It’s week 3 of the 10-week Fall Joy List, and today’s prompt is “Make a fall treat. Whether it’s making candy apples or s’mores, carving a pumpkin, or assembling a craft with glue, choose something to create.”

Want to know how this helps? Check out this excerpt from the Greater Good Science Center article titled, “Doing Something Creative Can Boost Your Well-Being”:

“Results showed that people who were engaged in more creative activities than usual on one day reported increased positive emotion and flourishing the next day, while negative emotions didn’t change. However, the reverse effect did not seem to occur: People who experienced higher positive emotions on day one weren’t more involved in creative activities on day two, suggesting that everyday creativity leads to more well-being rather than the other way around.”

What creative thing will you do for yourself?

These are pumpkin macarons I made a few years ago next to a painting I did of Jack Skellington. (Vulnerable moment: I’m a little embarrassed to even show this painting, but I want to be real and say the act of creating is what brings joy. I’m not looking for praise, critiques, or to be called an artist. I hope this encourages you to just create for you!)

The photo below is of nut-free s’more macarons I created. If you want the recipes, they are all on my long-silent old blog. (Pumpkin macarons. Nut-free s’more macarons.) 😆

Dreaming up and creating fun macarons is a creative outlet for me. Comment to let me know what you will do for the joy-increasing exercise of creating something for YOU.