You are starting to feel unmotivated, underwhelmed, exhausted by your day-to-day activities. The feelings you’ve tried to compress multiple times are resurfacing again, and you think to yourself what can I do to get out of this situation. Feeling like this is not irregular or bizarre, many people can fall victim to the side effects of bad mental health. In fact, a 2021 study performed by the National Alliance on Mental Illness showed that 22.8% of adults in the U.S. have struggled with mental health. And an additional study done by the National Alliance on Mental Illness showed that around 20% of high school students and 25% of college students are currently struggling with mental health. 

 Contrary to belief bad mental health is not something that can simply be “fixed” there will always be a time when you are not exactly yourself. However there are many ways to better yourself, with one of these being art. 

One of the results of mental distress is a decline in the desire to do the things we enjoy. Therefore, art can be used as a way to make yourself less overwhelmed, construct artworks personal to you, and constructing mini-projects working towards goals in your mental health journey. 

Most people affected by poor mental health are no strangers to the overwhelming thoughts and feelings that come along with it. In a TedTalk spoken by Kate Wood, she describes her struggles with anxiety and depression and her observations  while teaching her painting class and also teaching a painting students. Wood herself says, “And what I really noticed for a lot of the people that came to my classes, adults and children, just having that one hour or two hours out of their week to come and create some art gave them a break from their life stresses, from their problems, from their thoughts.” As explained by Kate Wood just putting some time aside to do something relaxing like drawing or even writing can make you momentarily forget about your life stresses. Additionally, she illustrates artist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s theory of “flow”. By using this example Wood implies that when you are creating art you are no longer distracted by any outside interruptions but instead you are in the moment and are able to fully enjoy yourself

When creating art it is important to remember that your artworks are meant to be personal to you, especially when using your art to guide your mental health journey. In another TedTalk  delivered by Kate Moore she tells her audience about her struggles with anxiety and her past frequent and extreme panick attacks. Moore claims that during a year where her mental health took a toll, she had between “10 to 20 odd panick attacks during a day.” However she later found that telling stories as helped her through such extreme attacks. Moore tells her audience about a time she started having a panic attack while on holiday, claiming, “I started telling myself a story like I was a small child at bedtime and eventually I came down enough that I was able to go back to sleep.” Implying, art can help you process certain situations and emotions without having to anything direct or harsh but instead just doing things that know help you.

Making small objectives can help you work towards your big goals in your life and confront any lack of motivation. In a Ted-Ed voiced by Shannon Odell, she states, “People often report feeling highly motivated at the start and the end of a project, but the middle can feel untethered.” This evidence insinuates that as people when we are in the middle of reaching out goals it common to only see how far you still need to go, instead of how far you’ve come. Additionally she explained to her audience the “stuck in the middle affect” stating that it is caused by a turn in our point of view that occurs as you move closer to your goals. To tackle this Odell suggests creating sub-goals to relieve the “daunting” feeling that and leave more room for celebration for every step that brings you closer to you long term goals. 

It is important to remember that millions of people around the world are affected by mental distress. It is not  uncommon or irregular to feel exhausted, underwhelmed, or unmotivated by mental distress. However art can be a way to help you through such symptoms whether it is creating sub-goals, creating personal art, or simply to help you feel less swamped. Millions of people around the world, of all ages deal with mental health issues at one point in their life, but don’t become discouraged because their is always a solution.