A little over a year ago I wrote my first post on Discovering a New Love referencing my new found love for painting. I’d promised an update as I continued painting. Now that its been over a year and 2017 is almost coming to a close, it’s time for the big reveal.
Drum roll please…
Paint by Numbers
When I first started I was a very enthusiastic painter – painting a little bit every day and I could see my progress clearly. This progress motivated me to continue going. Once I had painted all the large areas and only the detailed work was remaining, I lost my painting mojo. For about 6-7 months I did nothing. Just the thought of focusing intensely on painting the thousands of tiny shapes felt too much. I blame the law of diminishing returns. Never myself.
Fast forward almost 7 months. I always had a nagging feeling in the back of my mind because the painting was unfinished. One fine day I said enough is enough. I WILL finish this painting. I removed the dusty painting from underneath my bed and placed it on my coffee table. Now I had a constant reminder to finish what I started.
And I got right back into it. Instead of looking at the whole picture, I broke it down into sections and tackled painting those sections. Big tasks can many times feel overwhelming and just this thought can paralyze us into inaction. Breaking big tasks into smaller ones can enable us to focus better and earn slow but steady wins. The exact strategy I applied to this painting.
Not to make a short story long, but painting a little bit after work or on lazy weekend afternoons made me realize that while I was focused intensely on this task, at least for that time being my mind was concentrating on something useful instead of worrying or thinking anxious thoughts. My stress levels dropped and I felt much better. And this spurred me to continue because who doesn’t like to feel better?
As soon as I finished my first painting not only did I boast about it to everyone who knows about my new found passion, but I already ordered my next one! Looking forward to sharing that journey too!
Here’s my paint by numbers (and stress relieving) journey.