Drawing as a Form of Self-Care: How Putting Pen to Paper Can Benefit Your Mental Health

The truth is that drawing and making scribbles have helped me transition to different phases in my life since I can remember. I have survived the tedious and never-ending school lessons to decoding systems and relationships that no longer serve me.

I have been experimenting with colour and different formats in the last few years. Exploring more elaborates topics like portraits and landscapes. When I see those paintings, I can see bridges to my inner world, like lanterns illuminating parts of inside me. Painting feels like rediscovering what has been forgotten.

Some drawings have been so special for me, like the one I did when I decided I wanted to have children. Not sure where the quote ‘having a butterfly flying inside your hips’ came from with that in mind I started to draw hips, understanding the bones inside our body and from there, I spend some time making this drawing. First in black and white and after colouring it. That drawing is dated 2014 and I got pregnant Sept of that year. Meditating on that drawing helped me enormously, I cannot explain how much but that drawing played a big part in my life.

Drawing before my labour also helped me enormously in getting ready for it. I remember I was obsessed with flowers and roses opening.

However, in the last year, some professional demands have narrowed the time I spent drawing and painting, affecting my overall well-being.

I have been lately reflecting on this time that I now need to use to bring other commitments forwards and the consequences it has had on me.

So, I’ve promised to reconnect and make time for it because it is important to me.

“Art is my cure to all this madness, sadness and loss of belonging in the world & through it I’ll walk myself home.”
― Nikki Rowe

For me and I know for lots of others, the specific benefits of drawing, iss that connect with my well-being. It is a way to connect and express feelings that sometimes cannot be said with words. It allows me to relax and have a time when I am in charge and taking decisions without following anyone else commands (which I do a lot during the day).

Drawing boosts my creativity and imagination, relieves anxious thoughts, and makes me more mindful and grounded.

I will talk more in detail soon about the benefits of the creative journey and how overcoming those blockages that may arise at some points, can be translated to other areas of your life. Drawing is like decluttering your creativity.

For now here is my challenge:

Committing to a 30-Day Drawing Challenge: but without the Pushing Your Limits, just trying to open to a daily practice that can improve my well-being and probably will improve my artistic skills too. Fancy joining?