Many mental health clinicians will tell you that keeping a journal can be a useful tool in coping with Anxiety. One of the reasons is that it gives your ruminations and intrusive thoughts a place to go. When you write about your worries, it lets your brain know that you are tending to these ideas. The unwanted thoughts then do not have to intrude as often. When we write, our brains process the information differently than if we are just thinking about it. It is also synthesized differently when we talk about it, which is one reason that seeing a therapist can be helpful. The same is true if we enter a creative process: poetry, song writing, painting a canvas, or even just doodling. If our brains more fully integrate a topic, we are better able to let them go. Sometimes we can find a solution to our worries. Other times it just allows us to realize that our fears are not as big as we originally thought.
Anxiety is a topic that I have touched on several times in the Journaling Group that I facilitate for a cancer support agency. Today I wanted to integrate a little art making with the writing prompts. If you are in the camp of saying, “but I’m not an artist,” fear not. Think of this as an exercise in trying something new. There is no wrong way to do it. You might feel even better after tearing the drawing up and tossing it in the trash. If your anxiety is making you feel terrible, there is very little lost by trying some simple instructions with a piece of paper and a pen. These prompts are meant to be done sequentially. However no one is grading you, so pick and choose whatever feels right to you.
I recommend using paper and a writing utensil, as our brains more fully process information this way than they do typing. However, if a digital device is all you have, using that will definitely make more of a difference than not using anything at all. Now get to writing!
-Write some thoughts about Anxiety.
-Draw a picture of what you think your Anxiety would look like. If uncertain where to start, make scribbles or doodles that mimic what your anxiety feels like.
-Take a look at your picture for a few minutes. Write about what you see, describe it.
-Write about what sounds you think your picture would make. Write what it would say to you if it could speak.
-Go back into your drawing and add things that might make your anxiety feel better. Remember, this is only for you. The additions could just be a different line shape that feels more soothing than you used before. Or you could make symbols to represent things that actually make you feel better. Abstract scribbles are very welcome.
-Think about how this exercise makes you feel right now. Write about it.
That is it! Hopefully this has made some movement in your anxiety. Sending you peace, Audra
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