13 no-pressure creative outlets for perfectionists
Perfectionism sucks, but we persevere!
You’re reading Soft Hobbies, a weekly newsletter for creatives in all mediums, with a special focus on writers. I’m Auzin, a Seattle-based writer in the fiction, poetry, and tech spheres. Feel free to visit my author website or check out my socials.
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Hi softies,
Want to feel creative and artistic, but not be scared, pressured, or overwhelmed?
At this point, we all know that creative hobbies are really good for us. They help our brain health, relieve our stress, connect us with our communities, and may even prolong our lives. Hobbies make life less gray and uniform, so every day doesn’t feel the same. They give you something to point to and say, I made that. That was me.
It’s worth trying to create things instead of only consuming them. Especially now, and especially if you’re like me, a person who makes emotional purchases all-too-frequently. You’ll probably never create more than you consume, but that’s okay. It’s still good for you, your community, and the environment at large for you to try making things more often, especially if they’re made with materials or tools you already have access to. Time spent making is time spent not buying.
You don’t have to make things that are useful, or beautiful, or understandable. And your stuff definitely doesn’t have to be perfect. Creating is a human right that you were born with. Every person on this planet is an artist, but most of them had their art taken away from them at an early age. I had to learn all this on my own, and it’s a truth I will always hold onto.
Perfect is the enemy of done and perfectionism is the enemy of artists. I remember the first time I described myself as a perfectionist to my mom — I was probably in middle school or early high school. She was surprised because of how I appeared to her on the outside: a procrastinator who spent too much time on the internet and always took the shortcut to the end goal. “Half-assing” it, as she often described my homework and how I went about doing chores.
What she didn’t see was how insecure I was about my worthiness and abilities, and how inferior I felt to my peers. I wanted to be great so badly, but I knew that the result of my work would never measure up to what I saw in my head. And if that was the case, why put in the effort? If anything short of perfection is failure, why even try?
Perfectionism doesn’t always mean that you give 150% and keep going until your eyes cross. Sometimes it manifests as what looks like laziness or escapism on the outside. It can hurt extra that way, because while people might praise you for overworking yourself and thereby validate your perfectionist tendencies, far fewer of them will tell you “good job” for playing videogames while feeling guilty over not writing (me).
Perfectionism in any form serves very little useful function because it hinders and prevents creation, rather than supporting and inspiring. And you deserve the latter! This post won’t tell you how to overcome perfectionism because #1: I don’t know how to do that and #2: it’s probably a book-length topic — anyone have a recommendation? This post is for finding a new hobby, one that puts your perfectionism high up on a shelf, where it can occupy itself for a while while you have a good time.
You don’t need to learn any new skills for these! The learning will come slowly and organically. These hobbies are relaxed and chill for busy, stressed-out people with too much on their plates (me again…) and I recommend picking one or two that you loved doing as a kid. Maybe some of these seem childish and that’s a good thing because you know who’s generally not stressed? Children!
The hobbies:
Coloring with crayon, marker, or pencil. Don’t do those “adult coloring books” though, they’re stressful and usually not that cute.
Play with clay (especially polymer or air-dry) in front of the TV.
Read below your grade level.
Lego or other building sets.
Write fanfiction or make fanart, family-friendly or otherwise.
Go for a walk and find leaves and flowers to press between heavy books. Use them as decorations, bookmarks, or additions to your paintings.
Pick 3 interesting-looking objects in your home and try to take the most artistic picture you can with your phone. Mess around with camera settings, lighting, and the angle you shoot from.
Play doll dress-up games online. I like Everskies.
Make a blackout poem with a page from your favorite book and this tool. It’s super easy, I promise.
Grab a friend, a pen, and a piece of paper. Play Exquisite Corpse. A great time-filler when you’re waiting in line.
Collage! PLEASE MAKE A COLLAGE IT’S SO FUN.
Scrapbooking or junk journaling. Just glue all the random shit you keep into a journal so you can look at it later and remember your cool and random life.
Puzzles, if you’re into them.
Make a bucket list or list of goals. Dream big. Maybe your goal is to do more hobbies?
I hope this was helpful. My comments section and DMs are open for you to yell about how much perfectionism sucks and what we can do to overcome it. I hope you can make something with your hands this week.
Softly yours,
Auzin