Creating Through It: How a Creative Outlet Can Support Healing and Change
Creating Through It: How a Creative Outlet Can Support Healing and Change
When I was a stay-at-home parent, it was the most emotionally intense period of my life. I was caring for the girls full-time, navigating my own mental health struggles, and drinking more than I wanted to admit. The isolation was real, and even with effort, I felt adrift from my identity and purpose.
But when I made the decision to get serious about my wellness—to quit drinking, re-engage with therapy, and start showing up for myself—something unexpected happened: I picked up my acoustic guitar again.
Expression Creates Movement
In therapy, we talk a lot about movement. Not just physical, but emotional movement—shifting out of stuck patterns, accessing buried feelings, and reclaiming parts of yourself that got pushed aside by trauma, stress, or routine.
Creative outlets offer a way to access that movement. They create space to feel without words. To experiment without judgment. To say something to the world—or just to yourself—without needing it to be polished or perfect.
What Creativity Looks Like in Real Life
For me, it was music. Playing guitar, singing, and gradually finding joy in something that wasn’t about being productive—it was about being alive. Over time, that outlet evolved into something more. I now play gigs that help cover daycare costs. That’s not the goal for everyone, but it’s a reminder that creativity can take on new meaning when nurtured.
Your outlet might not be music. It might be:
Journaling
Painting
Gardening
Woodworking
Cooking
Photography
Storytelling
Whatever the medium, the process itself becomes part of your healing. It’s not about being a professional—it’s about staying connected to what’s inside you.
Science (and Artists) Back This Up
Creative expression is known to reduce stress, improve emotional regulation, and increase a sense of meaning—all things that support the work we do in therapy. Artists like Rick Rubin have long spoken about creativity as a form of internal tuning, not external performance. Rubin puts it plainly: “The creative act is a way of being.”
You don’t need to be good. You just need to show up.
You Deserve to Create—Even If It’s Just for You
If you’re in therapy, making big changes, or healing from something hard, I invite you to ask:
What helps me feel like me?
What could I create—not to impress, but to express?
The answer doesn’t have to be big. It just has to be yours.
Whether it’s ten minutes with a guitar or doodling on a notepad, your creativity deserves a place in your healing. And sometimes, creating something is the clearest path back to yourself.
