At a time when many of us feel overwhelmed and stressed out by the Covid-19 Pandemic, balancing work and family, and demands of the digital world, arts and crafts have shown very helpful to many individuals.
Along with various art activities such as oil, acrylic, and watercolor painting, ink & pen, charcoal drawing, and other easy activities such as coloring books for adults can prove very effective. Additionally, cooking and gardening can help relieve stress and anxiety as well.
Crafts such as knitting, crocheting, weaving, ceramics, needlework, designing wreaths, flower arrangements, and woodwork focus on repetitive actions. According to the research I’ve done, these activities help both women and men to enter a “flow state”, a perfect state to relax and to temporarily forget about depression, stress, and anxiety issues. Ultimately doing these activities will begin creating a balance between skill, challenge, maintaining good mental health, and even physical benefits.
During our current conditions of the Covid-19 Pandemic and social distancing, if you don’t want to start creating alone, try to get a small group together and organize a weekly ZOOM, Gmail Video, or Facebook Messenger Room video. Generally, all of these services are free for basis usage. Start experimenting with arts and crafts while enjoying time with family, friends, neighbors, etc. There is no need to worry on how your arts and crafts look, just sit back and enjoy the tranquility of forgetting about your current issues and embrace good conversation.
Another idea is, you can also have fun by performing live cooking presentations, sharing recipes, as well as gardening tips via various virtual platforms. The possibilities are endless and you can expand your acquaintances, stay in touch with family who are local, and those friends and family who live out of town.
Arts and crafts, cooking, and gardening can also help with occupational therapy by the encouragement of additional movement to increase leisure and productivity through "hand and mind to equal health".
Source of Information: Various Google Searches
Until next time, stay safe and well!
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