Hello everyone!
So sorry that I have not posted for a while. I was taking some time out to focus on something else that I love, drawing.
Here is why. Having read the next part of “Stop Overthinking – Master your Emotions.” I knew I needed to take some time to do something that allowed me to switch off.
“Doing activities that you enjoy will be a balm for your anxieties and your negative emotions. It will be profitable for you and help you get your mind away from negativity. Do not deprive yourself of these activities; make time for them occasionally; your health requires it, and it is something you deserve”.
I have loved being inside my creative bubble and experimenting with how I go about drawing. I get lost in drawing, “when we do something we like, we do not notice the passage of time; our mind is absorbed and totally motivated by what we do”.
As much as I have loved spending time drawing, I have almost pendulum swung to the other side, where I spend 4-5 hours drawing per night to the detriment of other things. Something that was so useful to start with, is now verging on becoming a problem in itself.
This is how our mind works. We find something that we enjoy, that helps us feel better, or switch off and then we carry out that activity. Our brains become used to this and new files are created. These files say do said activity = feel good. So the files get bigger and stronger each time we do that activity. We all want to feel good so we do it more and more and more.
The problem occurs when the need to do the activity no longer helps you. When it becomes an addiction, where if you don’t do it for a few days, (or even hours), you start to feel anxious and unsettled. We need to reassess things.
Files that help us can also be files that hinder us if we don’t learn how to stay in control. When we start to say “I have to draw”, “I have to get to the gym”, “I have to”… in order to feel good – this is when we really need to look at what we are doing and ask:
- Am I still in control or has my subconscious mind taken over?
- Is this file that is getting bigger and bigger still is as useful and needed as before?
- Do I tell myself that if I can’t do_______ then I will not feel as good?
Taking time to do your hobbies and passions is really important, but it is just as important to make sure that you are the one staying in control of them and how you are feeling and not the other way around.
I am working on this nuance, as I love to draw and it feels great, but I need to remind my brain that I don’t have to do it in order to feel good. I need to stay in control, because when we feel in control, we then are able to make rational decisions – which allows us to get the best from ourselves.
Quotes from ‘Stop Overthinking – Master your Emotions’ by Philip Gibson