There was a time in my life when alcohol was my go-to.
Distraction was my go-to.
It worked momentarily.
But it got me nowhere productive, left me feeling worse and accumulated a lot of distress in my cells.
That I’ve since worked to release.
And... art has always been part of my life.
More recently I’ve come to see how it’s always been both my life saver and my greatest expression form of exhuberance and vitality.
As I became more aware of this, I’ve learned to leverage art (creative behavior) as a way of:
Feeling
Celebrating
Coping
Weeping
Dancing
Exploring
Wondering...
Instead of finding forms of distraction.
I love painting to music.
It’s a full sensory experience with a productive outcome— even if the productivity is the process itself (it usually is).
Usually what I’m saying or learning through painting becomes more clear as I do it.
Sometimes it doesn’t and that’s ok too.
Sometimes the simple act of moving the emotions with paint is primally satisfying.
The artistic process doesn’t have to be painting. It can be through song, dance, food, _____...
Right now, as humans, we need space and tools to help us navigate our experiences.
If you want a break from Netflix (yep, I love Netflix too), the bottle, the scroll, the mental chatter, the _____, I invite you to join us.