Crafting can not only be fun, but it can also help you feel happier, calmer, and more confident. Get your creative juices flowing for better self-esteem and mental health.
What is self-esteem?
Self-esteem is the way that a person feels about themself and the value they place on their abilities, opinions, and views.
Why is healthy self-esteem important?
- If self-esteem is low, a person may focus on their weaknesses and faults and not have confidence in their worth.
- Healthy, realistic self-esteem can help a person feel safe and confident.
- A person with healthy self-esteem may feel more secure in their decisions and relationships.
- Healthy self-esteem can help people feel resilient and better equipped to handle adversity and grow from it.
How can crafting help self-esteem?
- Crafting can offer a sense of accomplishment. Creating can help you feel that you are doing something worthwhile. The outcome isn’t as important as the process. The act of taking initiative or learning to do something new is an achievement.
- Crafting can boost confidence. Recognizing that you have the confidence and motivation to take on a project can help you feel better and even improve future motivation.
- Crafting can help the body release “feel-good chemicals.” Creative endeavors can stimulate the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that plays a role in feelings of pleasure, reward, and motivation, and serotonin, a hormone that helps with mood and feelings of well-being.
- Crafting can help you get into a “flow state.” In a state of flow, people are deeply immersed in an activity and so focused on what they are doing that they lose a sense of self-consciousness. People who experience a flow state can reap the rewards even after engaging in an activity.
- Crafting can be a gift to yourself and to others. Creating something for yourself, your home, or for someone else can give you a great sense of accomplishment and selflessness.
- Crafting can offer a break from negative thoughts and feelings. Interrupting negative thoughts and feelings can help you feel better in the present and offer you a fresh perspective for handling negativity in the future. Doing a creative activity can offer relief from a negative inner voice and time for reflecting on the positive.
- Crafting offers opportunities to set goals. Achieving goals—or just knowing your working towards them—can help build self-esteem.
Why kind of crafts should you try?
Ideas for crafts are plentiful. Becoming an expert at one type can be rewarding, but so can trying different types of creating. The type of crafting you enjoy is personal. Ideas include making jewelry, sewing, leatherwork, or dying fabrics to give you an opportunity to wear what you make. You might try enhancing your home with ceramics, glass, needlework, furniture making or refinishing, painting and drawing, flower crafts, or metalwork. Making gifts or crafts for holidays can encourage goal setting and motivation.
Crafting can be a creative form of self-care. Creative activities can help you relax, feel motivated and accomplished, and think more positively. Crafting can offer hands-on opportunities to build self-esteem.
Author Bio
Marie Miguel has been a writing and research expert for nearly a decade, covering a variety of health-related topics. Currently, she is contributing to the expansion and growth of a free online mental health resource with BetterHelp.com. With an interest and dedication to addressing stigmas associated with mental health, she continues to specifically target subjects related to anxiety and depression.
