Recovery Through Creativity
The Japanese believe people are happiest and most vibrant when they find ‘Ikigai’ or a sense of purpose. I believe that finding a sense of purpose is key to recovering from depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, etc. as low self worth keeps the cycle of self loathing and misery going.
The sense of purpose you find, early in recovery doesn’t have to be anything grand. You don’t have to have an idea to solve world hunger or find homes for every puppy on earth. You just need something small to focus on. Something to do, a reason to step outside your misery. This can be as small as making friendship bracelets. It’s something quiet you can do in the safety of your little hidey hole. It’s calming and fun for a lot of people. They can be for no one in particular, hell you could sell them. Or just pass them out to random people. Or you can put them all in a shoe box and in the back of your closet and see if you can fill it to the point of not opening. Any purpose is good as long as it helps you feel a little better and doesn’t harm anyone or anything else.
This blog is supposed to be a way to encourage others like myself on a personal level but also by giving ideas of things to do. In experimenting with new projects and simply doing something, we’re bound to find something we feel good doing, or generally enjoy. When you’re producing something, whether it be food, art, music, or poetry your purpose becomes bringing your unique perspective to what ever you are doing.
Being depressed or being suicidal automatically gives you a unique perspective on the world. While it’s not going to be sunshine and rainbows, that doesn’t mean there isn’t beauty in what you feel or think. By using those emotions to fuel your creation, you express not only how you feel, but you can turn the pain into something beautiful or good in some way. Just because people don’t find the exploration of negative emotions particularly pleasant, doesn’t mean that there is no one who will appreciate it. In this way our illness doesn’t have to be something to hide or feel shame about. The best artists are those who know pain. So take your pain and turn yourself into an Artist of some kind.
By finding a unique way of expressing your feelings, thoughts and opinions, from your own point of view, you can feel a sense of bringing something special to the world. When you feel special you feel better about yourself. And it can be anything. When I say artist I say it in terms of someone who creates something that is in some way beautiful or elegant (ugly things can do this too). So if you can do dollar bill origami, or you just doodle the same stick figure on random bathroom doors everywhere you go, you’re doing something creative. As long as no one gets hurt and it doesn’t ruin property or in some way get you arrested, then go for it. Especially if it gives you just a glimmer of hope for the future.
So the mission is, to offer as much support and inspiration as I can to help others find what makes them happy and gives them a purpose. Even if it’s just a temporary ‘starter’ purpose that just gets out over the hump of depression. You can always find new things to do with your life but it just takes one small thing to help you get the ball rolling.
Start small, start simple and you’ll find that as you feel better about yourself, you want to do more, and the more  you do the better you feel. It’s time to start some new cycles.
