7 More Ways to Navigate Anxiety with Art Journaling

Anxiety is an uncomfortable emotion with uncomfortable physical sensations. Our chest tightens. Our breathing gets shallow. Our stomach feels like we’re on a rollercoaster with exactly one thousand drops. We feel restless. Our thoughts are fast and furious, like a game of ping pong. Maybe we’re ruminating about everything we have to do. Maybe we’re ruminating about losing our job and not being able to pay the bills. Maybe we’re ruminating about a relationship, an upcoming project, an upcoming move, a mistake we’ve made—or many, many other things. Or maybe we’re not sure what our anxiety is about, but it’s still persistent. It’s understandable why we’d want to avoid experiencing anxiety, and pretend it doesn’t exist. But doing so only amplifies our anxiety. Art-making can help us move through our anxious thoughts and feelings. It can help us approach anxiety in an accessible way, and better understand what we’re experiencing. It also can provide a healthy respite from the broken record of rapid-fire thoughts. In an earlier piece, we shared five art-journaling techniques to explore and process your anxiety. Below are seven more tools to try. Importantly, don’t worry about your skill level or training when it comes to creating art. In fact, you don’t even need to love art. None of these things are “required to benefit from art journaling,” according to Hannah Wilson, LPC, ATR-BC, a licensed professional counselor and lic...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Anxiety and Panic Creativity Disorders Mental Health and Wellness Self-Help Stress art journaling Art Therapy Worry Source Type: blogs