Plenty of people may not realise it, but art is arguably a great hobby to keep your mental health in check. For us to understand why, let us get a solid idea of what we define art as…
Art can come is so many forms that it could be incredibly fascinating to comprehend. Here are some examples:
Even theatre, music and drama is regarded as art, but for now we’re going to just focus on the conventional art and design that we know of.
Art can be fantastic therapy if you put your mind to it. The numerous health benefits that it can potentially offer to your mental health are outstanding whether it be for relieving stress, showing off your thoughts or simply meditating. Here are 7 reasons why art truly benefits your mental health and is fantastic for your mindfulness…
Art isn’t just for showing off how amazing you are with a paintbrush. It’s a fascinating way of telling a story and communicating your thoughts and messages on a canvas.
Churches and cathedrals are notorious for doing this. If you ever have the time, have a look at your local church and notice the stained glass windows throughout these marvellous structures. You’ll notice how they depicts certain events of the Bible, hence telling a story without a single word.
So how does communicating a message through art become beneficial for your health and well-being…
The colours and shapes you paint or sketch can be used to reflect your emotions and thoughts. Paintings of personal events or circumstances can be emotionally therapeutic for your mind and can serve as a reminder of these events, whether they were happy moments or ways to remind you of unforgettable moments in your life.
Being able to put these things on a blank piece of paper or canvas are great ways to meditate and self-reflect on yourself, all of which is a great way of relieving stress and building emotional resilience.
You don’t have to create your own artistic masterpiece to help improve your mental health. That’s why we have art galleries – For everyone to admire and dive into the lore and story of other people’s artwork.
Different people will like artwork for different reasons and have personal preferences. They may prefer sculptures and models, abstract art pieces or pin-point detailed oil-paintings depicting real-life scenarios or landscapes for example.
At the end of the day, different artwork will help stimulate relaxation and relieve stress in different ways for different people.
Art can impress people with how sophisticated and well-made it is. It could be how well-detailed it is in depicting every detail of a gorgeous city landscape on a canvas the size of a wall or the vibrant colours being splashed onto a page.
These details can really magnetise peoples’ minds to these art pieces, making them analyse and potentially look at these art pieces for hours. For this very reason, art is a fantastic way to close off your mind from the busy world and go on an adventure through the world of colours, shapes, paintings and sculptures!
For those of us looking to become more technical in the world of art and interested in sharpening our artistic skills, this wonderful hobby is fantastic for keeping your mind sharp and on point!
Perhaps you want to explore the skills required to oil paint or work with clay modelling. Maybe you want to explore the world of realism in art and design and be able to portray realism on a blank canvas!
Being able to learn these skills and also being able to create these art pieces is great art therapy for your mind.
In the case of paintings of city landscapes, nature or physical objects, you’ll realise how every detail no matter how small is depicted with absolute precision. Every leaf on a tree painting, every building with their straight, rugged edges in a city landscape and even the smallest specs of dirt on a painting of a car can truly test the minds creativity and precision in thoughts!
Add to this the time that it can take to make these art pieces and the mental resilience of the mind can be stretched to its limit.
That is why art is a fantastic way of making your mind as sharp in its thoughts and patience as possible. Art can truly measure and enhance your ability to focus and not get distracted, because even the slightest slip-ups with a paintbrush can ruin a painting!
Being able to control your hands without nervously shaking and being patient with your artwork is fantastic for the mind if you want to enhance your mental resilience or learn to not get distracted during the moment. Things like this are great in day-to-day life for being able to focus and avoid procrastinating activities!
Art can be approached in so many ways. It could be done alone, allowing you to self-reflect and get lost in your own creativity or imagination or alongside many other fellow artists!
Remember, at the end of the day, art, whether it’s painting, drawing or sculpting is like any other hobby. There will be people looking to sharpen their artistic skills or people with the creativity and passion to dive into the world of art. Whatever their goals are, art is the perfect hobby to bring people together as a community.
How is art a social hobby?
When it comes to art, concentration is key! This is especially the case when it comes to art pieces that require intense, tiny details and as much realism as possible.
For this reason, art can truly test how well you can flush away cognitive distractions! Whether it’s the sound of a bird in the background, people talking or even having a slight itch, despite trying to finish the perfect brushstroke, art is the perfect hobby to train your mind’s mental resilience to any external situation.
By being able to master control of concentration, your mind can be trained in so many other situations that require concentration. Procrastination is one thing that comes to mind, especially in a situation where you’ll easily get distracted by your phone.
Through art, you are strengthening your mind to focus on any task at hand presented in front of you and that’s perfect for strengthening mental resilience and mindfulness!
Depression and anxiety is a major issue in today’s world. The feeling of failure and not accomplishing anything is one of the reasons for this and it’s more common in the younger generation than you think…
Being able to paint and draw is something that requires talent and immense skills. It’s a hobby the consists of patience, calmness and bravery to not mess up an art piece!
Nonetheless, the feat of finishing a huge piece of art work is certainly a great feeling. I myself know what it’s like and the sensation is sweet! By putting effort into mastering the world of art and design, you’ll realise how much of an achievement being able to create magnificent pieces of art really is! It can truly release a lot of mental strain on people suffering from stress, depression or anxiety, because art and design is a highly-valued skills that can really be appreciated by many.
So even if you’re at your darkest points in life, art and design will always be there to lighten your mood, no matter what skill level you’re at!
This point technically expands upon all my other previous points.
Art offers the opportunity to put your thoughts and ideas onto a blank canvas. The canvas is essentially a catalyst for letting your mind let loose and bringing out your creative flair!
It gives you opportunities to paint or draw out whatever is on your mind and this is perfect if you need some alone time to self-reflect and explore yourself whenever you might be lost or suffering from any sort of depression or anxiety.
Doing this will once again build emotional resilience, while also relieving unnecessary stress on your mind!