I’ve always been someone who enjoys crafty things and being creative, but I’ve recently expanded on this by taking up painting. I’ve painted before, but I didn’t realize until now how much I actually enjoyed it. It’s different from anything else I do day-to-day and I love that feeling. It gave me a sense of accomplishment while challenging me in a new way. I always thought I had to be great at something right away to fully enjoy it, but this showed me that having fun and making progress is what really matters.
After finishing school for the year, I started working full time in the summer. Since work was quite stressful and chaotic sometimes, I needed something to do at home that could shift me into a non-work mode. For me, painting was a good option. It required so much of my focus that I would forget about everything else while doing it. It was a great way to help calm my brain down and allow it to stop thinking about a million things at once. Painting became a good de-stressor for me.
Now, if you’re like me, you’re probably asking how painting doesn’t stress me out more than it does. And my answer would be that it’s stressful, but in a good way. I know there are so many things to think about – picking what to paint, mixing the colours you need, picking the right brushes to use, where to start etc., but you don’t have to let this stress you out. Make a plan and just go step by step. There’s no pressure to this and it doesn’t matter if it’s not perfect. That’s the beauty of it; you’re just doing it for you. As someone who is often worried about tiny details and making things perfect, painting has allowed me to practice worrying less and deciding on things without overthinking. If something goes wrong, it can be fixed. With painting or any art form for that matter, problem-solving skills are improved. Painting is not just a linear path to the final product, there will be problems that come up part way through that you didn’t expect to deal with.
There’s so much you can do with painting, which is why I love it. You can do something small, something simple, something more detailed, pretty much anything you want. You can base it on how much time you have that day or you can start a project that spans over a few days. The nice thing is that you can just start painting, take breaks and come back to it whenever you’re ready. Painting can be portable, too. I just made a paint bag that I can take outside with me, inside or anywhere I feel like painting at the moment. It’s a versatile thing that you can do whenever you want to and is convenient.
There’s so much you can do with painting. You don’t need any particular skills, just an open mind. It might not be something you think you’d enjoy or be good at, but it’s a type of focus that is beneficial to balancing your life and a ‘feel good’ achievement. As you keep painting, you’ll become better and continue to challenge yourself. As you see your progress over time both in painting and your mental health and focus, you’ll begin to feel so proud of yourself.