Today may be the day you need the most creativity. Today is Valentine's Day 2021 and our "new normal" is still something we're getting used to.

Most importantly, today, many of us won't be doing romantic dinners and champagne popping as we did last year (remember last year?). So getting creative may be the only way to spice things up and get out of the same old, same old.

The good news is that according to a recent scientific study in July, there is a positive relationship between physical activity and creative thinking. It is well-known that physical activity has many beneficial effects on physical health. A physically active lifestyle goes along with decreases in blood pressure, protects against chronic and cardiovascular diseases, and decreases the risk for several types of cancer. Beyond physical health and life expectancy, beneficial effects of physical activity may expand to mental health (e.g., decreased depressive symptoms) and psychological well-being – creativity and happiness.

In short, it finds that active people come up with more and better ideas during tests of their inventiveness than people who are relatively sedentary, so getting creative may just be a matter of movement.

And maybe it's not even that much movement. In one experiment, volunteers sat at a desk in an uninspiring setting. They tried to imagine new ways to use a button and otherwise engage their imaginations. They then completed a slightly different test of their creativity while walking on a treadmill in the same decorated room. Almost all of the participants produced more ideas that were more interesting while walking as opposed to sitting.

So, when you scratch your head today about how you're going to pull off something different this year, perhaps jump on the treadmill, bike or elliptical and ponder some of these things:

• Take a Virtual Cocktail Class
• Have a Dance Party - just the two of you
• Go on a Drive and Blast Music from your Favorite Era
• Take a "Trip" Overseas - Plan a meal around your favorite place, look at Google Maps street view of that location and scroll through the streets
• Volunteer
• Workout - Together!

Whatever you do, just be grateful for what you have today. Stay healthy and enjoy!