Happy New Year from all at Bumbumbee Creative. We hope you and your family were able to make the best of the very different circumstances we found ourselves in over Christmas and New Year.
Though 2020 may be behind us, there is a creeping realisation that 2021 may be more of the same – well – at least for these darker weeks of January and February. So, what to do in the meantime? Perhaps just continue to work our way through the spirits in the drink’s cabinet? Oh – wait – we did that at Hogmanay!
I’m finding a sense of community and some level of connection is vital in terms of keeping up the spirits right now. For many, this is a challenging time of year – even in the ‘brightest’ of winters. The short dark days and brooding skies force many indoors and away from their connections with people and nature. With the added ingredients of enforced isolation and fear around COVID, we are all required to dig deep and find reserves of resilience, compassion and a whole lot of creative imagination. 50 ways to stop yourself going insane … someone must have written that blog post somewhere – even if it was for no other reason than to stop themselves going insane. I digress!
On a positive note, plenty people do seem to be working through things creatively. Something interesting that’s occurred as a result of this extra time indoors, segregated from the outside world, is that many have used this time to learn something new online.
Have you ever wanted to learn how to play music or perhaps learn how to draw? Now is actually a really good time to get into that creative hobby or new language you just never had time for before. There are so many tutorials out there from YouTube to Udemy or even on the TV.
The Mental Health Organisation has written an interesting article about how the arts can help improve your mental health so if you’d like to read more on this do click on the MHO link. Suffice to say, dabbling with one of these course online may actually do your mental health a favour.
Even if you have never so much as looked in the direction of a colouring in book in your life, why not just pick up a paintbrush and throw some bright yellows and oranges on to a piece of paper. Set yourself a project task like painting a sunrise or perhaps sunflowers – something from nature that’s bright, warm and cheery. Find a colour as ‘brilliant’ as possible (and I mean brilliant in the ‘very bright’ sense of the word). Bright, cheerful, joyous colours, and particularly colours found in nature, have a remarkable effect on our mental health and wellbeing.
As for our little busy bumbumbees, we are doing our best to keep things fun, cheery and stimulating for them. We’ve noticed Rosie can get quite creative when it comes to sticking her hands up to the elbows, or even her whole face, into a bowl of something bright and colourful.
Wherever you are for the start of 2021, we hope you can find something to bring warmth and brightness to your life. We hope you find that little reserve of resilience by adapting to the change in your current circumstances, whether that’s through a new online art course, a Facetime chat with your friends or you might even find some inspiration on our Instagram page for a mini project. Our little Bumbumbee community is here too – so do feel free to share photos of your creative endeavours or let me know how you’ve been spending your time. Sending you lots of ‘brilliantly’ happy yellow sunflowers and sunbeams – and all good things ahead for 2021. The sun will shine again …yes … even here in Scotland!