Arts & Crafts as a cure for the stresses of modern life…

Stress is ever present in our modern existence and it seems to me more important than ever to develop hobbies and past times that help to relieve that stress.  I advocate Arts and Crafts as a great way to deal with stress.  In my experience, and even at times of extreme stress, being able to sit down and allow your mind to become absorbed in creativity helps give some clarity and focus back to a mind that would otherwise be in a state of turmoil and confusion.

At such times in my life I have naturally gravitated towards a pencil and paper and either drawn or doodled.  When my parents moved me from a small rural town in Wiltshire to the heaving and busy metropolis of Hong Kong between my mock exams and O level’s, I found myself sketching a series of pictures that depicted me sitting contemplatively beneath the branch of a tree in a number of different locations.  I didn’t make a conscious decision to create these drawings, but I recognise with hindsight that they expressed my confusion and loneliness at that time, having been forced to leave everything that I knew and understood behind me in rural Wiltshire.  Without conscious thought they gave me an outlet to ease my mind of its torment and fear, and probably allowed me the space to come to terms with the huge changes in my life.

Today, when I feel stress creeping up on me, I make a fast exit to my easel or crafts box and allow my mind to disappear into some creative activity.  You don’t have to be Van Gogh, or re-create the Bayeux Tapestry, to feel the benefit of allowing your mind to be absorbed by a creative activity.  Just allowing your mind the space to concentrate on something else can be a benefit in itself.  These activities can be anything that forces you to concentrate on something other than your reason for stress.  I’ve used drawing, painting, glass-painting, mosaics, and macramé to relieve my stress!

I find humour in these types of stress relieve too!  If I’m in a state of angry stress I often chose mosaics as my outlet.  There is nothing more satisfying than breaking up some tiles with a hammer in a bucket when you just want to get the frustrations out of your body!  Just remember to put some safety glasses on before you get happy with the whacking!  Macramé is fun to me as I think about how I’m tying the string into knots instead of myself!  For easier periods of stress relief I tend to chose glass-painting, as I have to keep a steady hand and keen eye in order to complete the job.

The most important thing is that you enjoy the activity and the break from your daily toil.  My biggest problem is not that I forget what the stress was in the first place, that’s the bonus, but that a whole day can disappear in what seems like just an hour before I realise that I haven’t done any of the important things that I should have been doing, like eating, drinking and working for a living!

Make your life’s stress fun too by getting creative xxx

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