Midlife Creative

Midlife is often seen as a time for us to settle into a stable professional path while simultaneously juggling multiple responsibilities in our personal lives — careers in full swing, raising children and other familial duties, and planning for the future.

But what if I told you that this stage of life (and this time in human history) is also a perfect time to ignite a creative hobby or endeavor as well?

Dispensing with the ideas of turning any of it into a career or ‘money-maker’ and doing it for its own sake, like physical exercise (when I started to record and release a lot of music at 38, I remember my dad innocently asking what his generation is marinated in when it comes to the thought of creative endeavors: ‘Will that make any money?”).

In fact, with the tools we have at our fingertips, it has never been easier to become a creative, even with just 20 minutes a day and a few toddlers running around the house. And furthermore, what if I told you it would benefit the other aspects of life, amplify your impact within those areas, rather than take away from them with ‘yet another task’?

Today, technology has democratized creativity from every angle imaginable. With tools like ChatGPT to answer nearly any and all questions instantly… to YouTube to teach you any skill you can imagine with essentially free and inspiring long or short form content around any niche… and laptops and mobile devices powerful enough to run music studio software, photo editing suites, or design programs that would have been thousands and thousands of dollars 20 years ago — there’s essentially no barrier to entry anymore.

Take the example of music creation. 20 years ago, you already had to be decently successful, with multiple connections to even get the expensive *time* in a studio to create and record full songs — not to mention, the expense and relationships needed to distribute that music today.

GarageBand on your phone is more powerful than anything we had 20 years ago within music creation. And it’s FREE.

It’s so free, easy to use, and ubiquitous, that most musicians rarely ever find it cool to talk about it. But those ‘in the know’ use their phones or extremely inexpensive software at their fingertips all. the. time. behind the scenes, whether they talk about it publicly or not.

Whether you’re interested in graphic design, photography, pottery, sculpting, gardening, cooking, writing — these resources make creativity more accessible than ever. And AI makes every one of these even more accessible.

However, the most profound benefit of diving into creative work at this stage of life is how it rewires the brain, increases elasticity as well as feelings of neurochemical satisfaction, and connects our neural pathways in ways that benefit our other areas of work.

Neuroscience shows that the satisfaction we gain from creating with our hands, for example — whether it’s cooking, gardening, playing music, or even woodworking — reaches a level of fulfillment that purely cognitive tasks cannot match. It turns out that working with your hands engages multiple areas of the brain, releasing dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin, the optimal chemical combination for inner “satisfaction” (ie, a combination of pleasure, reward, and innate security). Some work can boost dopamine, some interactions can boost oxytocin. But it turns out that work with our hands boosts these simultaneously (and there are easy-to-imagine evolutionary reasons for this correlation). This explains why something as simple as tending to a garden, cooking, playing piano, typing, or crafting a piece of pottery feels so satisfying afterward.

What’s more, these creative outlets provide a break from the stressors (and lack of individual control) of many other areas of life, that are interdependent on other’s work. Studies show again and again that creative pursuits lower cortisol, the stress hormone, and foster mindfulness on par with meditation, helping us live more fully in the present. This is valuable in nearly every stage of life, but as a father of three little daughters, running multiple companies, this stress relief is up there with exercise for me (if not more valuable and accessible, as I’ll sit down to play the piano or learn the newest tricks in Ableton for even 10 minutes and feel energized).

Here are just a few of the life-changing benefits in my view, when tapping into your creative side:

1. Mental Clarity: Engaging in creative projects helps to clear the mind by offering a refreshing break from the demands of work and family.

2. Emotional Fulfillment: There’s a unique joy in making something tangible, whether it’s a painting, a meal, or a garden. It’s a chance to express yourself and see the fruits of your labor. This is especially so when it can be shared or gifted to others (cooking or baking for others, or painting art for a friend or family member’s birthday, or putting a song out on Spotify, going headfirst into the nerves and internal voice that may give you doubts; an invigorating feeling and inspiration for others to jump into the midlife creative tide).

3. Improved Problem-Solving: Creative thinking in low-stakes areas of life help to rewire my mind to think more flexibly, enhancing my ability to solve problems both large and small.

4. Stress Reduction: Creativity, particularly when it involves using your hands, reduces stress by lowering cortisol levels, leaving you calmer and more centered. Citations below.

5. Stronger Connections with Like-Minded Creative People: Whether you join a local pottery class, share your music online, cook for friends and family, start painting on a small canvas part-time, pick up photography… creativity opens doors to meaningful human connections.

And the best part? You don’t need hours of uninterrupted time. Just 20 minutes a day can yield tremendous results over the course of years (what began as about 20 mins of making music per day about 5 years ago has led to releasing songs with tens of thousands of streams on Spotify today under my alias OPENSTATE_).

Whether you’re writing out a poem while the kids are napping or learning how to mix music or play the harmonica in between work calls while you work from home (the 2024 smoke break), you’ll find that a little creative practice goes a long way. People around you might find it as silly as “jogging” in the 70s. But what is noble to one generation (picking up a creative habit in midlife), becomes the convention in the next. Period.

Here are 20 ways you can spark your creativity right now:

1. Writing on a topic you love (with the help of ChatGPT, I used it on this blog post, and it kicks total ass)

2. Creating a YouTube vlog or Instagram channel on something you care about (and ZERO need to share it with friends, just create and ask ChatGPT how to share it with the proper hashtags to increasingly get exposure in the algorithms, independent of you needing to share it with your community).

3. Recording music on GarageBand on your iPhone, iPad, or MacBook (and use YouTube or ChatGPT for tutorials and tech support)

4. Editing family photos with Photoshop

5. Designing a website using Canva

6. Making jewelry with crafts ordered on Amazon

7. Pottery

8. Painting

9. Gardening

10. Cooking increasingly elaborate entrees or appetizers

11. Baking bread

12. DIY home decor

13. Knitting (there is a reason for the cliche of the grandparent that can’t stop.. it’s because it’s extremely satisfying to do)

14. Scrapbooking

15. Woodworking

16. Restoring furniture

17. Digital illustration

18. Poetry and publishing on Substack.com (the reason I keep reinforcing the value of publishing or sharing your work is because it will be a forcing function for you to improve it over time — which is the premise behind a great quote from the musician and producer Brian Eno, “If you don’t release the song, you won’t learn anything.” It’s ok that the first few will be awful. You can always delete them after sharing #feltcutemightdeletelater, and you can always change the title of the accounts you share under, etcetera… but the learning from sharing can be a rewarding part of the journey over time. And just have the proper expectations that the first ‘pancakes’ are the messiest. They always are with any creative endeavor. But you get the beautiful ones after you get the first few out of the way.)

19. Candle-making (crazy cool gifts to give out too)

20. Learning a new instrument (YouTube is your free, endless resource here, available 24/7 with the most advanced ‘recommendation’ engine to serve you the best content on any niche you want to dive into)

You can also use AI via Apt AI (AI personality test) to tell you what your preferences and personality would be wired for when it comes to a midlife creative path.

So, what’s holding you back? The tools are there, the neuroscience backs it up, the benefits are clear, and the options are both endless (and the option above of Apt AI to help you narrow into what you’re wired for).

Maybe it’s time to entertain the idea of creativity in midlife — not just as a fun hobby, but as a way to nourish your mind, body, and soul. Start small, experiment with what excites you, and let the joy of creation transform your day-to-day life.

—End—

Here are some highly regarded scientific studies on the points mentioned above:

1. The Neuroscience of Hand-Crafted Work: Dr. Kelly Lambert’s research on “effort-driven rewards” suggests that engaging in hands-on activities, such as pottery, gardening, or knitting, activates brain circuits associated with emotional well-being, reward, and an extraordinarily high sense of satisfaction. These tasks engage multiple areas of the brain, leading to a release of dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin, which contributes to feelings of both satisfaction and pleasure. This type of physical activity is linked to reducing depression and stress by promoting a sense of control and accomplishment LINK (1) (LINK 2)
2. Dopamine and Motivation: Studies also show that dopamine is not just linked to pleasure but plays a critical role in motivation and reward prediction. Engaging in activities that stimulate creativity, especially those with tangible results, can increase dopamine release, thus improving focus, motivation, and emotional resilience LINK (1)