses.