Crafting for self care
Crafting for self care is crucial in today’s busy world. On one hand, crafting is an enjoyable and relaxing pastime. On the other hand, it can also have a huge positive impact on your mental health.
Crafting has been shown to have numerous benefits for self-care, including –
- Stress reduction
- Mindfulness
- Improved mood.
In today’s fast-paced world, taking time for self-care is more important than ever.
This blog post explores how crafting is a great way to slow down and focus on the present moment, allowing you to release tension and find inner peace.
My crafting journey
When hubby was away on deployments and when I was married unaccompanied, it was lonely. I wanted to find something to give my life more meaning, and make me believe in myself more. When I found a knitting nancy in a charity shop, I had a vague recollection of using one when I was younger. So I bought it and researched how to use it.
This led on to finding out about other no needles knitting techniques, as I cannot knit or crochet at all! I knew then that I had found my passion, my joy.
It made me feel a lot more confident about myself and my abilities. I literally lost many hours making my creations and researching eco-friendly yarns to use.
But as well as the mental health benefits, crafting can also have physical benefits.
Engaging in a creative activity can help improve fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. As I said before it can also provide a sense of accomplishment and boost self-esteem, as you create something unique and beautiful.
Crafting to create something unique
Crafting for self care offers many benefits, and one of the most significant ones is the opportunity to create something unique.
When we engage in crafting activities, we have the freedom to choose our materials, colour combinations, and patterns, and to use our creativity to bring our visions to life.
I looked into many ways of no needles knitting and through trial and error found my own spin on how to do them. This gave me the opportunity to create something that is truly one-of-a-kind, which was incredibly rewarding and empowering for me.
As a person who didn’t have a lot of confidence growing up, finding something that I loved to do helped me to be more like the person I am deep down.
We live in a world where everything seems to be mass-produced. Creating something unique that reflects our individuality can be incredibly fulfilling. My unique is in my creations, both that I sell in my online gift shop, and through my How to PDF’s.
Crafting as way of relaxing
For me, crafting made me feel relaxed and calm, except when I have a huge tangle of wool! That is all part of the learning process though. By making mistakes, and in my case a big woolly mess I learnt better ways of creating my makes.
It also gave me a break from the constant stimulation and information overload that is prevalent in society today. I don’t always want to hear about stuff going on, and often got stressed out by the amount of information online. By getting into a new project, it allowed me to wind down and gave me a better sense of mental clarity and reduced stress levels.
Embracing my uniqueness
Making my creations and researching into techniques and tools has helped me to get away from negative thoughts or challenging situations. It has allowed my mind to relax and focus on the task at hand. I have a very stressful job as a teacher and my crafting has allowed me to find a better outlet for me to channel my creativity in a way that has had a huge calming effect, similar to meditation or deep breathing exercises. I literally get lost for hours making my creations, and sometimes re-making them if I lose a stitch or something goes wrong, but that is all part of the learning process.
My look is very unique. I have learnt to embrace my curly hair after years of fighting it and using hair straightners, believing that they would make me feel better about myself. My curly hair is part of who I am, just as my crafting is part of who I am. It helps me to foster and nurture my self-expression a lot more
By crafting, I can express myself in unique, creative ways. This creativity is very free flowing, and has helped me to tap into my imagination and create something truly one-of-a-kind. I have taken ideas and made them my own by using wools that are unique, breathable and kind to the planet. This is something else that is unique about me; I am a bit of an eco-warrior. I love to get pieces of furniture that would otherwise be sent to landfill.
Crafting and life skills
One final, yet just as important benefit of crafting for self care is that it enhances problem-solving skills. Perhaps, as a teacher I love to solve problems, as I plan, execute my plans and troubleshoot when things go wrong. It is exactly the same when I am doing my crafting activities.
Crafting often involves creating something from scratch, which can present various obstacles and challenges that you need to overcome. My challenges included wool issues, knots, and running out of wool mid project!
But I worked out solutions to these and developed my critical thinking skills.
Final think
In summary, taking up some sort of craft can give you a number of benefits for self-care. It provides a sense of accomplishment, improves concentration, reduces stress and anxiety, and promotes mindfulness. Additionally, it offers a way to express yourself and connect with others through shared interests.
Spending time creating something with your hands can have a positive impact on your mental and emotional well-being. So, take some time for yourself and try out a crafting project to experience the benefits first hand!
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