Burnout can feel draining. You want to be productive but you struggle leaving your bed every morning. All you can do is scroll online. One of the best tidbits of advice I’ve heard to help escape ruts like these is to create instead of constantly consuming media. While practicing the arts won’t cure mental illnesses, it is a simple way to become more productive in your professional work. The arts have been touted as a wonderful way to help boost concentration and reduce stress, meanwhile doomscrolling — the practice of scrolling through media that oftentimes perpetuates burnout — has been cited to promote headaches and reduce overall motivation.
If you’re interested in starting the process of creating, the first step is to find an art you love or experiment with arts that pique your interest. After dabbling in the arts for a short time, you might end up adding creation as a part of your daily routine. With most of Generation Z feeling like they spend too much time on social media, the want to change is there — it often just requires something with which you can replace the dead time.
The next step is to study your craft. The type of art does not matter, whether it be drawing, writing, photography, dance or any other art you find fascinating. You will likely not be a pro straight off the bat, and that is normal. This step — from my experience learning photography during the COVID-19 pandemic — mainly revolves around studying theory and then practicing. For example, I would watch YouTube videos on how to compose an image, then go in my backyard and implement that into my photos; I would go back to watching more YouTube and rinse and repeat until I felt comfortable experimenting on my own. Granted, the pandemic permitted us an entire lockdown’s worth of time, but even watching a video with your morning coffee can be enough.
The truth is that the benefit isn’t about being a pro, but rather participating in the learning process itself. Creativity challenges your brain as you learn to problem-solve and adapt what does and doesn’t work in your art. Your mood can also get a boost from this sense of accomplishment, and what better way to symbolize progress than works of art? Learning also stimulates your mind, keeping you away from purely consuming media. Seeing yourself grow as an artist will create a sense of accomplishment, which will further motivate you to complete daily tasks, giving you time to do art.
Creating is also a social activity. From sharing your progress on social media to engaging with other artists, the possibility of beneficial social interaction is limitless. And, compared to passively scrolling on social media, these interactions are much more likely to forge meaningful friendships, further boosting your quality of life. Granted, there are also obstacles that you might face. For instance, I sometimes get writer’s block when creating my pieces or struggle to think of how to edit photos after a long day of shooting. But the social aspect of creating perfectly solves this problem — look for inspiration from other creators or just show your draft to a friend for advice. Since Vanderbilt has organizations for most crafts as well, from spoken word to a photography society, chances are you can find a group on campus fit for you! These people can be crucial in your artistic development — from giving you feedback to bouncing ideas off one another — so it is an excellent way to accelerate your journey.
Meaningful friendships and perhaps a newfound passion await you beyond the world of your algorithm. All there is left to do is one thing: create. Go out there and show the world what you can do.
