Self-Regulation and Art

Image from Surrealistic Reality

Each person has different strategies for restoring their energy and their sense of calm after dealing with or even while dealing with stress. Earlier this month, I wrote about exercise as one of my go-to strategies.

This image popped up on a social media feed today and I was reminded of how we can use the arts for self-regulation. The arts can encompass a wide range of activities - drawing, sketching, painting, sculpture, music, fabric arts, writing, singing, composing music even culinary arts. 

For some people, it is restorative to create art while others are restored by listening to music, reading poetry, or viewing art. 

One stumbling block for me was the idea that art had to produce something and the something I produced had to be 'good.'  Instead of reducing stress, this mindset made art more stressful for me. As a kindergarten teacher, I was a firm believer in the importance of process over product. It was all about allowing students to explore different media and being expressive. So why wasn't I able to grant myself the same permission to focus on exploration instead of focusing on the final product? 

There are a number of very creative, artistic people in my family who create beautiful art that they can display in their home or give as a gift.  I had to stop comparing my artistic efforts to theirs, and turn off the voice in my head that said, "You're not good at art."  Gradually I began to enjoy the process again.  Now I like doodling in my bullet journal, putzing about with paint, writing poetry, and other creative endeavours for their own sake and not as a means to an end. Drawing, painting, and writing are tools I have added to my self-regulation toolbox.

Do you use the arts as a stress reducing strategy? 

What arts do you like to use to reduce stress?

Do you enjoy the process and/or the product?

Restoration & Resilience

Yesterday I had the honour of being invited to join Doug Peterson (@dougpete) and Stephen Hurley (@Stephen_Hurley) for their weekly podcast This Week In Ontario Edublog (#twioe) on VoicEdRadio (@voicEdRadio). It was great conversation and we talked about a wide range of topics from county fairs, self-regulation, educational leadership, and grades versus feedback. But just like a job interview, about an hour afterwards I thought of MUCH better answers to some of their questions. I messaged Doug and he said, Yeah that happens a lot.  Why don't you write a blog post with what you wished you said?

My biggest 'woulda, coulda, shoulda' moment was in regard to Stephen's comment about dealing with stress that he experienced as a result of dealing with technical issues at the Self-Regulation Summer Symposium. Now I was at the symposium and I would have never guessed that anything was going wrong; Stephen looked calm and in control at all times. But, apparently, behind the scenes there were multiple technical glitches.

Afterwards I thought, that was a perfect opportunity to talk about Restoration and Resilience.While we can reduce stressors as much as possible, there will still be some days or moments that are more stressful than we expected. Even at the Self-Reg Symposium there is going to be stress. We need to know what helps us to restore our energy after dealing with stress.  This can vary from person to person. At the summer symposium, they had a wide range of activities available for participants to use to restore energy after a busy day of learning

• knitting stations
• jigsaw puzzles
• make your own stress ball station
• colouring books
• bikes
• kayaks and canoes
• yoga
• zumba
• board games

Other people might have restored their energy by going for a walk or reading quietly in their room.

So if I had a 'do-over' I'd ask Stephen what strategies he used to restore his energy and get back to calm so that he was ready to tackle whatever stressors the next day at SRSS2018 might throw his way.

Two great examples of how what restores us varies from person to person:

Baths - There are lots of people who relax by having a bath. Since the time they were little, my girls love 'spa bath' - we'd float rose petals from the garden in the water, dim the lights, put on soft music  and they'd relax in the tub forever. In my self-reg course, lots of people said they relaxed by taking a bath. I don't find baths relaxing. I'm just bored.  And I sit in the tub and wonder how other people find this relaxing. And why doesn't this work for me?

Massage - I love massage and find it very relaxing.  Other people can't stand going for a massage - they hate the weird music, they don't like having to lay still, they don't want someone else touching them. Not only do they not find it relaxing, some actually find it stressful. There are the physical stressors of touch and sound and scent but it's also stressful because there's a social stressor because you're supposed to be enjoying this and relaxing and why aren't you? 

We each have to discover what helps us to restore our energy, knowing that works for someone else may not work for us. And what works one day for us may not work another day - that's why it's important to have a range of restoration strategies. What are your strategies?