As I continue my journey of life having way more anxiety than I wish it would, I’ve been spending even more time immersed in creativity. I’m still (very gradually) working on a sequel to my novel, New Life in New Melody, and doing other writerly-type things.
Mostly, though, my creative time has been related to painting and art journaling and doodling.
Writing (as I’ve mentioned before) seems to need a certain amount of feeling settled inside myself for me to make the jump from not-writing to writing on any given day… and when the anxiety is too high, I can’t seem to reach that state.
But painting is different for me. I can pick up a paintbrush and start painting even in the midst of high anxiety.
And then the settled feeling comes, at least while I’m painting. And it’s calming. And it’s distracting.
Even just painting squares of color does this for me. Recently, I spent some time going through some of my acrylic paints and I simply painted swatches of color.
Which is just what I need to get past the anxiety and reach a place of peace.
Even just doing this made such a difference in the anxiety!
Whenever I had a bit of paint leftover on my palette, I added it to a canvas I had recently covered with white gesso. Not trying to make it into anything, just painting and making marks to use up the extra bits of paint left when I squeezed out or poured too much.
Simply playing with the paint.
Just being in the creativity with the paint and the brushes.
But the calming of it, and the distraction of it, help so much.
When you’re feeling anxious, find what can help you distract from the feelings (unless distraction isn’t what’s needed at the time). Find what can help you calm. It might take some experimenting – and what helps can shift and change, which is why it’s good to have a variety of things to turn to and try. But when you do find what helps, take the time to do it.
And may it make a positive difference in your day.
That’s my wish for you.
♥
Ginger Simpson White 