Getting crafty helps relieve the stress of everyday life by distracting you from your worries. Midterms may have passed, but some students are still experiencing a major case of burnout. The best way to cure academic burnout is to take a “vacation” and relax your mind with some relaxing arts and crafts.
Knitting or crocheting
Knitting and crocheting helps relieve many people of their anxiety. It also helps with calming the mind. According to the Anxiety Resource Center, there are several reasons why people should take up knitting and crocheting, including repetitive hand movements, focused eye contact and sensory stimulation. The hand movements used during these crafts take up our brain activity and prevent us from focusing on other things that may be bothering us. There are a lot of repetitive movements when it comes to knitting a blanket or crocheting a beanie.
Building Legos
According to Metro, there are many cases in which Legos have helped adults with mental illnesses and stress. Building new sets or getting out your old set of Legos could help relieve any stress midterms may have caused. You could also use old sets of Legos and create something entirely different from what the instructions say.
Making friendship bracelets
Use strings to lace beads, rubber bands or ribbons to create stronger bonds with others. Making bracelets is something people would do in elementary or middle school, but weaving bracelets can help us relax to this day. When you put all your focus on the strings or rubber bands, it can help your worries to disappear, even if just temporary.
Creating a gratitude journal
Journaling your thoughts always helps relieve stress, but what if you made a journal with just positive thoughts? A gratitude journal paves the way for a positive attitude and reduces your stress. Writing positive thoughts and putting pictures in the journal helps relieve stress. You can do whatever you want with your gratitude journal, but it helps your mental health to keep it positive.
