Taking basic care of your health is one of those things that most people consider a necessity, and not just a luxury for the few.
Of course, nobody likes to spend a lot of time and money on their health. We’d all rather be healthy and feeling good all the time, without expending much effort.
But we also know what it feels like not to be in good health. And most of us are more than willing to take steps to avoid feeling that way.
When we feel under the weather, we recognize it immediately and usually we do something about it. We’ll see a doctor, take some medicine, start a new fitness regime – in most cases, we’ll seek some kind of remedy.
This is the way most people take care of their physical health. But what about their creative health?
Did you just inwardly roll your eyes? Did you hear a little voice say, “Creative projects are great and everything but come on, they’re just not as important as your physical health”?
I have one of those little voices too too, and if I’m not careful it places everything above my creativity. Working at the day job, meeting other people’s needs, taking out the trash, anything.
On my to-do list, any creative projects I have automatically sink to the very bottom. And unless I take notice, they tend to stay there.
And yet, for people who need to engage in their creative passions (and guess what: that’s most of us), creating art is an important part of staying mentally, spiritually and even physically healthy.
Just think about what happens – or what is happening – when you ignore your creative needs for 10 days or so. What happens to your personality? I for one get pretty irritable, or melodramatic, or resentful. Or worse. If you’ve experienced those things, you can see how the effects on your work and your relationships are going to be noticeable.
What’s happening is that there is an important part of you that’s not getting what it desperately needs. And if you don’t help it out, it may just slowly wither away. Or it could eat up your energy, day by day. Sometimes, it bides its time and then suddenly explodes in a destructive flood of bitter resentment.
Now think about what happens when you ignore your creative needs for a month, a year, even a decade at a time. It’s often a snowball effect: that withering feeling, that resentment, that crankiness just keep on growing exponentially. Yikes.
On the other hand, what happens when you’re engaging in the creative process on a regular basis? How do you interact with the people around you? What changes do you notice in your face, your posture, your gait, your appetite for everything? I’m willing to bet you can tell the difference.
Maybe it’s about time we took our creative health a bit more seriously. If you take a vitamin in the morning, or work out for 15 minutes, or opt for greens over french fries, chances are you can do something quick and easy for your creative health. Please do give it a try. Even one small choice can make a huge difference.
COMMENTS: Is there anything you already do, or would like to do, to stay creatively healthy?
Do you want some more ideas on this? Because you know I’ve got ‘em. 
