Katie McManus recommends 10-20 minute art breaks like doodling or watercoloring to calm your nervous system when you're burned out but still need to work. She claims art can add about ten years to your life and says even short creative pauses restore your focus for client work and business tasks.
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Last week was really heavy. And I know that's the understatement of the century, but as a business owner, I don't really have a choice. I have to show up, I have to join client calls. I need to create content to promote my work. And to do that, I need to feel like my nervous system is regulated. And it hasn't been. The only thing that really got me through the weekend was watching and re watching and re watching. Heated rivalry. But today's Monday, and on Mondays we have to get to work. And I know from, from reading, from research, from my own experience, that one of the ways that we can regulate our nervous systems and bring ourselves back into our bodies is by creating art. Okay, it doesn't have to be good art. I'm doing some watercoloring this morning at my desk just to bring myself back into center. I don't know how to paint. I bought this kit before Christmas, thinking it would be a nice, relaxing thing and I didn't realize how much I would need it. So I offer this to you if you are a business owner and you are struggling with everything that's going on right now, to show up in your business, to promote your work, to be who you need to be for your clients and your employees. Take a 10, 15, 20 minute break today and doodle or paint or draw or do, I don't know, any kind of art, it doesn't really matter. Creating art does regulate your nervous system. There's actually studies that have proven that doing art and observing art can extend your life by about like 10 years. And then, you know what? Like right now I get that might not be what we want, but we do need to get through the day and we do need to be our powerful, badass selves so that we can do what needs to be done to protect our loved ones, to keep our businesses going, to thrive when the world is burning. So I offer this to you. Please tell me in the comments, what kind of art are you going to be spending time on today? And in case you need to hear it, I love you and I'm here for you.
