Category: joy connections

porch time…

Sitting and relaxing and unwinding. Breathing in the fresh air. Getting calm. These are some of the benefits to having a space outside to retreat to and sit for a while, especially on a regular basis. For me, it’s our little front porch.

I call my time out there my porch time. (Also known as porch sittin’.) And it’s something I’ve come to consider as being essential to my well-being the past several years.

Porch time is a time when I usually read whatever novel I’m reading. Sometimes I have my coffee out there. Sometimes my husband joins me in porch sittin’ and we enjoy the fresh air and nature sounds. Sometimes I take a TV tray out there, get settled with my tablet and foldable USB keyboard, and work on my writing.

Sometimes I don’t do anything but look at the sky and breathe, doing my best to release whatever stress and anxiety I’m feeling.

Our porch is very small and quite narrow. But it’s covered, so it protects from sun and rain. There’s room enough for a wooden park bench along one side and a folding camp chair on the other, and little outdoor pillows for each, so it offers spots to sit and relax. We have a couple of small stands and tables out there, so it gives room to place coffee cups and books.

And since it’s literally right outside my front door, I don’t have to get in the car and go somewhere to get to a relaxing spot…which means I can spend time there even if I’m having a low-energy or off-balance day.

In cooler months, I put on a sweater or jacket while I’m out there, and I have a lightweight flannel throw to keep me extra cozy while I read. When it’s hot, I can take one of our small battery-operated fans to help create a breeze. The weather (especially when it’s cold) does keep me away more often than I’d like. But then I get back into the routine of it as soon as I can because it is so important to my mental and emotional well-being.

Porch time is calming and relaxing, but it’s even more than that for me.

It’s grounding.

It’s restorative.

And it’s healing.

Do you have a space like that in your life? Somewhere you can easily get to, a place to unwind and breathe and get grounded and simply be?

I hope you do. It can really help.

❤

crochet as calming distraction…

As I’ve talked about in my last couple of posts (here and here), I’ve been really diving into creative activities to help me with stress and anxiety.

Something I’ve recently returned to, after many years away from it, is crochet. My mother taught me to crochet when I was in elementary school, and although I’ve never tackled anything fancy – I’ve kept to simple patterns for the scarves and throws and afghans I’ve made over the years – it was something I enjoyed.

I’d pick it up for a while, make one or a few things, then put it aside for long stretches of time. And because crocheting had started to irritate an old neck injury, when I last put it down a few years ago I wasn’t sure I would ever return to it.

But recently, after hearing a good friend discuss some crochet plans, I unexpectedly had the itch to crochet – even if all I did was make stitches without actually making a thing. It felt like it would be calming and meditative and helpful for me.

So I got out one of my crochet hooks, looked through my limited stash of old yarn, and gave it a go, simply making a long string of stitches.

Immediately, I realized my hunch had been right – it did feel calming and meditative and soothing. It gave me another distraction from worry and anxiety. It gave my hands something to do while I listened to an audio or had a show playing in the background.

Soon, I realized I wanted to do more than a long string of single stitches, and I switched tactics. Even though years had passed, it was like muscle-memory kicked in to start making a simple scarf…and I decided to start making a thing after all.

Needing to be mindful about doing my best to avoid irritating my neck, I crochet only for short bits of time and I don’t do it every day. I need to make sure crocheting doesn’t become a source of stress or tension, I need for it to remain a calming distraction, so I deliberately put absolutely no pressure on myself about how often I crochet or how it ends up.

I’m doing it for the doing of it. For the process. For the meditative and calming effect on me.

Just enjoying the feel of the yarn and the hook and the movement.

And if it actually ends up being a scarf that can be worn, that’s a bonus.

♥

doodling, doodles, and calm…

Life still feels anxious, and I’m still spending time with creativity as a calming distraction. I’m painting and art journaling and writing and doodling and crocheting.

Even outside of how these activities help me when it comes to anxiety and stress, they help me because they bring me joy – they keep me connected with creativity and they light me up. And I can spend time with them even on days I don’t feel up to venturing out.

Doodling is one of those calming and meditative activities that can be done for a minute or an hour, on a big piece of paper or a tiny receipt. I can listen to something in the background or half-watch a show while I use a pen to play.

I’ve been especially enjoying making doodles on small pieces of paper, and I’ll sometimes simply grab an index card from a nearby stack…

Or open up my little moleskin journal and play around there.

It’s fun. It’s relaxing. It’s distracting.

And it’s calming.

Try some doodling (if you haven’t already). It doesn’t matter how it looks, because that’s not the point.

The point is the calming, the play, the letting your fingers move the pen or pencil or marker as you relax into the moment.

The point is simply the doing of it.

♥