It’s easy to spot the benefits of creativity in art, science, and design, but creative benefits are way more than that. Going through a creative process will teach you amazing life skills.

A while back I started to paint for fun, simply just to do something relaxing, something I can play with, where the process is the focus. Then I started to get more ambitious about how it should look. As my expectations got high, my joy got low.

As a creativity coach, I am aware of what happens in the creative process. And just because I have tools to help me deal with unrealistic expectations, doesn’t mean I’ll never have unrealistic expectations again.
I wish!

Creativity is practice, and it’s sometimes hard work. If it wasn't, we’d all spit out New York Bestsellers’ books. I know I would.

Bestsellers or not, the personal benefits you gain from staying in the creative process are well worth the hard work.

Some benefits are fairly instant, but some of the personal benefits come down the line, and are perhaps not as easy to spot.

7 life skills the creative process will teach you

1. Self-respect.

Taking the time to do something that is important to you, and that is created by you, despite whatever else is going on in your life, is a way of respecting yourself. Like nothing else will.

You build self-respect when you show up for yourself again and again. It’s like a date-time with yourself. Not focusing on how good what you make it but the fact that you take a little time for yourself.

As you know, being good at something takes time. Respecting yourself is showing up for your interests, desires, and creativity.

2. Coping skills.

You learn how to cope with your feelings, and everything involved in the creative process.

One of the hardest things to deal with is when life is difficult. Many of us don’t cope very well with struggle and not being good at something.

When you create you will have times when you don’t know what the heck you’re doing or what to do next, but if you persevere you’ll learn how to cope with the situation. Invaluable skill to have.

3. Patience.

Creative endeavor usually takes longer than you think - and hope for.
(A personal challenge of mine).

More and more of our society is now based on instant gratification, and our patience with ourselves, and each other, is paying a price.

Creating takes patience, another reason so many of us don't bother. Omg, I want to see instant results. It’s a good thing I love creating so much, otherwise, I’m not sure I would keep at it.

Practicing patience is one REALLY good reason to do creative work.

4. Perseverance. 

You get to practice persevering with your thinking, your ideas, and your actions, through frustration, fear, and when things don't go according to plan. Because creative work never goes according to plan. Show me something that does.

85% of us give up on our creative intention, so perseverance is a great benefit. Patience and perseverance are similar but then again not. I’m not a super patient person but I’m known for my perseverance.

5. Resourcefulness.

You get to practice trying to find different solutions, problems, and ways of doing things. You might have to check out different types of research and figure out new ways to get through your work.

You learn to be resourceful in your problem-solving.

6. Making Mistakes.

When you engage in a creative act, you WILL make mistakes. Mistakes will happen. It is part of the process, just as being excited is.

What you learn, is how to make a mistake and move on from it. A key life skill to have!

7. Stepping into the unknown.

Our instinct is to do what we already know. We create habits easily. Whether they serve us or not doesn't matter. We do what we know, what others do, what feels safe.

By engaging in creativity, you by definition step into the unknown. To new and imaginary things. It's scary (which is why so many of us don't) but also hugely exciting and freeing.

Being comfortable with being uncomfortable is hard. Imagine what possibilities open up for you if you can stand being uncomfortable.

Other significant benefits of the creative process

A fringe benefit of creating could be a new relationship.

I have met new wonderful friends from engaging in creativity. From different countries.
I consider that a HUGE fringe creative benefit.

You learn to care less about what others think.

This takes practice. And for me, a lot of practice. Comparison is a huge creative killer, but the more you practice and engage in creating, the more you learn to stay in your own lane and be happy with that.

New interests.

Very often, no, almost always, the creative act takes you on detours and diversions, and this often leads to new paths and interests. All of a sudden, you open your eyes to something you had never considered before. And off you go.

Healing.

There is nothing like creating art of any kind, that'll heal you inside and out. This article in the Huffington Post says that just 45 minutes of creative activity lessens stress in the body.
How many artists don't we know, that have used music, poetry, writing, painting, etc. as a way of coping with life? When you heal your inside, it has physical healing too.

How to get these essential life skills from creativity

The point of creativity is to do it. Sorry to be so blunt.

What's really great, is that it doesn't matter what creative activities you do. Or how small it is. Painting 5 minutes a day, or journaling 5 minutes a day counts.

Please don’t think you have to be the next Elizabeth Gilbert.! She’s a great writer, but you are great (or will be) at creating your work.

Get an old notebook out and scribble, write, draw, or doodle. That's not only "good enough". It's GREAT!.

Create for yourself or share with others, the benefits are still yours.

If you need a little help to get started, a really good question that I will invite you to ask yourself is:

What is something I have enjoyed making or doing in the past? Start there.

I truly hope this has been helpful to you. The benefits of creating are too many not to give it a try. :-)

If you found this post useful, I’d love for you to get my emails too.