HELLO EVERYONE! My name is Willard Malebear Jr. I am the executive chairman of a non-profit called Art Shelf in Minneapolis MN and we believe that having access to creative materials and artistic fellowship is essential to wellness and is a vital tool for sobriety.
How has making art, being creative, or simply doodling ever helped you on your path to recovery?
Art Shelf is open everyday Noon-8pm and on Friday nights from at 7pm we have a recovery meeting for artists where we feature a sober artists sharing their story and then open art studio until Midnight.
What I have found that when I get creative it really helps my brain to focus on whatever it is that I am working on. When this happens I find that I don’t focus on negativity at all during the process! Its pretty amazing to have my brain not turn to any negative thoughts for a period of time. And then when I finish I feel very accomplished even if it only means something to me.
I’ve had a bunch of creative endeavors over the years.
Currently I’ve been getting into woodworking. Just some simple things to make thing more convenient around the house.
I’ve also done
Wood carving, my I got into it with my grandfather towards the end of his life. I’d go visit and we’d do some carving. Whittling/chip carving mostly. I still have his carving tools.
Decorative knot tying. My grandfather was in the navy and he taught me basic knots like the boline and figure eight but my mom gave me his Ashley’s book of knots. From there I got into more creative knot tying.
I had a chance to put it all together and made a staff for a theater production. It had some leather work knots and carved knots on a really fun piece of wood.
Like @Luke said I really enjoy getting lost in creative efforts. I can go hours focused and forget about the craziness of the world.
Love this question! I used to get so lost in art and DIY projects. It took me into a great hyperfocus I loved. I struggle finding any form of creativity these days. I wish I had the time, space, money etc but alas, toddlers. The greatest thing I did in early recovery was join a class called the artists way and learned to journal and doodle to almost “meditate”.
arts been huge for me. recently i take bike chains and make bracelets. i like to find random shit and make something out of it. put on some good music and it takes me out of the craziness for a while