Learning to Relax // Art Therapy

Hi guys, 

So apparently I suffer from stress! This will probably come as no surprise to those who know me best, I've always been a tightly wound little bundle of pent up emotion, and I am notoriously bad at relaxing. It's not even funny tbh, I can do nothing all day, and get stressed out about the fact I've done nothing all day. I've been for massages to release some of my tension only to be wound up agan 5 minutes after leaving the spa-my last masseuse actually gave me an free half hour on top of my last massage because she was determined to work out the particularly stubborn knots in my shoulders, yes it took 90 minutes to work out the stress I carry in my shoulders! I try and sit with a good book but I get stressed out about the little things that need done around the flat, I try and de-stress by reading my favourite blogs but get annoyed at my perpetually slow-running computer, I have mad half hours where I gut a room in the flat and clean from top to bottom only for my back to have a fucking fit and decide it wants to kill me and render me useless for the rest of the day! You get my point right? I'm a big wound up ball of stress that doesn't know how to relax- GO ME! I always just thought "well screw it I'm a stressy person, it's only affecting me so I guess I'll just live with it" but recently my doctor told me that my stress levels might be why we aren't pregnant yet, and I knew then that something had to be done. So I searched out new ways to relax, and boy did I find the best remedy. 

Art Therapy is a magazine, full of colouring in pages for adults. There are notes on how to relax your mind, how to use colours for their calming properties, and so much more AND it's only £2.99 an issue! I figured why not give it a try, and my God am I glad I did. I love it, you never really realise how relaxing colouring in is- probably because it's a hobby that stops after a certain age- but it truly is. Granted my need for perfection and symmetry cause me to get a bit to wound up about it every now and again, but it's progress at least. 

Basically I wanted to sing the praises of colouring in and show off some of my pages that I've done recently, and I hope you like them. 

  

What do you think? Do you suffer from stress too? Have you tried art therapy, or do you have suggestions to help this wound up ball of craziness relax? I'd love to hear from you, so leave me a comment- or you know tweet me or even message me on my Facebook page! 

Much Love

AJ 

xx