Sitting With My Feelings

To be honest, I really haven't felt like myself this week.

I don't know if it's the dreary weather, the hassle of putting my car through it's MOT, struggling to pay my bills or the fact that we're all dealing with this whole depressing COVID weirdness.

It's not always easy to pinpoint what sets me off but it's been difficult to keep myself motivated or my stress under control.

I really struggled to know what to write for this week's blog post. I've not done anything particularly noteworthy this week but as the purpose of this blog is to discuss how we can creatively process our anxiety I thought an honest approach was needed.

Talking with a couple of my students this week, 2020 is becoming quite unbearable for a lot of us. So I've been trying to honestly hold space for my feelings, even though I don't always know quite what they are!

Interestingly I was listening to a YogaGirl podcast last week which is relevant to this - the point was that we spend so much time trying to make ourselves feel better rather than honestly feeling the feelings that we have. The host, Rachel Brathen, was saying how important it is to process ALL of our emotions, including ones that we might think of as 'negative'.

Sitting with sad and uncomfortable feelings is not something I find easy to do but that's what's so wonderful about being creative. I find it's important to keep my hands busy whilst my brain is working through whatever I need to work through.

So here is my list of ways I sit with my feelings whilst keeping myself active -

1 - Drawing - I find concentrating on my work really helps my mind focus and think things through...as you know, I find my pointillism drawings and art journalling techniques particularly useful for this.

2 - Walking - I feel most free when surrounded by trees so taking a stroll in a nice quiet wood is my idea of heaven. Of course, it's always nice to take my sketch book with me and don't get me started on how many tree photos I take along the way! And unsurprisingly, my pockets get filled with leaves, stones, pine cones etc which I will then use for future projects!!

3 - Sitting - in a coffee shop and watching the world go by. Living alone has it's challenges (especially during lockdown!) and sometimes I get a bit stir crazy!! I don't necessarily need to meet up with a friend or spend time interacting with others, sometimes sitting with my thoughts and a hot drink helps me feel a little better. And I can always take a portable craft project with me to do if I want!

Hopefully over the next few days my mood will change and I can get back to doing all the wonderful creative things I love to do.

In the meantime, I would love to know what YOU find useful in your efforts to examine your feelings. Please feel free to post your comments.

And have a great week

Rae xx