HOW TO TAKE CARE OF MENTAL HEALTH AS AN ARTIST
MENTAL HEALTH
Grind culture is something that everyone knows about. The whole “not sleeping till so and so” “I made 30 songs in 2 days” and even “I only slept 2 hours cause I was grinding”, but taking care of yourself has to be your priority. The funny thing is, as I’m typing this right now, I am very exhausted and was actually contemplating skipping this Saturday so I could rest, but I realized that this would be the perfect time to get this out.
When we think of mental health, we usually think about being exhausted and overworked, maybe sometimes we can’t find any inspiration for our art and sometimes we just don’t have the time. Well over the last few years I’ve learned some great tips to help when you feel like you have reached a lil road block
TAKE A BREAK
Now I know this seems very obvious but for a lot of people it’s hard to take a day off of making music without feeling like they wasted a day. There are many different kind of breaks you can take. If you are someone who makes a song a day, taking a break could look like starting a song and not forcing it be finished, or maybe hitting some ideas down for later. Maybe it’s a day without creation at all, it’s whatever lowers the amount of work you usually do. Finding a great balance and your own “break” will help a lot
OTHER OUTLETS
This has been one of the biggest game changers for me. Sometimes when I get “beat block” I feel like I can’t create anything within music, but that doesn’t limit my other abilities. Finding other creative outlets will help you still get those creative juices out but while also expanding your talents. For me it’s graphic design, when I find I cannot make a beat that I truly enjoy, I’ll switch over to making cover arts. For some people it may be drawing or painting. Whatever it is, having different outlets that you can express in different ways helps you feel better when you can’t seem to feel satisfied with your music creation of the day.
DISCONNECT
This one is also a major one. Disconnecting from social media can be very helpful because it allows you to reconnect with the real world. With so many opinions and noise in social media surrounding not only your music but the world in general, it’s very easy to get overwhelmed. As an artist, social media is a key aspect to getting your work out there but it is also a very stressful and labor-some one too, so taking a small break from doing it will help you just get grounded again. Pick a day that you plan to not be on social media much, and have that be a day of reconnection to life.
While there are a lot more things you can do, these are a few that I’ve found help a lot and are very easy to achieve!