December 12, 2009
Day 7- The Art of Relaxing
Hello and welcome to your daily dose of stress management tips from the HPA staff! I’m Allison the Slytherin Prefect, and even though you may be a Gryffindor you will want to listen in. Okay, confession time: for three year every day of finals I get so stressed out that I throw up before I go to school. However that all changed we I started to work on relaxing instead of cramming 24/7.
Whenever the dreaded finals come around I feel like a dementor is following me around. But my magic answer to these dementors is not chocolate… but art. Now, I know it may sound a little weird but trust me there are many reasons why just coloring a picture can help you relax.
First off, it gives you a sense of accomplishment, just Hermione would feel after mastering a spell. This sense of accomplishment always made me feel more willing to trudge on with my studying. Secondly, it makes you go into an almost meditative state, which means if you find it awkward to meditate you can just doodle, color, draw, write, or paint to get the same basic affects. Also it helps you have balance in this stressful time of the year. This means taking a break between the left side of the brain and the right side of the brain. Just think how balanced Hermione would be if she would just take some time to do some coloring.
Now there are a few that helps me more than others. The one that helps me the most is coloring., because of it’s simplicity and how it is so hard to judge your artistic talent when all you need to do is fill in between lines. Now, if you’re like me and cannot draw to save your life, trying drawing simple shapes. If some looks like you’re crazy for drawing them, tell them this “it’s abstract art” and you will so much more like you know what you are doing.
So go out there and make some art, maybe it will become a new hobby.
Stephanie
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Hahaha, I go to art school, so some of the stressful things in my life directly involve making art. Pretty ironic.
But true, mindless coloring and that kind of thing is very meditative. It’s more relaxing when it’s not an assignment but a random drawing with no pressure to make it a perfect drawing.
Thanks!
Tita
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When I was in therapy for doing things to myself, my psychologist advised me to take up painting. I found that while it did not help me a lot with the problem I had at the time, it did help me in the future. Whenever I’d fight with my step-dad, I’d go into my room, grab my painting materials and just draw a lot. I’d cry while at it, but in the end, I felt better.
I still can’t draw for the life of me. But I DID master the art of painting stick figures with brushes. Some of them were even clothed sticks!
Rose Brazeale
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I actually have a jumbo Harry Potter coloring book that’s movies 1 through 5 all in one. I haven’t colored all of it yet, but it’s a lot of fun. I just need more crayons. I’ve been running out of black and resorting to using several layers of pencil for Harry’s hair.
And I’m not even to year 3 yet!
Jess
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I have no training in art whatsoever, but after my dad died, I started drawing and painting. It really helped me to work through the grief in a productive way.