When people hear the word creativity, they often think about art projects.
As a therapist, I use creative activities often, but not because I’m trying to get someone to make something beautiful.
Most of the time, I’m helping them make sense of something that feels difficult to explain.
Children Show Us This First
Children are usually the easiest example of this. A child might not be able to tell you they’re worried about school, feeling left out, or carrying responsibility that doesn’t belong to them.
They might, however, build it with blocks, draw it, act it out, or tell you a story that sounds suspiciously similar to what they’re experiencing.
Adults aren’t all that different.
We just tend to hide it better.
I’ve worked with parents who could spend twenty minutes explaining their schedules but struggled to answer what was feeling hardest right now. I’ve worked with helping professionals who could support everyone around them but had a difficult time identifying what they needed themselves.
Sometimes talking isn’t what gets us unstuck.
Sometimes seeing it does.
Try This At Home
One activity I frequently suggest is writing every responsibility, worry, task, and expectation onto separate sticky notes.
Not because sticky notes are therapeutic.
Because many people don’t realize how much they’re carrying until they see it spread across a table.
The same idea applies to children.
If you ask a child how their day was, you may get “fine.”
If you ask them to draw their brain and fill it with everything taking up space today, you’ll often learn much more.
Creativity helps make abstract experiences more concrete. It slows us down enough to notice patterns, organize thoughts, and understand what we’re carrying.
You don’t need to be artistic to benefit from it.
You don’t need special supplies.
You don’t even need a therapist sitting beside you.
The next time you feel stuck on a problem, overwhelmed by responsibilities, or unsure what you’re feeling, try getting it out of your head and into a form you can see.
A list.
A sketch
A drawing
A pile of stickies
You may not solve the problem immediately, but you’ll probably understand it better.
Try This Tonight:
