Creativity for de-stressing
I'm sure I'm not the only one suffering some overwhelm at this stage of the year! But I think we can all safely say that this is no different from any other Christmas lead up and maybe if we remember how we managed to get through it every year before, we might just feel empowered rather than on the verge of break down!
A little mindful creativity (hello mindful colouring book!) even a few minutes a day can also do wonders in keeping us on an even keel during the silly season.
TRANSCRIPT:
Well, hello everyone and welcome back to another episode. Thank you so much, everybody for listening in. Gee, we're really getting so close to the end of the year and I think I'm not the only one that just starts to feel this incredible overwhelm at this time of the year. I mean, it happens every year. Doesn't it? And I just don't know why it always has to be like this. Every year I approach, you know, get into sort of October seeing what's on in November and December. And I try so hard to really just make it easy, but for some reason there is just so much that we always want to do before the end of the year. I don't know why the end of the year is the important time to do all the catching up and all the things, the parties. We should just be having parties all year round. I don't know why we have to catch up with people before Christmas. Because there's a lot going on before Christmas. You know, kids are finishing school and they've got their graduations and their last, this, and their last to that. And you know, work things of course and end of year, this and that. And I get it. It's always the same. I would love it to be different. I'm not sure what I can do to make it different in my own life, even though I, I think ahead for it. But here I am again feeling completely overwhelmed with things to get done by the end of the year. And on top of everything, we are moving house, not just moving house, but relocating to another state. We're in Brisbane at the moment and we're heading down, back to Canberra in Australia. We're in defence and we have packers come to pack up our house, which I really appreciate because it takes a few guys a whole day to do it. But there are certain things that just need to be organized beforehand. I always have a compulsion to really tidy up and clear things out before they arrive, because what I don't want is to unpack at the other end with just a whole lot of things that I feel a bit resentful about. Why do I even have these things? Or why didn't I just chuck that away before we, we moved? So that's always a bit of a project. There is one good thing about moving fairly often and we have actually moved. I just realized it's like four times, this is the fourth move in four years. So because we have moved fairly frequently I can say that we don't have a lot of major decluttering to do. We've sort of done that pretty regularly. And in the last few years, or in the last two years, since we've been here, we haven't accumulated too much. But even saying that there were still things that I have now that I just, I just know I don't need anymore. And that's just a thing I've decided in the last two years. So will I get rid of them? I'm not sure. It's big things like a sewing machine and mannequins and things that I used to use when I was doing textiles. But...
Anyway, this is a bit of a sidetrack. Just all to say that yeah, I am with you all in feeling overwhelmed. Sometimes going for days on the verge of tears, just because of the things that there are to do. How could we change this? Well, I think there is something to be said for just calming the hell down and realizing that we do get through this every year. Every single year, it's busy. And every year things get done when they need to get done and if they don't get done, then maybe they didn't need to get done. And just have that Faith in our own ability to manage everything that needs to be managed. And not to stress about it because yeah, maybe the stress, the mounting to-do list causes us stress. That maybe it doesn't need to cause us stress. Maybe we just need to feel more empowered that we are very capable of managing high tempo periods, like the lead up to Christmas, and we always do it and we always manage it and we always succeed. So just sort of having that knowledge of what's happened in the past will happen again.
So with that, I do want to talk about what we can do to help us in those times of complete overwhelm where your heart starts racing and you feel a little bit short of breath and you feel that tightness in your chest. I mean, that's all stress that is anxiety for sure. And of course stress is a good thing in some situations These other bodily functions that kick in for us when we are actually in immediate danger. Physical danger. But unfortunately our brains can't distinguish the difference between physical danger, like running from a burning building or swerving to avoid a collision in the traffic. It can't distinguish between that and how you feel about your mounting to do list. Or the difficult conversation, you know, you can have with a family member at Christmas time. Or the anxiety that you feel about your child going into their exams and how are they going to go? And will they get into their uni course? Will they have the success that you wish for them. All of those things. Our brain doesn't know the difference between running from the burning building and the things that are not imaginary, but not an actual threat to well immediate physical safety.
So it does help to have some strategies to manage in those actual real life moments when you just feel panicky about what you need to do and what's happening and what you're worried about. Meditation is a very good tool. I meditate most days and the days that I don't meditate, I really feel very out of sorts so I make that a priority in the morning sometimes not first thing in the morning, but usually, and that really does set me up for the day. There are plenty of online tools and apps to help you with that. Or of course, face-to-face classes. Well, even just taking three long slow, deep breaths will really help in those moments.
But I understand not everybody is open to meditation and this is where creativity comes in because you can get into a beautifully, mindful, relaxed state, which is almost meditative by just sitting down and getting into creative flow. And if you do have a creative practice, then you'll know this, and this is why I'm always encouraging people to go back to their creative practice. Not because it's just a fun hobby or you like creating paintings or knitting jumpers or scarves, not just because it's a fun thing to do, but because it's essential for your wellbeing, it really is, If that's the thing that gets you into the creative flow. If you're not locked onto a particular creative practice, or you just don't feel like knitting, or you don't have your paints out or your sewing machine or whatever it is. Then there are just really easy ways to get into creative flow and one of them is mindful colouring. And I have mentioned a couple of times on this podcast that I have published a mindful colouring book, which I'm really proud of. I still look at the pages and think how beautiful those designs are. There is a range of levels of difficulties. So there are a couple of pages that are really chockers of little fields to colour in If you really want to get into something that's going to really challenge you for a few good hours. And there are also other ones that are a lot more sparse that you can just probably get done in about 10 minutes. If you're colouring quickly. And colouring is a really great thing to just have on hand. All you need is a couple of pencils or textas or anything that you're using to color. And have the book if you can have it in your handbag. It's a much more socially acceptable thing than maybe closing your eyes in meditation, if you're with other people. For example, if you're sitting with your kids doing homework or at your lunch table at work. It's not a bad thing to just bring out the colouring book and colour in a few bits and pieces, just to get you sort of in a calmer state of mind. And of course I'll link my colouring book in the show notes for you, if you want to purchase one. And of course it makes a wonderful Christmas present for anybody who needs a little bit of Mindful colouring, through Christmas and the new year. Great for kids as well. So I'll link that in the show notes.
Another thing that's just a very easy thing to do. As soon as you feel a little bit of anxiety, stress, heart racing...Mind about to explode, just grab a piece of paper and a pen. It doesn't matter what it is, what quality or anything, and just start making repetitive marks on that paper. It doesn't matter what it is. It could be dashes. It could be crosses. It could be circles, just any mark that you can put down repetitively. And just fill the page with it. You can always start doodling with this and make something really beautiful. That's how doodles start. I always doodle. I've got them happening all the time. I bring a sketchbook wherever I am. So if I'm waiting at an airport or I've got time at work, downtime at work, I know that I'm going to have a few hours because some of you might know I'm a vocalist. And quite often we go to a gig and we've got a sound check and then we've got hours before the actual performance. So I love to have a sketchbook in my green room so I can pass the time.
And it's so much better than scrolling through the phone because that action of your eyes tracking the scrolling is actually a bit anxiety inducing as well. So instead of that, of course, we're all going to look at Instagram in our time off. I get that, but maybe not all the time. Maybe you give yourself a limit of a few minutes and then grab your sketchbook and just do some repetitive lines or some doodling. It really does calm you down. I can guarantee this.
So I just encourage you all to just do what you can to take it easy during this lead up to Christmas and have faith that everything that needs to be done will get done. Because you always did it before. And when you are really in those crazy moments of just on the verge of tears because of overwhelm, just grab a colouring book and a couple of colours. And just sit and relax for 10 minutes will make the world of difference. Or a piece of paper and a pen, if you don't have that colouring book on hand. And yeah. It's just give yourself that grace give yourself 10 minutes to just reset. And if you do this every day or a few times every day, I really do guarantee that you will get through this thing, this Christmas thing, just so much less scathed and frazzled because you've put your wellbeing on the top of your to-do list.
So I hope that you find that advice useful. And before I go, I do want to remind you that I have my studio sale going live this Sunday, the 24th of November at 7:00 PM Brisbane time. So that's an hour earlier than the rest of Australia. And I've got about 26 pieces actually, one of them's already been snapped up by a friend who just um before they've even gone live. She said that one I want it. There's probably all now about 25 pieces. They're just beautiful little experiments and process pieces that I've done during the year. They're mixed media pieces on paper. Most of them around A5 some of them are around A4. Some of them are smaller, so they'd fit into a beautiful little frame. Or you could hang them up with a bulldog clip and some string or a nice piece of ribbon and just hang them on any little hook or something. But yeah, I really am looking forward to sending these pieces off to good homes. They have been done with so much love. And they've definitely been part of my mindful experience throughout the year. It's the first time I've really worked with watercolour and ink, and I'm really loving it. And I'm looking forward to. Continuing this practice in the future. What I really want to do is once I get my next studio set up, I'm looking forward to maybe trying some ink or watercolour on canvas. Because apparently that's a cool thing to do too. So all of these experiments and samples that are in my studio sale are just a whole culmination of the workings and the process that's going to lead me to what I'm going to do next year. So, if you would like to be part of that, I really invite you to sign up to my mailing list because I'm sending the link out through my newsletter. And that will come out on Sunday night. And yeah, it will be a private link and you'll have first access to all the pieces and I'll send them out.
They're all $35, which is really an affordable way to get into some original art or add to your original art collection. And, postage is free as well, anywhere in the world. I'm just going to wear that, because I just want these pieces to go fly around the world and around Australia. So Yeah. I'm looking forward to Sunday night.
So yes, of course, sign up. The link to sign up is in my show notes. And my friends just have faith, keep calm and we'll all get through this with a bit of mindfulness. Until next time. I'll see you in the next episode and keep creative. Bye.