I have this photo editing app that has a ton of different filters to pick from — way more than the standard Insta filters. I originally got it to standardize my Instagram account, but then I got bored with the same look over and over again (you know that one time when I was working for a company that told me my life needed to look “branded”). Now I simply use it for fun and changing up my blog post pictures. There are really fun names and colors, but I typically lean toward two or three filters. One is “mood 3” and today as I was playing around with it I started thinking, does this picture define my mood? Am I, today, a “mood 3”?
Do you feel like that sometimes —wake up and think today I am a “mood 3”? Ha! Lately, that’s how I have been living day to day… my life is being defined by my moods. Oh! That was the day I was a “mood 2”! BUT for real…I have been all over the place. I refer back to this all the time, but it is a huge direction shift in my life. Two Septembers ago, I quit my full-time job and decided not to pursue finding another one. I officially became a stay-at-home mom. That was a defining point in my life — then we brought home three more kids through adoption (defining point), then Covid (defining point) hit and full lockdown became our lives (defining point overload!). I couldn’t sort through anything that was going on internally. Was I freaking out because I made a career life change? Was I freaking out because I became a mom of 3 to a mom of 6 overnight? Was I freaking out because we couldn’t leave our house? No idea. I still have no idea what activated my anxiety and depression over the last year. I am assuming it was a combination of all of it. Not to mention, I couldn’t make up my mind on whether I wanted to be medicated and go to therapy or just therapy; rely only on God or just my CBD vape and roll with it — so I took my medicine every other day as my mood called for it. Not so effective.
Today, I was reading during my processing time while getting my hair done by the awesome, Gretchen, and I read some pretty “aha” points. Gretchen and I chatted about some of the topics and I left thinking I need to record some of that! If you guys have never heard of Rebekah Lyons, I would highly recommend looking her up. I feel a close bond with her, having never met her, but identifying with her on many aspects of life. She has a family of 6, two of her beautiful children having Down syndrome with one being adopted! She struggles with anxiety and loves to write (obviously she’s a writer!) about her experiences. In her book “Rhythms of Renewal”, which I have blogged on previously, chapter 25 is titled Learn Something New. Lyons quotes another author, Julia Camerson, on her idea of the “The Artist Date”:
The Artist Date is a once-weekly, festive, solo expedition to explore something that interests you. The Artist Date need not be overtly “artistic” —think mischief more than mastery. Artist Dates fire up the imagination. They spark whimsy. They encourage play. Since art is about the play of ideas, they feed our creative work by replenishing our inner well of images and inspiration.
Lyons continues by saying,
Our brains benefit when we put ourselves in new environments. The scientific term for it is neuroplasticity —the understanding that “intelligence is not fixed, it turns out, nor planted firmly in our brains from birth. Rather, it’s forming and developing throughout our lives.
It is quite fascinating when you think about it. She goes on to quote Jason Flom from “Talking Points: Your Brain on Learning” to tell us that “we are always either connecting or disconnecting”. Our brains are either progressing or digressing, they’re never just stagnant so we have to encourage or stimulate it in one direction or another…right? Digression for me means I am walking down the path of depression and anxiety, but if I stimulate my brain and guide it back toward growth then I can find a healthy path out of my pit.
My middle daughter (a recent birth order change from her spot as oldest), is going through a phase where she loves LOVES animals. I was just like her when I was growing up and basically still am there. At one point during my sophomore year of high school, I stopped eating animals products altogether. Charlee is getting there sooner than me. She wants all the pets, so for Christmas Santa added to her collection and brought her a gecko. I was reading up on all things gecko (remember still an animal geek myself) and found that they can get pretty bored so the experts (of google) recommend changing up their habitats every once in a while for positive stimulation. You see, as a gecko owner, you have to be careful with playmates because they don’t really get along with other geckos meaning they are often left isolated in their cage.
LIGHTBULB! This past year, I have often found myself entering into almost a state of mania. For obvious reasons, this is quite dangerous, but by God’s grace, He opened doors along the way for me to channel that into creative projects. This really worked for me and I would encourage you to try it next time you, those of you who are like me, start to deal with extreme anxiousness. When I started to feel myself going there, I would channel my anxious energy into creative energy because if I didn’t I knew where I could end up. Thankfully I have a very patient and understanding husband who when arrives home from work to a kitchen completely torn apart, just smiles and says, “whatever makes you happy babe!” This has been and continues to be a very helpful tactic in my recovery. For practical application 🙂 here are some of the things I did:
created a hammock area off the driveway –
renovated my kitchen –
Turned furniture into animal habitats –
Made firepits –
Turned fallen trees into art –
Hopefully this will give you some inspiration! Friends, we don’t have a lot of money so I got creative with what was around the house, researched before buying things and learned to be very handy! Projects don’t have to be expensive or grand. It may just be moving furniture around, painting a wall or switching rugs up. Just change up your habitat every once in a while and may it bring you joy! Let’s continue to learn positive ways to stimulate that brain!! Don’t let those moody, moods define who you are!!
Love you friends, Kristina!
