This week, I'm sending along an excellent two part series by a Boston based theatre maker, John J. King, that has some awesome strategies and ideas for producing your own work. Though it's written from  theatre perspective, I honestly think that there are some absolutely stellar ideas in the series for everyone, no matter your creative practice. I've been stumbling my way through the self-production process for theatre, books, blogs, podcasts, etc. for many years and this is a guide I wish I had access to when it all started. Better late than never though, right?

I hope you find this two part series as helpful and inspiring as I do, and that you can put some of the suggestions into practice the next time you are making something to share with the world. Wishing you a playful start to the week!

If you live in a part of the world that is experiencing the (hopefully) last throws of winter at the present time, you know that dark, cold, and dreary weather can often bring about feelings of anxiousness and depression, two things that make feeling playful very challenging. Though I'm not feeling overly anxious at the moment, I found myself listening to some old episodes of the Anxiety Slayer podcast this past weekend as I went about my errands and around the apartment chores. I've listened to Anxiety Slayer for several years now, and it's hands down my favorite series on learning to dance with your anxious feelings; in fact it's the only one I listen to nowadays. 

The episode on anxiety and creativity came up on the playlist yesterday, and I relished listening to it again. As I know how many of us have had conversations about anxiety and creativity, I can't resist sharing this episode with you, as it focuses on how to harness your creativity in order to cope with an episode of anxiety and serves as a good reminder about how valuable it is to implement a regular creative practice in order to keep your imagination working for your mental health, and not against it.

Have a listen to the episode linked here, and let me know what you think in the comments! My go-to creative activities when I am feeling particularly jangled with anxiety are cooking, as all of my senses engaged (the colors, the smells, the feeling of handing beautiful foods from the earth) reading a really good book, or watching a movie that transports me to another time and place. 

How about you? What are some of your tried and true creative practices that help maintain mental health?