Prompt #8 - Worry Doodles

Get your problems out of your head

Our brain is a master problem solver. Sometimes it gets busy mulling over our problems and worries over longer than is necessary.

Of course, it is important to anticipate and solve problems, so we can go about our lives. But worrying about things we can’t change, or where have already done everything we could possibly do, is just exhausting.

So today, we’ll try to get some of our problems and worries out of our brains and onto paper, so we can stop worrying about them for a moment.

The Activity: Doodle your worries away

You can use any medium you like, but simple pen and paper are perfect for this exercise.

Step 1: Find the problem

Ask yourself the following question:

If I could solve any problem in my life with the wink of an eye, what would it be?

It doesn't matter if they are really small or really big problems, as long as they are your problems. We don’t want to start loading all the world's problems onto our own shoulders as well.

Step 2: Get it on paper

Draw a little doodle that represents the problem you want to solve.

Step 3: Repeat

Repeat steps 1 and 2 until there are no more problems left you can think of.

Step 4: Put your worries away

Now that you have unloaded your worries onto paper, they are safely stored. You can put them away and allow yourself to not think about them for a while.

My Example

Of course, I worry about a lot of the big things, like ageing, loved ones getting sick, and the inevitability of death.

But also smaller stuff, like the crazy amount of snails we have this year that keep eating my vegetables, my kid having a hard time sleeping, getting to the gym, and finding time to draw…

I guess it’s only fitting that my daughter decided to take over my pencil and finish my doodles!