I spend the majority of my day in front of a screen, both as a human in the 21st century and as a software developer. Social media dominates my life as much as any millennial and my job requires hours per day writing code to solve the latest request from my client. Despite solving problems at work, I find that I still feel the need to create.

Technology often demotes us to a passive participant in the world around us. Just look at how people use Instagram, scrolling and observing the lives of others from the couch, train seat, or even bathroom. I’ve found that creating, away from a screen, has provided many personal benefits beyond an ever growing handmade scarf collection. I’ve found that crafts have increased my creativity and focus.

In the last couple years, I’ve been using crafts to refocus my mind during my off-hours. I started by picking up crochet again after a decade hiatus. As an only child, I had taught myself how to crochet but lost interest as I reached adolescence, because it wasn’t “cool” to spend your time like your grandmother. I’ve heard crochet described as the most “plastic” of the fiber arts. It can take any shape and grow to any size with the simplest of tools — the hook.

This flexibility has given me a medium to exercise my creativity by creating my own patterns and coming up with my own projects. I rarely get to think in this way in my professional life and the creative thought exercises have opened up my mind to problem solve more creatively. I approach problems in code with a bigger picture mindset as I’ve gotten better at thinking about how all of the pieces fit together. As I became more passionate about my crochet, I started to care more about the materials I used and finding the right material for my project. I dived headfirst into really exploring the world of fiber. This past winter, I took a spinning class and learned how to process raw wool and spin my own yarn. I didn’t waste any time buying my own wheel and filling my guest bedroom with fiber waiting to be spun.

Spinning yarn is an exercise in focus and patience, at least for me. I’ve become a victim of our instant gratification culture, and I find my attention span has drastically shortened; it lasts about as long as it takes to switch apps. By taking an hour or two at night before bed and focusing on the task at hand — turning fiber into yarn — I’ve noticed that my mind quiets and I’m able to focus for longer periods of time. Being able to devote my energy to one task at a time has helped my productivity increase at work as the outside distractions don’t pull me away as forcefully as they used to.

Crafting has provided me an outlet for my creativity that has helped me professionally in ways that I wouldn’t have initially guessed, especially given how opposite fiber arts is from software development. I’d love to hear how you unplug and how it helps you.