It is the New Year – new hopes, new goals, and new resolutions. A quick survey of friends and family (backed by the internet too) will reveal the most common New Year’s Resolutions:
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Get Healthy / Reduce Stress
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Spend Less Money
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Spend More Time with Friends and Family
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Learn Something New
What if we told you that crafting could help you reach all of those goals?
Get Healthy / Reduce Stress
It is easy to set benchmarks to get your body in shape and eat healthier, but a healthy mind is just as important. Stress can not only keep us from feeling our best, it can lead to unhealthy issues as well. Finding a way to reduce your stress can help you reach your healthy lifestyle goal. Studies have proven that crafting can help reduce stress. “Whether you’re Van Gogh or a stick-figure sketcher, a new Drexel University study found that making art can significantly reduce stress-related hormones in your body.”1
Crafting comes in many forms, such as crocheting, painting, drawing, woodworking, floral arranging, and sewing. There is definitely one out there for you! “The repetition of the crafts has been shown to release serotonin, a natural anti-depressant.”3 Whether you craft daily or once a month, it is sure to help you feel more relaxed and less stressed.
Spend Less Money
Crafting can get expensive: purchasing tools, materials, more paint and thread than you can ever use, and of course replacing the carpet when the paint spills. Solution: go to a store dedicated to crafting. Use their tools and materials, and the best part – leave the mess there too!
Making your own home décor and presents will also save you money, as well as being very personal. Don’t pay an arm and a leg to order a sign premade on-line; make it yourself! Don’t get your MIL another unoriginal sweater for her birthday; craft her something personal she can display in her home! Crafting saves you money and creates projects with much more meaning.
Spend More Time with Family and Friends
There never seems to be enough hours in the week. We get so consumed with work, sports, school, and schedules that we forget to make time to slow down and enjoy those loved ones around us. Pick a date and book a crafting session! Get your friends to join you and make a party out of it. Many crafting businesses, like The Rustic Brush, have workshops all week and have a fun group atmosphere. Not only will you have a great time at your workshop with your friends and family, but also make a keepsake to remember your time together.
Learn Something New
Have you ever used a nail gun or an electric screwdriver? Have you ever sewn two pieces of fabric together? Have you made a wreath for your door or arranged the perfect charcuterie board of snacks? There are 100 other crafting adventures that could be new to you, just pick one! The Rustic Brush owners say that many of their guests have never used an electric screwdriver before – what a great opportunity to learn something new, put it together, and take it home! Want to feel some major power – try the nail gun next!
This new year is yours to make the most of. Set goals for yourself and try crafting to help reach those goals. You will be amazed at the sense of pride and accomplishment you will have when that project is complete. The escape from your everyday concerns will be a relief and time spent with family and friends is a much-needed treat. “When we are involved in (creativity), we feel that we are living more fully than during the rest of life,” Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi said during a TED talk in 2004. “You know that what you need to do is possible to do, even though difficult, and sense of time disappears. You forget yourself. You feel part of something larger.”2
Studies and Articles
1 At Any Skill Level, Making Art Reduces Stress Hormones
2 This is Your Brain on Crafting
Top 10 Most Common New Year’s Resolutions (and How to Follow Through on Them)