Lifestyle

| August 10, 2021

Creativity and Health: From the Eyes of an Artist

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Read time: 9 min.

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Creative and Health: Creativity is much like a muscle, the more you “train” it, the longer it will last, the stronger it will become, and the more effortless it will be to use it. A lot of people believe there is a limit to creativity, that you can “run out”, and that is simply just not the truth. This is where taking care of one's health through nutrition, proper rest and regular exercise comes into play. 

Let's start with confidence, when I was a young artist first hitting the stage, around 13 years old, I was a thin, meek boy who just loved to play basketball and rap songs.

My stage presence was nowhere near what it is today, going almost unnoticed after a showcase. I started lifting weights on the regular, along with writing more songs, and performing more often. As my muscles grew, and my strength developed, I felt better about who I was becoming off stage. So once I came around to hitting the stage, I was much more confident in who I was trying to present to the world. It became much easier to feel confident in my own skin, slay the performance, and develop my creative work to the fullest for my audience.

 

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Working out not only allowed me to increase my confidence by having my body looking better, but the regular cardio work allowed me to have the energy on stage to really put on an amazing showcase without huffing and puffing. Trust me, performance as an artist is a lot more physical than it seems.

Combined with working out, a proper diet is also essential to being my best. Focusing a diet towards whole foods, fruits, vegetables, a high amount of protein, a sufficient amount of healthy fats, and eliminating processed foods can increase creative output significantly. Fueling your body with premium foods increases one's energy, mental alertness, and overall brain power which ultimately aids in creative output. 

I am personally a big fan of fasting, going as long as 7 days without food. When I go on a 48-72 hour fast, my mind is clear, my creativity seems to be limitless, and my work output skyrockets. This is mostly due to the elimination of things that do not aid the mind like sugar and processed foods. I am not saying you need to stop eating to be creative, but I am saying eliminating harmful foods that are toxic to the body like sugar, alcohol and drugs, and replacing them with water, vegetables and a high quality protein source, will be a game changer for your mental alertness and creativity

Creative work can typically be highly stressful in all its forms and with all the responsibilities (marketing, painting, music, etc.). Where there is stress, there is lack of confidence and freedom to be creative. For anyone in a creative line of work where you are publicly out there, you can expect to face judgement (often the harsh kind), which can be hard.

This is why it is so essential for creatives to work on and improve their health. Exercising is a great start and one of the best ways to help deal with stress and to keep the mind focused. Practices like breath work, meditation, and visualization exercises have yielded great benefits for myself as a creative. Daily, I practice at least 10 minutes of breath work (the Wim Hof method being my personal favorite), and 30 minutes of meditation. This helps me stay calm, grounded, and distance myself from my art and negative opinions of my work. In fact, meditation and breathwork have also been shown to rewire the mind and body to become more efficient through a process called neuroplasticity. 

The purpose of writing this article is to demonstrate that creativity can flourish even greater when one takes into account their mental and physical health. Regular exercise, meditation, and proper diet all play into confidence, resilience, and overall energy output which translate directly to better creative decisions and ideas. If we work on our health a bit more, this will help us grow our creativity. This will ultimately lead to more unique decisions being made, making the best possible reality for ourselves, our families, and our world. So, do some push-ups, eat your veggies and who knows, you might just get inspired to do something creative today!

 

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