Creativity

Creative activities for bad days

November 6, 2021Rabea

I think most of us can agree that positive distractions on a bad day will absolutely improve your mood. That’s why I’m sharing some creative activities for bad days with you today that often help me turn a bad day around.

Coloring book

Coloring is meditative and helps you focus. Two mindful things that will concentrate you on the present moment. And if there is one thing about being present, then it’s the absence of negative emotions. I often color things in on my iPad if I have a bad day or struggle with my concentration in any way.

Collages

Physical or digital, doesn’t matter. Collecting nice pictures, colors, and words and putting them together into one neat concept will always be satisfying. It is also a great exercise in optimism if you make your collage about your goals and dreams. I haven’t made one in a while but I know so many people that simply make a little Pinterest board whenever they feel stuck.

Challenges in sandbox games

Creativity doesn’t have to be limited by fixed visuals and animation. You could start up a sandbox game like Minecraft and do creative challenges, alone or with others. When I was in my late teens I had entire phases where this helped me relax in the afternoon. Let out the inner child a little bit and have some fun.

Writing based on prompts

As someone that has been both a non-fiction writer AND a fiction writer as a hobby, I absolutely love how helpful it can be to just take a prompt and create something around it with words. Being caged in by a prompt can really spark innovation in how you attempt writing. Note to self: I should really do this again, I haven’t written fiction in a while.

Painting challenge

For example, making paint blobs on a piece of paper and using a liner to make them into little monsters. Or you could challenge yourself to draw 5 different styles of houses. Anything that is challenging takes all your focus and that is what we need to distract ourselves from a bad day or mood.

Put together outfit ideas with your closet

Another thing I have on my own to-do list currently. We often wear the same type of outfits or don’t think about them at all. That’s why taking a bad day to just create outfit ideas and look good in the future might be a really good idea. Also helps with self-confidence. We all have that one piece of clothing we don’t know how to combine until we actually take time to figure it out.

Do a visual meditation

I absolutely love doing these. It’s not something that works for everyone, but if those visual journeys from elementary school relaxed you, then you should really try this again. Imagining positive places and situations in your mind can be such a mood booster. I sometimes ask myself why I haven’t done a visual meditation earlier once I’m done with one.

These were some creative activities for bad days. There are more in my free mini-eBook about getting out of creative ruts. I also included a prompt list in there in case you are interested. Get it sent to you by joining the newsletter squad: