#1: First and most important: I got better at sketching! WOOHOO, this alone is pretty cool!
#2: I now have almost 3 little sketchbooks full of everyday drawings. This is memory-keeping method at its best. The stuff you’ll choose to draw is usually pretty personal, at least if you aren’t drawing from a picture, which is cool too. My first drawing was my favourite mug and this mug (even if it brakes) will stay with me for ever, or at least until I loose my booklet of toss it.
#3: The peace of mind that I got from drawing is an equivalent to a meditation. But there’s a BUT here people! But this could go both ways: if you hold on to the insane idea of perfection, sketching can irritate the crap out of you and drive you insane, bring out the Van Gogh in you. Or if you let go and just have fun with it, it will bring out the perfectly imperfect you. This my friend will delight and empower you.
#4: These are the side-effects I didn’t expect:
- I’m an emotional eater, I eat when I’m happy and when I’m sad. And it better be chocolate that I’m eating. But somehow in the two weeks sketching everyday my usual cravings almost all disappeared. So I’m staying away from the chocolate, because I simply don’t feel compelled to eat my feelings. A lot of studies say that you have to replace a damaging addiction with a healthy one and this one is as healthy as they come.
- I feel more stable emotionally.
- I’m getting a handle on my perfection issues. And this one is huge for me. The fear of not being perfect has held me away from starting too many times. This is really sad when you think about it. Because it’s all about experiences right? Even if you suck at sketching at first and I mean really really suck at it. Still at least you gave it a try and if you do it again you’ll suck less and the next time even lesser, well, you know where I’m going with this.
These are just a few of my little changes. Who knows what yours will be and you’ll never know until you try!