Painting Our Stresses Away

It’s interesting because I come from a family full of creatives; my mom was pursuing opening her own bakery because she loved the expression she had when decorating cakes or pies and my dad was, and is, an incredible chef because he loves the joy that comes from creating new recipes. Now, here I am, absolutely in love with all things involving any form of creative expression.

Saturday night, my friends and I decided to have a paint night. We decorated my apartment with all things Christmas (yes, I know a bit early) and on the big screen, we decided to put a Christmas carol music station. We bought 10 canvases, had an assortment of different colored paints and different sized brushes and for the fun of it, we also bought puzzles. When people arrived and started to paint, it was one of the most tranquil moments I’ve honestly experienced this semester.

I had invited people over who were engineers, finance and human nutrition, food, and exercise majors, who I know don’t ever take the time to let creativity take over their minds, so for the first time I got to watch it happen. I had the chance to watch my friends fall in love with being creative and wanting to do it more often. With every stroke of the brush, I saw the joy it brought to them and how relaxed they felt. Now, of course they weren’t Picassos but they were made with such grace by people I had never seen pick up a paint brush.

As someone who finds happiness in painting, watching people use their creative side was one of the best things I had ever seen. Before any of them even picked up a brush they all expressed concern for how “bad” it was going to be because they weren’t creative and then after a few strokes, they had created something out of nothing. Everyone felt as if they were able to relieve the entire week’s worth of stress onto a canvas.

Even if painting or drawing doesn't seem like your strong suit, I encourage everyone to pick up a paint brush and let your creativity take over. You would be surprised with how much excitement, peace, and fulfillment can come from it!