When ‘urgent’ demands its own scale, you’re granting me seconds to claim a place, watching your step, to avoid slipping up on your mountainous, ‘truly urgent’ to-do list.

So what to say to secure a foothold at the heights of truly urgent? Well certainly not the truth; that creativity for wellbeing should be top of your urgent to-do list.

Hello..? Is there anybody there still?

Less than half of you I expect. Those stunned by the sweet swerve of action. Or sharpening your tongues to set me straight.

‘Really? So doodles and daydreams will sort out my chronic affliction of too much to do and no time to do it.’

Well according to grateful evidence – yes. In a surprisingly pliable nutshell, nurturing creativity is key to reclaiming your time and making a molehill of your to do list. And after joining my colleagues on the ‘Creative Arts for Wellbeing’ webinar, we’re inclined to agree.

Armed with sharp minds pencils and keen minds we imagined our way through a series of creative exercises, boasting a host of benefits. From stress relief to fostering resilience and sparking new problem-solving approaches.

Now as a group we expected to have fun. But what came bolting out of the blue were moments of personal and collective clarity. Like when transporting myself to paradise, it was my much younger self who arrived. In fact for the hour, this globe-trotter had a whale of a time while the rustier me, seemed to be nailed to the chair. And for each of us – smarter, funnier and beach body ready to frolic in paradise – how at odds we were miles from anywhere and inches from tropical trouble.

There’s something so wonderfully comforting about learning your co-worker has been swallowed whole, by a hideous deep-sea beast. How normal it is for anxiety to surface.  How easy for ripples to turn into waves. The workshop left each of us lit-up, recharged and genuinely baffled why we’d left it so long to explore with pen and paper.

 

I hear you.

‘Yeah, well you’re probably the arty types. There’s not a creative bone in my body.’

Allow me to reassure you these exercises are about process, not results. (Mine’s the spiderweb.) And there’s no obligation to share.

But as for the shortcomings of your bones – tiny wave to your creativity in action! Not the best use of it granted. Self-destructive creativity, even. But you’re neither alone nor to blame.

You see far from proof of poor concentration (and deserving a ruler slap from Mrs Bush) it turns out we doodle to join up the dots. And doodling connected each of us to the side of our selves hard wired to mark-make, imagine and play. Childhood instincts that serve our wellbeing.

Yet by the time we reach double digits, it’s become all about the maths? Replacing creativity with productivity, adding pressure and multiplying tasks. Factor in the functions of caregiving and self-care fails to figure.

Hardly surprising then, that our repressed creativity seeks an outlet. Or lands us at unwelcome destinations. A storyline for self-neglect. A stationery based obsessive compulsive disorder. (Incidentally, of zero impact to to-do lists.)

Dots joined, it’s clear to me that without creativity, productivity becomes unmanageable and amounts to joylessly counterproductive. For our wellbeing and our to-do lists, we should make time at work to play.

‘Play?! At work?!!!  Have you seen my urgent to do list? Or the sorry state of social care?’

Ah, your to-do list is bigger than mine. My inner child is tiny waving to yours!

And yes I’m aware the crumbling care system is crying out for a rebuild. At a time where low funding and staff shortages has left employee well-being at burnt-out rock bottom. But no one is rushing to rescue us.

So it’s time we extended accountability to our to-do lists, to ourselves and each other.

Daily we learn how our fast-changing world wreaks havoc upon its inhabitants. Rapid change in an organisation is no different. For the Trust, change is a must and we know that protecting our colourful characters is critical. But ‘access’ to wellbeing measures falls short for a workforce conditioned to put themselves last.

To future proof social care, employee wellbeing must be cemented into the structure.

Creativity steered and supported us all through rapid development as children. It led us to make bold choices. Helped us to see things differently. And most importantly, put ourselves in the picture.

Perhaps as the galloping prince/ss? Or maybe the fairy godmother?

‘Princes and fairy godmothers?! I’m 52!!! And it takes more than a wand to keep me on top things!’

Forgive me, I’m new to bold, but I’ll try to keep right side of blunt.

The top of your ‘infinite urgent’ to-do list will forever be over the hills and far away. The ideal spot, at work, with your colleagues to mark-make, imagine and play.

I’m not expecting us hang upside down by our knees from the carpark railings!

Granted we’d up-end the to-do lists, but our risk reporting couldn’t take the strain. Imagine the eight hundred strong dismount! Our data base would likely explode!

‘… but everybody’s still safe, right?’

Of course. You’re in charge. It’s a daydream.

‘Alright – I’m in!’

BRILLIANT! Now let’s go knock on for the others.