Weekly Journal Prompt

This week’s journal prompt is (pause for imagined drumroll)

What makes you feel anxious, and what helps you relax?

Journaling has been huge for my mental health and artistic process. Being able to write out my thoughts with no obligations to follow a certain structure or reach a certain point within a certain page count is obviously incredibly freeing. But beyond that, it’s an excellent way to reflect and develop a well defined sense of self. When it comes to my art, it helps me talk to myself about ideas, and explore what I really want to say with my work.

Today I’ve been feeling anxious about installing and opening my show. I know that “what ifs” make my stomach hurt, so I’ve been planning out every detail for the past three months. Where will everything hang, what food will I have at the reception, what if no one comes, where will I park, etc. Even with all that planning…the anxiety came today! Because tomorrow it moves from plan to reality, and there’s always SOMETHING that I didn’t think of, or some unexpected turn of events. I know I’ve done everything I can, so all I can do is try to relax until installation starts. So I’ve got my latest project in front of me, a cup of tea, and a movie I’ve seen maybe 50 times playing in the background. As simple as it is, I feel so much better.

That’s how I came up with this journal prompt. Having spent so much time getting to know what stresses me out and what calms me down has really helped me. Not to imply that every poopy day has a quick fix, but getting better at identifying the root cause (shout out to project management) of an icky feeling makes it feel less like falling into a black hole.

Let me know if you used this prompt!

PS: The comfort movie I put on is Tokyo Drift