Doodling To Destressing - A Creative Way Of Managing Stress

Have you ever drawn something on the corner of your notepads, the last page of your books, newspapers, desks, or even on your own hands or legs by imagining your part of the body as a canvas? YES, we all would have done this at some point in time and will continue to do this for sure. This is nothing but “Doodling,” a form of art that can be just simple drawings with lines, circles, dots, zigzags, geometric shapes, abstract drawings, scribbling or shading a random design, or drawing funny pictures of your friends or teachers. So on, the list goes endless as there is no limit to our creative drawings.

Most people in this world consider doodling as a silly act; wasting papers, resources, and time to draw something useless; shows that you’re not interested, not paying attention to things discussed at that moment. But that’s not true. Doodling is a form of Art Therapy. It has numerous benefits that help you concentrate better and manage your stress too. Now let’s become aware of how we were gaining some benefits out of doodling unknowingly:

• Concentration and Attention – Have you ever started doodling when you were bored in the middle of a meeting, a lecture, or during a long phone call? Just think back; after a few seconds or a few minutes of doodling, you got back your attention and were able to concentrate better. Doodling helps us to focus, pay attention to details, and also increases our concentration.
• Problem Solving and Creative Thinking – When we are stuck with a problem or a difficult situation, doodling helps our mind process the situation in detail and arrive at a possible solution. It increases our DIVERGENT, CONVERGENT, and CREATIVE thinking patterns, which allow the individual to come up with numerous options to deal with difficult situations very effectively. Our creative thinking process leads to novel unique ideas incorporated into our daily lives to make things pleasant.
• Stress Management - While experiencing a lot of stress and tension, grab a pen or pencil and start doodling on a piece of paper for stress management. It slowly helps you to calm down and relax (breathing also becomes normal). Once you are eased out, you can be more productive as you will focus better when you are not under stress, anxiety, or frustration.
• Emotions, Feelings, and Reflection – Doodling helps us become aware of our current feelings and release emotions. As you keep drawing, it creates a beautiful path to self-discovery and provides us with more insight. You will be able to reflect on the thoughts that arise while drawing and give meaning to them. This process can be amazing and very valuable as it starts going deep into ourselves and untangle slowly.

Doodling is a very creative outlet and can be practiced among all age groups. It just blooms effortlessly and beautifully, each doodle that’s unique every single time you draw. Now when I look at the corners of my college notebooks (I drew on my friend’s notebooks as well!) I cherish those ‘silly drawings’; those doodles are so nostalgic, and a flash of memories just crosses my mind. 

You can also seek help from an art therapist and manage your issues in a creative way.