Drawing Love In: The Need for Creative Self-care

We are slowly awakening from a long dark time. A light is on the horizon warming our hearts and showing the way forward. The pandemic called us to take care of ourselves and each other and work together to mitigate the dangers of an unknown virus. Through unprecedented challenges, individually and collectively, we’ve risen to be our best selves. Creativity helped us survive and thrive, strengthened by love every day.

Now as we emerge, it is essential to take pause and nurture personal well-being. We still carry the burdens of stress and disorienting fatigue of grief, uncertainty, and change. Creativity is the ready remedy. Taking the me-time essential for self-care is a healthy way to love yourself. It is never selfish to give your mind-body-spirit what it needs to feel better and build on the resilience gained through hardship. Start with what you know and love and do the creative activities that nourish and energize your soul. Draw from within and give yourself the love and extra care needed at this time. It’s okay to not be totally okay. We are getting better together.

Throughout my lifetime, I’ve found that making a drawing with a simple pencil and paper can bring me back into myself during the most difficult moments. This is my creative self-care. Drawing offers a silent meditation with just the sound of my pencil moving on the paper in the flow. I create what I need to relax and let go. The flow takes over and I am able to draw inward and become immersed in the love and energy I am making. Drawing is a way to observe and record what we see and feel. Whatever the image, it is a method for creative visualization and envisioning what makes us well.

A healthy dose of creativity is truly the other Vitamin “C”. Like this essential nutrient, creativity helps build the immune system in ways that prevent illness. Creative activity is key to maintaining good health because it reduces stress. Minimizing stress and developing self-help strategies to manage negative aspects in our lives is preventive. Psychological factors and life circumstances effect health, for better or worse. Stress kills healthy cells and depresses the immune system. It also raises the risk of heart disease, contributes to depression and anxiety, interferes with sleep, impairs thinking, and is a factor in aging. Less stress = more health.

Create wellness. Discover ways to enrich your life: take a course online, practice a new fitness routine, learn to cook from scratch, read books and more books, research an idea, organize a project, video chat with a friend, take a scenic trip, commune with nature, envision the future, draw a picture. Enjoy creating your best life. Tap into your creative resilience and do what you love. Now, more than ever, the practice of self-care strengthens our ability to care for the things and people we care about. Like a breath of fresh air, draw this love in and fill the well with wellness.

Written by Laura Jaquays for the ART HOPE Journal.