Post 19: Re-finding your creative side during lock down

Over the last few years we have always encouraged people to get in touch with their creative side and embrace it. As people grow up, our creative hobbies or approaches can often be pushed aside to make room for more important things in life. That’s only natural, and when work, families and other things become a part of your life it’s hard, or at times nearly impossible to find time to do the things we enjoy. COVID-19 may have taken our freedom, but it is helping many people rediscover their inner creative!

I’ve really enjoyed seeing people chat to me and post on social media about how being on lockdown has allowed them to get back in touch with their creative side, and I wonder if these people will remember this when normality resumes. Having a creative outlet can be therapeutic, fun, stress relieving or even productive. A lot of my friends are talented musicians, but with work and other commitments over the last number of years, their time has been limited. It’s refreshing to see them picking back up their guitars, getting back on the drums (although their neighbours might not think so) and sit down at the piano again. I asked “will you remember the how much you enjoy it once we get back to normal? Will you take time out to play after a stressful day to help unwind?” and the answers varied. Some say “Yes, absolutely!” and others “Ah you know yourself, it’s all well and good when there’s nothing else going on”.

The latter could be seen as a more realist answer, but i’ll keep in their ear about it. For me, having a creative outlet of any kind is so beneficial to help unwind and boost well-being. If it’s picking up a knitting needle for ten minutes, adding to a drawing, painting or jigsaw, writing a bit more of a story or playing an instrument, embracing that creative side can help an individual to cast aside the hustle and bustle of the real world for a short while and act almost as a form of meditation, allowing you to just be in the moment.

Many people have used their creative skills to help those on the front line, such as the makers studios and manufacturers producing protective visors on their 3D printers, or people at home making masks to send to those most at risk. It’s clear that quarantine has led to a boom in all things creative – not just the strictly ‘useful’, by allowing us the time to rediscover old hobbies or favorite pastimes. I also have no doubt that when we’re allowed back to work, the world is going to see a huge wave of entrepreneurship and innovation which will have stemmed from ideas that were generated during the lockdown. Ideas created to suit “The New World” that will see new businesses and ways of life pop up all around us, and I look forward to it!

As we live through these uncertain times, and without our usual support networks of family, friends and colleagues, creativity can help us through; offering us a path to display our emotions and feelings. So when we come out of this, which we will. I hope that you might remember the solace you found from your creative lockdown self, and embrace it going forward.

Kevin