7 reasons why art is stress-relieving

OCTOBER 17, 2013; 9:48 p.m.

I just got home from watching a friend do a mural on one of the private yet very-public walls in the town. I asked him if he was paid to do such and I wasn’t surprised when he answered that he wasn’t. He added that he even begged — though ‘beg’ is a rather sad word — the owner of the area to let him use the wall for his art.

He was there for about three hours and planned to go back the next day to work on all the polishing needed. It felt good watching him. It felt good to know that there’s at least one person who’s so passionate about something, with or without a price.

He asked to me help him out with the painting but I was afraid of ruining his masterpiece so I just stayed there watching, browsing at his sketch pad.

At some points, we’d talk about random things as the heart-breaking earthquake (let us all offer prayers). That certain topic made the mood poignant so we talked about something else, something positive as how a hobby as arts — at least for him — can be very effective in relieving any stress — even heartaches — you’re experiencing.

And here, as far as I could remember, the at least seven reasons why the arts such as painting, music, and writing can be stress-relieving:

1.      When you feel like your life is a mess or a waste, turning to your arts will prove you otherwise, for arts is a diversion.

2.      Works of arts bring us to a world that no other thing can get us to: a world that is wonderful, ideal…a world of our own.

3.      When you come across arts, you give yourself the time to wander and wonder “what can be.”

4.      Further, doing any art — though you’re not an artist — makes you realize that there’s something else you can actually do, something far from just waking up and working 8-5s, doing essentially the same thing every day.

5.      Art is also a good friend; though it obviously doesn’t talk, it listens. It can best express and take off your heartache. Put your emotions on a painting, a song, or in writing. It really works.

6.      And when there’s an occasion and you need to come up with a present, your passion — not necessarily talent — will solve that agony: doodle something, create something. Shoo away that kind of stress!

7.      Art doesn’t require you to take exams or memorize formulae, you just need the heart to understand it, and eventually make one.

I, myself, am a fan and a friend of the arts. When I feel like there’s too much or too less in life to cope with, I use the arts to equalize whatever it is I’m feeling. Sometimes, I doodle on my shirts, on my room’s door, or rustle up words. And these never fail to make me feel good, better. Trust me, it will work on you too.

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