Using Creativity to Process What’s Happening Around You
I didn’t come to this idea because I’m enlightened or emotionally evolved.
I came to it because my brain was loud, my chest felt tight, and I’m from Minnesota.
My therapist told me to make art about everything that is happening there as a way to process so that’s what I did.
So this isn’t a manifesto. It’s a practice. One I’m still learning.
When everything feels like too much
There are moments where the world feels heavy in a way that’s hard to name. News. Personal stuff. Global stuff. Body stuff. Identity stuff. Just… a lot.
Talking about it doesn’t always help - but you should still try it. Obsessing about it definitely doesn’t help. And pretending it’s fine? That one usually backfires spectacularly for me.
Creativity, for me, has become a better option.
Not to fix it.
Not to explain it.
Just to let it exist somewhere outside my head.
Creativity as a container (not a solution)
This part is important: I’m not using creativity to “turn pain into something beautiful.” I’m not trying to monetize my feelings or make meaning on a timeline.
Sometimes the work is ugly. Or boring. Or repetitive. Sometimes it doesn’t “say” anything.
And that’s kind of the point.
Drawing, writing, photographing, collaging (whatever your thing is) it gives the feelings a place to land. A container. Somewhere they can sit without running the whole show.
You don’t have to solve what you’re making. You just have to make it.
You don’t have to know what you’re feeling
This was a big one for me.
I kept thinking I needed clarity before creating. Like I had to identify the emotion, label it correctly, understand it fully and then I was allowed to make something about it.
Nope.
You can start with:
“I feel weird.”
“I feel off.”
“I don’t know what this is.”
That’s enough. That’s plenty. The clarity can come later (or not at all).
Low stakes is the magic
This only works if the pressure is gone.
No audience.
No outcome.
No “this should be good.”
Think:
Five messy pages you’ll never reread
Photos you don’t edit
Shapes, colors, marks with no meaning attached
Notes that don’t turn into posts or products
This is not content creation. This is emotional ventilation.
Let it change day to day
Some days creativity looks like:
Making something intentionally gentle
Repeating the same motion over and over
Choosing colors based on mood instead of logic
Other days it looks like:
Angry lines
Dark palettes
Half-finished things abandoned without guilt
All of it counts.
The goal isn’t consistency.
The goal is honesty.
What this has given me
Not answers. Not peace. Not a neat arc.
But:
A little more space between me and the noise
Fewer feelings stuck in my body
A way to process without performing
Permission to feel without explaining myself
And honestly? That’s enough right now.
If you want to try this
You don’t need supplies.
You don’t need talent.
You don’t need a plan.
Just ask:
“What needs to come out today?”
Then let it come out however it wants.