Cheri: Welcome back to the Creative Practice Series. Today we're going to talk about self care. ⁓ Welcome back to the Creative Practice Podcast. Today we're going to be talking about something that might shift the way you think about your making and creative time and how you protect it. If you've ever felt guilty for sitting down to knit or weave or sew, this episode is for you. Okay, was that? Alright. Brittany Stanton: Ahem. and This topic is really personal for both of us because creativity has never been just a hobby. It's a way that we use to take care of ourselves and when things are hard or life is challenging, it's kind of a safe haven to ⁓ pursue doing something creative and getting lost in a ⁓ textile basket or ⁓ sewing project. And it just allows some freedom. from the day-to-day stresses to take care of yourself. And that's something that we love about creativity and hobbies. Cheri: Yeah, I've noticed over the years, if I'm not doing, making something with my hands, things start to fill off. And unlike Brittany, that's not my go-to. I tend to pick hobbies and things that are maybe more thinky, more cerebral. Like my go-to is to read a book every time. I like to make plans. I like to learn languages. But if I am not using my hands to do something real, something tangible, it, I really start to miss it. And unfortunately, because it's not my favorite thing to do, I can find myself going for months and then finally looking around and saying, Hmm, hey, wait, I think I need to make something. Brittany Stanton: Yeah, I think there's a deep connection between our mental health and using our hands and being involved hands-on with things. Cheri: Before we get too far into the podcast, just want to mention that we have a free worksheet that goes with this episode. It's designed to help you figure out which creative activities actually fill you up emotionally and when to reach for them. Brittany Stanton: Mm. It's simple and practical and easy to use and it's page three in your creative practice workbook. So if you're collecting all of them, we'll tell you how to download it at the end of this episode. Cheri: So here's the thing, most of us have been taught that creative, so here's the thing, most of us have been taught that creative time, let's call it art time, and this goes all the way back to kindergarten, is something that we reward ourselves with. It's something that we do after all of our work is done. but what if we flip that entirely? Brittany Stanton: Ahem. making things and doing things with your hands is one of the best Making things and doing things with your hands is one of the most well-documented self-care or researched. making things in a much well- Making things, working with your hands is one of the most well documented forms of self care that there is. There is a ton of research to back that up. We'll link some fun articles in the show notes if you're interested in reading about the research and kind of the science behind why making things and being creative is so good for your mental health and for pursuing self-care, taking care of your soul. Okay, I'm taking. Even so, makers, and we like to identify everyone as a maker of some sort, makers often limit their time or their ⁓ permission to spend time making things and being creative. And today we kind of want to challenge that idea that making isn't just a luxury, it's a necessity. Cheri: Right. Making is not selfish. It's not indulgent. It's actually a really important maintenance that we can do in our lives to keep ourselves healthy. And so let's just define our terms today. We're going to call this making. Is that, I'm asking you. That's okay. I said it like I was delivering a line, but are we going to say making because it, Brittany Stanton: ⁓ sorry. Cheri: Can we say creating? We don't have to start over. I think it comes like the enunciation is clearer. Brittany Stanton: Yeah, let's ⁓ creating, making. Cheri: creating instead of making it's harder to like, what are they saying? Making? I've noticed that when we're in our other podcasts. Okay. Okay. Brittany Stanton: Creating. Okay, creating. Cheri: Okay. Let me cue this up and then you can talk about the bullet points. Okay. So like Brittany mentioned, there is so much mental health research on creating things with your hands. usually ⁓ every month or so I link up to another article that I have found on this in the links we love. I just had one today that showed that having creative time at work actually improves employee performance. That's a fun article. So, Bernie's gonna list off some of the ⁓ physical and mental health benefits that they've found in research that comes from creating things with your hands. Brittany Stanton: Yeah, so before I do that, I just wanted to mention, if you haven't already, we have your daily creative practice. This is a printed version, but we have it as a PDF version. This is something that we created several, like two years ago now, that we're kind of going through along with the workbook and the worksheets that you can download. And so today we're discussing what would be chapter three in this workbook. And that covers some of the self-care benefits, the mental health benefits of being creative. Some of those being ⁓ reduction of anxiety and stress, improvement of mood and self-esteem, mindfulness and emotional processing, and combating depression and loneliness. And all of those things are, I think, very necessary on a regular basis, maybe a daily basis, to be able to recenter yourself, get yourself situated in order to be productive and healthy and just stable to be able to live daily life. Cheri: And I just want to mention that the research on this pretty much covers a broad range, everything from painting to pottery to knitting. There isn't one craft that is better for this. And part of this is ⁓ getting into the state of flow. And in last month's podcast, we talked about creativity and flow. And the flow state is one of the reasons that creativity is so good for our mental health. Brittany Stanton: Yeah, and we'll be talking about that more in the next episode as well. Cheri: Is the next episode about flow? Didn't we talk? Okay. Okay. Brittany Stanton: Yeah, but I think we did talk about it last time too. ⁓ Cheri: So when we talk, so let's define self care. Let's have an aside here. What is self care? Brittany Stanton: Okay, yeah. Self-care is doing things to take care of yourself so that you're able to function in your daily life to the highest capacity. Cheri: Okay. Okay. Let's, let's pause here for a second and just talk about self care. What, what is that? These are the things that we do in our daily routine that help us function at our best. And these are things like sleep, eating healthy, movement, getting sunlight. staying hydrated. And if we put creativity in our creative practice in that same category, you can see how important it is to make time for it and not treat it as an extra thing that you get to do when your work is done because all the adults out there, we know that our work is never done. Brittany Stanton: There's always another task to finish or to start or whatever. Okay, I was having a thought. ⁓ and as we talked about in previous episodes in this series, creativity doesn't have to be a huge block of time. I think it was the last episode we were talking about how you can spend five to 15 minutes a day to build a creative habit. And that's what we're talking about here in incorporating creativity as a form of self-care on a regular basis. Ideally daily, but if it's weekly, ⁓ that works too. just slowly incorporating bits of time to be creative and defending it as something that is valuable and that ⁓ necessary, maybe is a strong word, but that you need to be able to ⁓ function as a healthy human being. So ⁓ we'll talk more about the permission and that here in a few minutes, but the idea that we're challenging here is not just that you include creativity into your life and add another thing to your to-do list, but that you just slowly incorporate it in to build that self-care habit in a creative way. Cheri: So here's a little problem I have being a incurable multitasker. And yes, before you leave comments, know that multitasking doesn't work. But what I often find myself doing is forcing or needing myself to be doing two things when I sit down to do my creative practice. So I won't let myself embroider unless I'm also watching TV or listening to a podcast or Sitting around chatting with family. I there always needs to be a layer and part of that is maybe just my busy mind and the way it works it's it's difficult for me to meditate do yoga or anything where I'm Quieting the voice which right there is just an indication of how important it is that I actually do that So Brittany, do you have that problem trying to force yourself? You know to do something with your right hand while you're doing something with your left hand or are you able to just sit down and focus and Brittany Stanton: you know, to do something with your right hand while you're doing that. Cheri: spin in perfect silence. Brittany Stanton: Hmm. I think it does depend on where I'm at mentally. Sometimes I use creativity in the form of self care as a... ⁓ a reset and if I'm spinning on something in my brain, then I need a distraction for my brain so that my hands can do what my hands are doing. So I think there's kind of two scenarios where I'm already ⁓ feeling a sense of peace and so I can sit down and the silence and the solitude is very healing and very relaxing. and time can pass, you get into flow state, and I really enjoy that silence. Then there's other times where my brain is not at peace and there is no such thing as silence or the true silence because my brain is going a million miles an hour, mostly having arguments with people in my head if I'm being truly honest. And so having something that's sort of distracting for my brain. helps my hands be able to take the lead and really do what I need them to do so that my brain can do what I need it to do. And so the trick that I've learned is I've listened to almost every single Agatha Christie that there is out there on audiobook about probably at least five times if not 10 times a piece over the last 10 years. And so I've heard them all. ⁓ And so she's kind of my go-to for when I need some mental distraction because I don't have to listen to the story to know what's going on. can check in every once in and be like, ⁓ that's where I'm at in this story. And so I use that as a kind of a trigger point of, okay, I'm settling in. It's enough of a distraction, the audio in my ear, to just focus on that. voice rather than the, you know, things going on in my brain and get into the flow of what my hands are doing and focusing on that, especially if it's a task that's more repetitive and there's not a lot of brain focus necessary to do the project. ⁓ So that's kind of a little bit in flow state, how to get into flow state, but I think that's really helpful for me for the self-care aspect of ⁓ if something as stressful and you can't get your brain to settle, using audio to distract your brain, works for me at least, and then doing the physical hands-on thing to... connect with your brain and your body in a different way. Because when we move our hands, we're still using our brain so that there's that body-brain connection, kind of like in yoga. ⁓ And then there's the satisfaction of seeing progress in a project. And I think all of those things held together end or result in something that's just very tangible and satisfying. And you can walk away with the benefits of having done something meditative, but also seen some physical progress in something. Cheri: Hmm. I see that in myself more in gardening. I can see what you're saying. I also have the arguments in my head with people. I like to think and a lot of the time I would say most of the time my thinking is it's productive thinking, it's creative thinking. I'm just mulling over a problem, especially if I give myself something to think about before I go out to do what I'd call the mindless work. But then there's those times when you kind of step back from yourself and you say, Brittany Stanton: Mm-hmm. I like the name. Cheri: Okay, this is a negative spiral and that's when I turn my podcasts on. I like podcasts. We listen to our audiobooks in the car. Okay, are we down to? Brittany Stanton: I think we have one last bullet point that I want to talk about. The creative practice is self-care, treating it with respect. Cheri: Okay. Brittany Stanton: ⁓ I guess maybe just do a little transition. Okay, let me try this. So a key resistance to treating your creativity as something that's kind of a non-negotiable, like you would sleeping or eating healthy or exercising or using movement to take care of your body, treating it that way, there's a lot of resistance because often it feels kind of selfish, like it is a negotiable thing to include in your life. And there are so many responsibilities and things that we have to do. especially for others. And a lot of us put the priority on doing things for other people before we do things for ourselves. So So we see something in creative people and that is that creativity will set aside, set a time aside for it. But if anything else remotely important comes up, it's the first thing to go out of our schedule, out of our priority list. And ⁓ often we don't even really think about it. Like, ⁓ this thing is more important. So that's gonna... that just gets wiped off my to-do list or the things that I intend to do today because it feels like the responsible thing to do. Okay, so that's beat B. Cheri: Okay. Okay, we're moving on to practical tips. Brittany Stanton: ⁓ Well, I think we should talk about it a little bit more about how... I want to talk about how... ⁓ the, the discomfort of this being something that you kind of have to fight for because nobody's going to respect it if you don't respect it yourself. And so the idea like your spouse may not get it, your kids may not get it, but it's, something that you need to defend. Like you would going on a diet or something like that. This is a creativity diet that you're going on. ⁓ Cheri: Hmm. Mm-hmm. Brittany Stanton: So I'd like to just kind of riff on that a little bit back and forth. ⁓ Cheri: Okay. Brittany Stanton: There's a little script here you had for yourself in the middle of beat B. Do you want to talk about that at all? Cheri: No, I think I kind of touched on that or what I mean by that. Brittany Stanton: Okay. Okay, so along with the idea of creativity being something that ⁓ needs to be protected and that you incorporate into your life as a form of self-care to be the best person that you could be, ⁓ something that I wanted to mention is often the people around you may not see this as super valuable. And so if you kind of disrespect the time ⁓ that you set aside for creativity and you slough it away, then that sets a precedent in yourself and in the people around you that that thing isn't really important and it's optional, which I would argue it's not really optional because the less time you spend being creative, the less creativity you ⁓ have built or gained and ⁓ the more creatively creative creative creatively like sick you become because there's disconnection from something that I think we all naturally need and so building that kind of core of respect in yourself for your creativity time again we're talking five to fifteen minutes a day or in a week just to kind of build that habit and give yourself some space to be creative ⁓ if you Cheri: creatively. Brittany Stanton: If you can respect that time, then that kind of helps others see, this is a valuable thing for this person. And ⁓ if you don't do that, they're not going to do that for you because they need things from you. They have other agendas and things. And not to say like the world is out to get us, but it has to start internally. That creativity is important thing to me and representing that. holding that space and kind of holding the line there and just realizing other people, your spouse, your kids, your roommates, housemates, the other people around you in your sphere, your friends, they may not get it yet. They may never get it. And it's okay to hold that space and continue to pursue creative endeavors. realizing that, hey, I'm doing something that makes me more emotionally healthy and makes me a better person to be around. And it's okay if they don't understand, but I have the ability to hold this space and respect my own creative time, even if they're resistant to it or just don't really care. And I've got a bug. Okay. Cheri: Hmm. This reminds me of a story and this happened, you were little, so it had to be 25 years ago. We went to a garage sale and this woman was selling all of her craft stuff. I mean, her entire driveway was filled mostly with scrapbooking stuff, but all of her various craft stuff, she was selling it all. And people were saying, ⁓ why are you getting rid of everything? And very loudly, cause I was there for a good half hour, probably sorting through all this stuff. Very loudly. She was explaining to everyone about. how she didn't have any time. And so she was just selling everything. You had to get rid of it because she had too much to do. Clearly directing all of this at her husband who was sitting over in the corner, either not listening or choosing not to listen. I'm sure it was a pretty long day for him. And, you know, no judgment. I've been this wife before, but it made a huge impact on me because I vividly remember the scene, even the way this woman looked 25 years ago. It really stuck with me. And Brittany Stanton: You Cheri: almost sure that, you know, two weeks down the road when she was in a different mindset that she had bit off her nose to spite her face big time because no one was punished in that but her. And it's just an example of we're expecting everyone else to give us the permission to do the fun things that we want to do to take up hobbies, to allow us to live out some kind of a dream that we have. And yeah. Brittany Stanton: to cheer us on. Cheri: And you actually don't need that. You don't need that. And you can't expect it. And if that's what you're waiting for, you might be waiting for a long time. Brittany Stanton: So let us be the ones cheering you on. We're here saying do the creative, spend the creative time, do the creative thing ⁓ because yeah, you probably need it. Cheri: Okay, you ready to move to practical takeaways? Okay. So as always, Bernie has some practical takeaways for us this week. Let me do that again because I don't even think I was looking at the camera. I think I was looking at you. So as we do every month, we have some creative practical takeaways for you. Brittany Stanton: First off is a kind of self-reflection piece of creating. When you sit down to do something creatively, feel what your body's going through. Are you relaxing? Are you sitting down and feeling kind of a decompression of your day as you get into that creativity? Are you stressed? Just kind of emotionally identify where am I at? And start to notice that when you sit down each creative session. ⁓ That will really help, I think, to start to identify, ⁓ this is really good for me. Because you can identify how you're doing at the beginning of your session and then reassess when you're done, you're getting up to move on to the next thing. And start to see, am I seeing a difference in my mood or in how I'm feeling right now? How is that impacting me as I move on with my day? Cheri: Hmm. That's a tip I need to employ for sure. This next one is something that's easier for me. So maybe there's someone out there that needs to hear this. And I would say the second practical tip is to set an appointment with yourself this week of when you're going to sit down and engage in something creative. And as we've said, and we say every month, this can be five to 15 minutes. It doesn't have to be a huge block of time to be meaningful. And then I want you to treat that appointment just like you would a doctor's appointment. I mean, maybe you need to penalize yourself with a $50 surcharge like the doctor does if you don't show up. Brittany Stanton: Hahaha That's a great idea. Cheri: Of course, you'd have to spend that $50 on craft supplies. Brittany Stanton: ⁓ what a bummer. He might be late a few more times. Cheri: you Brittany Stanton: Okay, and third, yet another kind of reflection, thinky kind of thing, is to assess when you sit down and you feel guilty about sitting down to do something creative. Think about what is it that I'm doing right now? Not what should I be doing? Not what is the long list of things that is on my to-do list today, but how am I benefiting my life and the lives of other people around me by sitting down and doing this creativity thing at the moment. And just kind of going through maybe making yourself a mental script. ⁓ I think there has been times in my life where there were so many other things to be doing. For example, I'm remodeling or renovating an unfinished basement right now in our house. And so that's a huge thing that's like, I should be working on that. And so to sit down and work on one of my creative projects often feels like, I should be working on that because that's the thing that's going to affect more people. And I have to realize there's only so much effort you can put into something before you have are making mistakes, aren't able to think clearly. You're tired physically. There are things that can start to build up. and limit your ability to do that work well if you don't step away and take care of other things like your creative practice and your mental health by doing something that is working with your hands, working creatively, and taking care of yourself. So I have this kind of mental script of sitting down to do my creative practice and realizing I'm here because I need to take care of my mental health as well as all these other things in life. And by doing so, I'm actually going to be a nicer person to be around. So my family and my friends are going to enjoy me more because I'm not stressed out and uptight all the time because I've taken that time away to take care of myself. And it is growing a continuous level of creativity. The more you spend in your creativity, the more you gain in your creativity. And so having that spend just gains more. And I think that that reflects on all the areas of your life and benefits all the areas of your life in the sense that you just get better at doing all the things. You become a better problem solver. You take on things without being as stressed with them. And it just kind of... starts to reflect on all the areas and aspects of life because you're able to, I think, respond to things at more of a less reactionary ⁓ response to life because you've had the time to process stress, relax, and get a better baseline so that you can go back into life and take care of it. Without being up here, you can be down here. for those of you listening, creating an imaginary bar of like, there's low stress and then there's high stress. And if you can maintain kind of a resilience at a certain level that's low, then life goes a lot more smoothly. Cheri: A good word. Okay, I just want to pause here and remind you that we do have a worksheet that helps you process and work through this in your own mind so that you can apply these points to your life. We can just move on if you want. No, it's okay. That's kind of clunky. Are you ready to move to the next? Brittany Stanton: If, okay, you don't miss it. ⁓ yes, but I forgot to look this up. Darcy Miller. Cheri: ⁓ I'm, I'll talk about it. It's my thing. Yeah. Does it say that you're supposed to talk about it? ⁓ you, you're going to, you do the show and tell. I'll talk about the resource that keeps it. Yeah. This is kind of my, okay. Brittany Stanton: ⁓ ⁓ no, but I wasn't sure if I... Cheri: Sorry, I'm having a little trouble. Like how is making the segue that's little? Brittany Stanton: That's okay. Yeah. Oh, how will I transition us? Because I was the one talking, so I'll just talk about. Cheri: I'm probably going cut that whole bit about the worksheet. It was the optional, so I'll probably just chop that out. Brittany Stanton: okay. Okay, let me try a transition. Okay, so we've been talking a lot about creativity and the benefits for your mental health. Now we're going to transition into some fun resources that Sherry has for us that are creativity oriented and that might help you kind of dive into your creative practice in a way that is tangible in small pieces so that you can spend those five to 15 minutes and do something. help you get into the flow or the habit of being creative. Cheri: Great. Each month on the website, we publish a post called the links we love where I link to somewhere between 15 and 20 different resources across the broad spectrum of fiber arts. And then we pull one of those resources to talk about in the podcast. And I chose today, Darcy Miller designs. ⁓ she has a website, Darcy Miller and on her design idea page. And if you just go to her website, you'll see her idea tab right at the top. I think it applies today to this topic of self care because her projects, while they're slightly out of our normal topic, she mostly does paper art and some food art. The projects on there are so accessible. There are things that you could just do in a few minutes. Generally she has some kind of printable that you'll print out and you'll cut it out and color it. They're very sophisticated and beautiful, but they're also really simple. And so it's something that you might add to holiday or table decoration or an upcoming celebration or just because. So if you are interested in starting this creative practice but ⁓ maybe you're not ready to learn a new skill or you don't want to start a sweater or you know maybe your dream craft is just a little bit of a stretch right now I would suggest you take a look and see if anything on there catches your fancy because it could be just the thing you need. to sit down with some paper and some markers. It's as simple as that and make something delightful that you can set in the middle of your table and look out for the next couple of weeks. This is also a good time to note that we will have show notes and we'll link to everything that we've talked about in this episode that you can easily find it. Okay, I'm gonna queue you up. And next up, it's time for Brittany's and tell. I think she has a couple of really cool projects to share with us. For those of you that are listening on the podcast, she does her best to describe and explain what she's showing us. ⁓ If you want to see it, you can always come to our YouTube channel and watch in the video. Brittany Stanton: Mm-hmm. Okay, I brought two unfinished projects today that I've been working on for a while, mostly because I got to a point where it was like, ⁓ I have to do the thing that I don't really like doing. ⁓ So these are both so liberated sewing patterns so liberated is an indie pattern company that does PDF printable patterns. They also have a bunch of sewing workshops. So if you're new to sewing. They have some great a kind of foundational sewing tutorial workshops. And this, the first piece I want to show you, actually got a little bit stained, but this is the estuary skirt. It's a button front skirt. The reason I've kind of stalled out on it is because I need to make buttonholes, which is ⁓ one of my lesser favorite parts of sewing. ⁓ But the front placket will have I think it's something around eight buttons running down the front and it's actually button front and not sewn closed and then buttons on top. actually has the button holes, but it has these wonderful large pockets. These are like full hand pockets, which is fairly rare in skirts. Currently, this is white because I made this out of a cotton gauze material ⁓ and I'm intending to dye it. I haven't decided if I'm going to naturally dye it. or use Rit Dye or some other ⁓ powdered dyes. But one of the reasons I love this skirt other than the button front placket, which is just really fun and the pockets, is that it has this, the back waistband is elastic, so it gives you some wiggle room, while the front is a nice flat placket or waistband. And so it fits really nicely. It allows you some growth room, one of the most frustrating parts about sewing your own clothes is that if you change sizes at all, from the time you cut out your pattern to the time you sew it, which can sometimes be a long period of time, ⁓ what you cut out may not be your size by the time you finish sewing it. So this little bit of wiggle room just gave me some confidence that this indeed will fit me when I finish it. So my ⁓ project here is pick the dye color and I think I'm going to do some sort of burgundy or maybe matter root which is kind of a pinky red and then finish off the button front. So this is the estuary skirt. Try to hold this up here. It's got these great big pockets. And then another one that I have this is also a so liberated and it's their studio apron. They have a fun name for it but I can't remember what it's called. moment. ⁓ This I sewed out of a heavy linen fabric just as kind of a go to to wear in the studio when I'm working on projects. It also has some great pockets these big pockets and then a phone pocket here layered in. There's two pockets on this side. ⁓ It's kind of a rounded neck. It has a hanger loop on the back so you can hang it up. when you're not wearing it and you wear it like a jumper. So it's a kind of a dress jumper. You can layer it on top of like a long sleeve and a pair of leggings or just on top of your clothes to protect your clothes. But this I also made with the intention of dyeing it. This is linen so I could naturally dye it. ⁓ I haven't decided on the color for this one either but I'm kind of drawn to the idea of doing this in an indigo vat, so dipping it in indigo, which is more of a summer project. So that's coming up here. I'll be getting my indigo vat going. Both of these are Yeah, so both of these patterns are so liberated in Indie Pattern Company and the fabric for both of these I got from Dharma Trading Company, which is based out of California. ⁓ They have a ton of dyeable fabrics that you can purchase in their natural color, the bleached white color, and then you can use them to dye and do your own colors. And I like... sewing my clothes that way, ⁓ making the garment and then dyeing it once it's all sewn because I can make sure that I like the pattern before I go to the trouble of dyeing. And it allows me the ability to just dye the material that I used for the garment instead of dyeing the yardage and then having a bunch of waste. I make the piece and then I can use the rest of the material for a different project and dye the two things different colors. just gives me some more wiggle room and saves on ⁓ material cost. So I like purchasing that material. They have a lot of variety and you can get a sample pack of all the different fabrics that they get or that they have in their ⁓ catalog. And so they'll send you kind of a collection of samples with all the information about what the fabric is, the fiber content. ⁓ And so I have a bundle, it's about so high, maybe like five inches thick of different materials that I can flip through when I'm working on a sewing project and reference and feel to see if it's the type of fabric that I want for my project. So that's a really handy kind of bonus resource for you if you're interested in sewing your own clothes. So that is something on my work table, kind of side project along with what we're doing for textile indie. Cheri: You're to do the shadow boxes? ⁓ no. Okay. That's why you had to. I was like, wow, you're ambitious today. Okay. Brittany Stanton: Yeah, I'll do that in the next episode. Yeah, yeah. Okay, so optional worksheet echo. Do want me to do that? Cheri: Uh, Nope. guess we're just gonna. Yeah. I mean, I, don't need to say that and then I'm saying it again. So, okay. That Claude. If you would like to take. Brittany Stanton: ⁓ true. Cheri: I up at four today. I've had a lot of creatine. was kind of hoping that would get the blood brain barrier. Okay. If you would like to take today's episode a little deeper, be sure to download the creativity worksheet. So just to put a Brittany Stanton: ⁓ I'm sorry. ⁓ I want to talk about that later. Cheri: So let me just explain that a little. If you look in the description below of the YouTube video or the description of the podcast, there will be a link and that link takes you to the full show notes on our website, which will have all the links to everything we've talked about. It'll have a summary of the things we talked about and it pulls out all the practical points. If you are not signed up for our email list already, that's where you can get the creativity worksheet. If you're already a member of our email list and you have access to our VIP library, I just add the current month's worksheet to the original file. So you can just go back to the VIP library and keep downloading those each month. Is that clear enough? Okay. Okay. Now you can say your bit. Brittany Stanton: I think so. The worksheet is really helpful because it's going to help you identify which creativity projects help with your well-being, your mental health. ⁓ Today's worksheet will be really helpful to help you ⁓ identify what creativity projects you work on that actually support and build your emotional well-being. So check those show notes for the link to that. Cheri: So here's something for you to sit with this week. When was the last time that you made something and let yourself feel like it counted as taking care of yourself? Not as just your hobby, not as reward for getting your work done, but as something that you actually needed. Brittany Stanton: Let us know in the comments we'd love to hear. Cheri: You wanna do that again. Brittany Stanton: Let us know in the comments. We'd love to hear what creativity project you go to or turn to to build your emotional well-being. Cheri: Next week. It's like I've been talking for days or something. Next week we're going to talk about creative flow again and go a month. Sorry. Thanks. I usually say next time just in case we decide to speed them up. ⁓ Next time we'll be talking about creative flow and going deep into that and how we start over. Brittany Stanton: Wait, sorry, is it next week? Cheri: I'm just going to read it because we're going to put a slide over it. Next time we're talking about creative flow, how to get into that absorbed time disappears state more often and how... Brittany Stanton: Yep. Cheri: Okay, next time we're talking about creative flow, how to get into that absorb time disappearing state more often. Okay, builds naturally on what we talked today. Next time we're talking about creative flow, how to get into that absorbed time disappearing state more often. It builds naturally on what we talked about today. So look forward to that. Brittany Stanton: Take care and happy making. Bye. Cheri: Bye. Okay. All right. Brittany Stanton: Sweet. Okay, I hope that...