Painting and additional stress during the holiday season

At any time during the year, you may feel like you’re on the edge of overload. This situation seems to get worse during the holiday season. I know that I’ve been feeling like this for the past few months. I participated in five art shows this fall (thankfully all successful), work full time, teach fitness classes and then for some unknown reason I’ve been volunteering more and more with some of the local art associations that I belong to, much of this while I recover from a concussion. In addition, I’ve been trying to keep this blog of collections of learnings and my personal blog going. Lastly, but not the least important, is family. Amidst all of this I try to find time to paint – my escape from all of the above (except from family) and source of rejuvenation.

Though I am fortunate to have a high stress tolerance, I was beginning to feel the weight of the stress when you start adding the additional stress that comes with the holiday season. No matter what I do, I felt that I am falling just a little further behind in accomplishing everything I wanted to get done. Of course, that adds to my stress level.

I’m sure many of you are experiencing exactly the same predicament at this time of the year.

Maybe we can all learn from some basic time management principles to help us deal with the stress and allow us to paint – which is the truly relaxing activity most of us seek.

To learn to plan the ideal week, I invite you to read Michael Hyatt’s blog.  I won’t attempt to repeat everything Hyatt writes, but the basic concept is that by creating a template of your week – scheduling out your time in blocks – you become more efficient and complete your most important work. This might not be a novel idea since many time management gurus advocate something similar. It’s important that we find the tools and source of inspiration that motivates you.

Stress can be overwhelming and interfere adversely with our daily activities by contributing to feelings of uneasiness, anger and irritability. Our attitudes, perceptions and personality traits have a direct correlation to whether a source of stress is able to affect the body. If you feel that you need some extra support during the holiday season, please follow-up with a healthcare professional.

One tip to managing holiday stress is to find a stress-relieving activity. This will vary for everyone. However, I suspect that painting is common to many of us.

In my case - and hope yours also - I find myself fortunate to have discovered watercolours which offers an escape that is truly relaxing. This may seem oversimplified, but it’s amazing how taking control of my painting time has impacted my outlook on life. At the end of each day, I can now look back with satisfaction on the work I’ve accomplished and the progress I’ve made toward my goals, instead of feeling guilty that I didn’t get everything done.

Managing stress during the holidays is important because it affects the way we look at what we have to do and our relationships. How does your control of your time impact the art you are creating?

Today's art find is from Juan Lobaton.

Alors, je vous souhaite tous un Joyeux Noël!

Danielle