I started this coloring project in August of 2022. Maybe I chose a coloring page about joy because it wasn’t a very joyful season in our home, and I needed an escape. However, I soon found that doing something creative is a form of self-care I needed.
💜We were preparing to move my sister into a nursing home because Alzheimer’s had progressed beyond our ability to care for her at home properly. But I kept plugging away at this coloring project over the next several months, even though there was little joy in my circumstances.
I finally finished it on April 1, 2023, and while I’m still processing grief after losing my sister a few months ago, doing things like this is helping me find my way back to joy.
🙂Working on something for the sheer joy of creativity can help give you a break from hard-to-process emotions like grief, loss, and anger.
Doing something creative is a form of self-care that helps put things in perspective and may provide more clarity to your situation. So, I hope you’ll try it, and it helps you find your way back to joy. Just remember…
🖌 You don’t have to be an artist to practice creativity as self-care.
🖍 Using a coloring book takes the heat off so you can focus on color choices and technique.
🖍 Soon, there is joy in the doing, and that’s freedom and hope. Own it!
Can you see how doing something creative can, for a little while, shift our focus away from something painful to something that isn’t?
❤️ I’m sorry if you are in a hard season of life right now. Doing something creative is not a cure for your circumstances, but it is a form of self-care that I hope you will try. I think you’ll find it helpful.
🥴Have you tried coloring or painting lately? How did it make you feel?
Here are a few creative things you can start doing:
- Watercolor painting
- Paint by number
- Cook a new recipe (Have you ever thought of cooking as creative?)
- Decorate for the next upcoming holiday
- Arrange cut flowers from your garden (or from the florist)
- Plan out your garden on paper
- Crochet/knit
Please, let me know in the comments what creative activity helps you manage hard-to-process emotions.
I’ve created some coloring pages to get you started. Just click the link below to download and enjoy.
The coloring pages are a companion to a short devotional I wrote about the renewed hope spring represents (click here to read).
This is an expanded post from my Instagram feed, where I post more often. There’s a link in the sidebar to take you there.
I’m also posting on Five Minute Friday.
By the way…
I’m sorry for the loss of your sister, but I’m glad you have found something creative that helps in hard times. Music is my go-to creative activity and it usually helps me feel better.
I’m so glad you have music in your life! Do you play or do you enjoy listening? I usually have classical music playing in the background when i’m writing or painting. It’s very soothing.
I started watercolor painting in January. It’s more involved than I thought, and it’s been a wonderful creative outlet!
I’m glad you like watercolor painting. I think that’s why it helps so much. It can be very loose or it can be very detailed and require more concentration. I am obsessed! I just found a watercolor class I’ll be starting in June.
Life has gotten kinda tough
to bear these days, when cancer talks,
but I get by quite well enough
by making custom rifle stocks.
It’s Barb who goes, selects the wood
from Home Depot (nice red oak),
and it’s always that her choice is good
(she’s better at it than this bloke!).
I never rush, just take my time,
and do the very best I can,
for the craftsmanship is mine,
even if held in other hands.
And through it all wood talks to me
about creative victory.
Well then! Between your writing and your rifle stocks, there isn’t a problem with creativity blocks. Ha! I couldn’t resist. And I’m glad you have these creative outlets. Thanks, Andrew.