Prompt #55 - Stress-O-S

Cards against Anxiety

Jul 30, 2023

Hi, I‘m Lorena and welcome to The Stress Less Pencil. We use art as a tool to boost our mental health and wellbeing. The weekly prompts are designed for total beginners and experienced artists alike, so welcome.

white wooden lifeguard house on beach during daytime — Photo by Miquel Parera on Unsplash

I find it hard to think straight when I’m in extremely stressful situations. If, for example, I’ve just discovered that I’ve massively messed up somehow, my heart starts racing, my heart is beating in my ears, and I start feeling a bit woozy and clammy. Not a good place to my important decisions. I’ve been practicing over the years to recognise when I’m in panic mode and to not make any knee jerk decisions until my body has calmed down a bit.

But even without a panic-inducing situation, I can be extremely crap at making smart choices. All it takes is a little bit of fatigue, malaise, or low burn anxiety, and everything I know about what is good for me goes straight out the window. Instead of going to bed early, working out, and meditating, I want to eat fast food, and binge Netflix until the light comes up.

But just by giving in to these things, I only end up making it worse:

Anxiety feeds itself

It’s almost like a sci-fi parasite, brainwashing its host into feeding it deep pan cheesy crust pizza so it can grow and take over the world.

Today, we will create ourselves a tool to help us brain a bit better.

The Activity: Cards against Anxiety

Step 1 - What makes you feel good?

Don’t get me wrong, I love a comfy sofa day bingeing my favourite show. It’s important that we allow ourselves some non-productive time to rest. But I also know it’s not the right thing to do to get me out of a funk.

On a piece of paper, write down the things that actually make you feel better when you are stressed out. Not the quick fix, go to the pub, have five pints type. But the go to the gym, call a loved one, and get a good night of sleep type.

You probably already know the things that actually work for you. If not, here is a great article with some suggestions from the Mayo Clinic.

Step 2 - Create your cards

Take a piece of cardboard, or card stock, and cut it into a set of cards. Create as many cards as you have items on your list. They should be at least the size of standard playing cards so you have enough space.

white green and yellow papers on brown wooden table — Photo by Solstice Hannan on Unsplash

Now draw, paint, or collage a picture on each cars that represents one of your positive actions. You can be very literal with your drawings, or do a more abstract representation. As long as you know what it means.

Step 3 - Play a round

Next time you’re feeling stressed or low, take out your deck and look through the cards. Pick the one that speaks the most to you, because let’s be honest, not all of them will. Chose the one that’s most feasible, and just do the thing. Repeat the next day, and the next if you need. Hopefully, this will break the parasite’s ban and help you get into a better place.

My Example

The stuff that works for me is pretty textbook. Eating healthy, being in/on/by the water, drawing, spending quality time with my family (like when my daughter and I painted this abstract card), working out, being in nature, reading and learning something new.