Do you ever feel immense pressure just by existing? Or maybe too little pressure in existence. Well, I have a perfect solution for you. Something we all know and have probably done before: Art. Many people might like the physical by-products of art, like a drawing or a new cup, but it can also bear mental fruits that will put you at peace.
Art can trigger reward centers in your brain and allows you to fully process and move through the thoughts that weigh heavy on your heart. Instead of compartmentalizing yourself and your thoughts, you can almost compartmentalize into your piece of work, fully representing your past thoughts and self, allowing you to move on.
This stand alone representation of your thoughts will not only help you free yourself from yourself but show others how you were trapped.
There are a whole lot of art activities that you can perform, that even you might not consider to be “artsy.” A great example of this is cooking, which you may not have considered. A lot of people miss the secondary aspect of cooking, experimenting to make something you like. So, when you go back to the recipe you love, see what you can change to help benefit the creator inside you.
We all have a natural itch for creativity that we don’t even notice. A great example is our environment. Have you ever gone to a new apartment–blank like a canvas, it’s naturally unnerving. No furniture, wall decorations, just appliances. It’s almost inhumane. It’s because our human hearts, brains, and souls love the expression of decorating or personalization. I mean, imagine if we all just wore blank clothing that was all the same white material, it would just feel dystopian.
Visionary and Founder of Off White Virgil Abloh perfectly describes human contextualization and comfortability within the environment, “If I put this candle in an all-white gallery space, it looks like a piece of art. If I put it in a garage, it looks like a piece of trash. You know…? I could either design the candle and spend a lot of time telling you about the candle, or I could design the room that it sits in.”
If you put yourself in a contextualization of not expressing yourself, you will find it harder to express yourself.
People always say that you don’t need to be an artist with a capital A, but I disagree with this statement. Art can be the pressure you want on yourself to change and develop, changing your environment so that you have to work hard enough to form a piece that’s worth looking at and thinking about a little longer than the other pieces. This is another strong tool that making art can give you.
For those who lack overall self-purpose, allowing yourself to feel pressure through presenting your art to others will allow you to develop a more meaningful experience. Another way this would help a more static-moving individual is by giving them the constantly shaping and changing skill level and style that comes with art, for example, “The last time I tried this, I did it this way, but I want to change the process a bit to bear something different.” It almost splits your life into eras of development and can provide the structure to be more free-flowing and developed.
The great thing about capital A is how it makes others feel. Have you ever listened to a song and it leaves you with, “Wow, Somebody gets it out there, I’m just glad I’m not alone.” Art provides this.
On the flip side, people who need to escape from pressure can create things without expectations or standards. Every time something doesn’t turn out your way in art, remember that the process is the part, and it’s up to you if the product or the production is more important.
This is also great practice for letting go in general. Things are hard, or easy. Things work out, or they don’t. Or you’re stuck in the middle, but at the end of the day, you get home and life keeps moving. You keep painting, things settle and you can live again.
