When it comes to managing anxiety, creativity is an underrated tool. Tapping into your creative side can help to soothe your anxiety and allow your mind to take a break when you’ve been running on a mental hamster wheel of rumination and fear.

When we feel anxious, the amygdala in the left hemisphere of our brain is activated. This part of the brain gets us ready to deal with a potential threat and also helps us to identify things that might signal danger. While this is a really important function that helps to keep us safe, it can sometimes become overactive. If you’re experiencing chronic anxiety, you might notice that you find it much easier to focus on the negative side of things and struggle to find any positives. You might feel as though you’re stuck in a mental cycle of dreaming up the worst-case scenarios and trying to imagine how you would manage each one. Your body might feel tense and tired. This is all the work of the left amygdala, getting you ready to deal with threats that aren’t yet real.

However, we can begin to reduce the activity in the left amygdala by doing activities that activate the right amygdala, which includes engaging your creativity. Creativity is a fantastic tool to allow your anxious brain to take a break, and to help regulate your nervous system.

Creativity helps to reduce feelings of anxiety in a number of ways:

• It provides a welcome distraction from anxious thoughts by engaging our thoughts in something new and exciting. Creativity requires conscious thought, problem solving and working memory which moves our focus away from the anxious thought spiral.
• Being creative gives us a way to express our emotions and experience in a way that helps us to make sense of them, and share them with others. By creating a work of art, a song, dance or written piece about our internal world, we understand them more deeply and give others the opportunity to see them and experience empathy.
• Making something gives you a chance to experience frustration, limitations and then success. By trying new things and developing your skills, you can gain a sense of accomplishment and build confidence in your ability to handle difficult situations.

You might be reading this and thinking “But I’m not creative at all! I don’t know how to paint or draw, and I have zero musical talent”. Here’s the good news: you don’t need to actually be good at the thing you choose, it just has to be something you enjoy and can immerse yourself in. And creativity isn’t just limited to artistic pursuits. It can include things like:

• Baking or cooking
• Gardening
• Daydreaming
• Dancing to your favourite songs
• Journalling
• Expressing yourself through clothing, makeup or hairstyles
• Collage
• Making jewellery

In her book, Beyond Anxiety, author Martha Beck suggests paying attention to curiosity to help guide you towards the creative expression that would feel the most nourishing. Take note of things that make you lean in and feel excited, because these are the things that are most likely to be engaging and fun for you. Be bold and willing to try new things, even if you’re afraid that you won’t be good at it. The goal isn’t to create a masterpiece, the goal is to have fun, immerse yourself and maybe learn something new.

If you’re struggling with rumination or chronic anxiety, engaging in something creative can be a fantastic way to relax and give your mind a welcome break from the constant chatter of anxious thought.