Creativity Beyond the Canvas: The Power of a Perspective Shift
Creativity comes in many forms, and everyone has the potential to be creative. But what if you were told that the most powerful form of creativity had nothing to do with paintbrushes or musical notes?
Here at InDependent, the space for military spouse wellness, we define this powerful concept as creative wellness: Valuing, exploring, and actively participating in a diverse range of creative acts and cultural experiences to focus the mind, process trauma, improve cognitive function, and reduce anxiety, depression, and stress.
Michelle Bayer, a military spouse for over 14 years, challenged herself to embrace this branch of wellness by transforming her perspective. Most people believe creativity is something you were born with, but she discovered that if she learned to shift her viewpoint, she could improve almost any challenging situation and greatly enhance her well-being.
Every day, she had a choice. She could look at her life and her circumstances with blinders on, or she could choose to take those blinders off and open the door to a richer perspective and greater wellness.
Military Spouse Life: A Classroom for Creative Perspective
The military spouse life constantly demands that you are creative with your perspective. Michelle, like many military spouses, was always faced with new challenges and stressors, including:
- Separation and uncertainty
- Mental health stressors
- The complexities of the military spouse career path
This is not a common way of living, and it can feel very overwhelming. Learning to adopt creative wellness principles—like focusing the mind and actively exploring new ideas—is an important key to holistic well-being.
Michelle said she would never have made it this long if she hadn’t learned how to be creative and change her perspective on what she thought life should look like. For her, the greatest teachers on perspective were her boys. Her children looked at life with wonder and awe. They automatically thought outside the box for solutions and didn’t immediately see the negative, but rather found the positive.
From Overwhelmed to Free: The Power of Perspective & a Camper
The military lifestyle always brings challenges, but we encourage you to change your perspective and to think creatively. How Michelle looked at life and the obstacles thrown her way drastically changed her entire situation.
Take a common experience, such as the PCS season. After scrambling to find a new home, Michelle was told she couldn’t renew her lease. She was forced to figure out where to live all over again—until her boys challenged her to look at housing from a new perspective: living in a camper.
This shift led to an incredibly freeing decision. They downsized significantly, selling almost everything. The RV lifestyle taught them what was truly needed versus wanted, brought the family closer, and proved that experiences were always more important than things. This simple shift was an act of creative wellness that became a powerful coping mechanism and lesson in mindset.
Be Creative: Change Your Perspective
When military life challenges you, remember these simple steps Michelle used to find her new creative perspective and improve her well-being. These steps are part of a larger focus on the different branches of wellness that support a thriving military spouse community:
- Gain Distance: Step back to get a wider view of the situation.
- Remove Blinders: Stop focusing only on the expected path and see what new doors open.
- Embrace Wonder: See possibilities like a child, not just problems.
- Think Simply: The most creative solutions are often the least complicated.
How will you actively practice creative wellness and change your perspective this week? Share your perspective shift story in the comments, or tag us on Instagram (@independentorg)
