Perimenopause and Creativity: Why Making Art Can Help During This Transition

Something Is Pushing You Toward Creating

Many people report a surge of creative energy in perimenopause, often alongside everything else that is difficult. An urge to paint, write, build something with their hands, take photographs, make music. An impulse they may have ignored for decades that suddenly will not be quiet.

This is not a coincidence. There is something real happening at the intersection of hormonal change, midlife reassessment, and the particular kind of clarity that can come when old roles and identities start to loosen their grip.

The Hormonal and Psychological Connection to Creativity

Estrogen influences dopamine pathways in the brain. As levels fluctuate in perimenopause, some people experience shifts in motivation, reward-seeking, and what genuinely brings pleasure. For many, the activities that provided satisfaction before (career milestones, social approval, achievement in familiar domains) start to feel hollow, while creative expression begins to feel more compelling.

The psychological loosening of identity that often accompanies perimenopause can also lower inhibitions around creative risk. When you are already questioning who you are, the fear of looking foolish for trying something new has less power.

Creative Expression as Emotional Processing

Perimenopause brings a lot of feelings that are hard to name or process through talking alone. Grief, rage, longing, a kind of formless anxiety, a sense of urgency. Art, in whatever form, gives these feelings somewhere to go.

This is not just abstract. Research on expressive writing and art therapy consistently shows that engaging with creative work reduces cortisol, lowers anxiety, and improves mood. You do not have to be talented for this to work. The benefit comes from the process, not the product.

You Do Not Have to Be Good at It

This is worth saying clearly: the goal is not to produce impressive work. The goal is to engage with a process that is absorbing, self-directed, and entirely yours.

Drawing badly, writing messy first drafts, making lopsided pottery, singing out of tune in your car. All of these count. All of these carry the same benefits: absorption, the satisfaction of making something, a channel for emotion, and a kind of quiet self-reliance that helps with the groundlessness perimenopause can bring.

Perfectionism is one of the biggest barriers to creative engagement, especially for people who have spent years being competent and effective in professional roles. Give yourself permission to be a beginner.

Practical Ways to Make Space for Creativity

Small amounts of consistent engagement tend to work better than occasional big projects. Even 15-20 minutes of sketching, writing, or playing an instrument a few times a week builds a meaningful practice over time.

Setting up a dedicated space, however small, signals to your brain that this is real. It lowers the friction of starting.

If you are not sure what creative form calls to you, try several without commitment. Take a single class. Visit a craft store and see what draws your attention. Follow the pull without needing to justify it.

Creativity as a Form of Self-Knowledge

There is something particular that creative work does that few other activities do: it shows you what you think and feel before your rational mind has decided what the "right" answer is. Paint a colour you are drawn to and you learn something. Write a sentence that surprises you and you learn something.

During perimenopause, when the familiar scaffolding of identity is shifting, this kind of self-knowledge has real value. Art can help you understand who you are becoming, not just who you have been.

Tracking how your mood and energy shift around creative activity (alongside other symptoms in an app like PeriPlan) can reveal patterns you might not otherwise notice.

A Creative Practice Is Also a Commitment to Yourself

Carving out time for creative work is an act of self-respect. It says that your inner life matters and that you are worth investing in, separate from your usefulness to others.

For many people in midlife, that is a genuinely new idea. Perimenopause, difficult as it is, sometimes creates the conditions that finally make it possible.

This content is for informational purposes only and does not replace medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider about your specific situation.