Have you ever come home from a long day at work and realized you needed an escape from your mind? I know I have! In this post we are going to talk about how to use creativity to help you destress after a long day.

First and foremost you want to think about the tools you have on hand. Do you already pursue a hobby like sewing, writing, or drawing? If you do, think of a way to use your hobby to create something small that will help you feel you have a positive outlet for your stress. A few suggestions may be something like, sewing a simple pillow for your bed, writing down your thoughts in a journal or drawing doodles on some paper. Any of these activities will get you focused on a flow of creative thinking and get your mind off of your stress for a time.

Let’s try one of these activities on for size. Writing down your thoughts in a journal. Maybe you just want to brain dump, you need to. So find a notebook or get a nice pretty journal and a comfortable pen (a good pen makes a world of difference) and start writing.

Start your thoughts out with ramblings. No need to worry over grammar and spelling, just write. Write every word that comes to your mind even if it’s not nice words and let your pen flow. You will see your writing will calm down after a few minutes of this brain dumping.

Now, choose a few words and create a little verse about them. It doesn’t have to rhyme, just something simple. Haiku poems which were written by Japanese poets in ancient times, are very simple and hardly ever do they rhyme. But they are beautiful expressions of what the poet is thinking.

For example, “All day in gray rain hollyhocks follow the sun’s invisible road.” – Basho.

Beautiful isn’t it? Yet so simple and carries a sense of peace with it.

Over time you can look back at your journal or your haiku-like poems and see the progress you made through a stressful time in life. It will be a testament to you that you can overcome challenging situations in life.

Coming soon in future creative writing posts, how to create your own Haiku poems.