Analog Activities
Crafty endeavors to take back your nervous system
I was told I had chronic stress, and my immediate response was: "That’s annoying”. I reported immediately to my closest girlfriend about it, and she said, “Bailey, please tell me you are not Googling how to get rid of chronic stress.” I was. “This isn’t something you can just check the box on,” she continued. I absolutely was making a strategy for this - I wanted to check some boxes off and be healed immediately.
My research was even more annoying than the diagnosis: legs up the wall for 20 minutes at night, three deep breaths before eating, sunlight in your eyes first 10 minutes of waking, less caffeine, no working after bedtime, etc. Insert eyeroll here.
Listen, I looooove the idea of all of this (of the slow life in general), but reality is I’m a busy mom who has to decide between laundry or legs up the wall, morning sunlight or a few emails that I’m a week late on sending.
Alas, I started to do all the things in spite of my attitude, and … they do work! The quiet numbing of my intuition is being reversed, my hormones are balancing, and I’m much more aware of when I’m heading into a stressed state, as opposed to living constantly with it.
Here’s one of my top insights:
Tackling stress is like arguing - you rarely solve the problem in the heat of the moment.
So what that means for me is building in activities and time that is dedicated to calm, joyful, authentic pursuits. For me, this means going analog.
I love to make things and am a one-and-done crafter. I’ll do one big beautiful project and then never feel the need to do it again. I will not practice, and I will do very little research. We’re living in the moment! We’re following our bliss! Childlike wonder and all that jazz.
Normally, this means a weeknight by the fire, headphones on, taking over my husband’s puzzle table to conjure something useful and beautiful. Going all in for a couple of hours and then, voila!
My latest analog masterpieces are below. I’ve found that having a little mental list of these activities really excites me. It’s like analog dates with myself where I learn something new and get to do a fun thing.
You can find my book, Kitchen Garden Living, here. Inquire about design work here. Find me on Instagram here.
Paint a barn quilt. These barn quilts are so fun to make and have endless designs. They each symbolize something, but originate from the tradition of painting your barn to bring good luck and protect your property. I wanted to design one that was custom for us, but my mom bought me a little kit, and so I spent one delightful evening carefully painting something to adorn our sheep barn. Here is a little article about choosing your own barn quilt & what they mean.
Make a mancala board. I saw this on Instagram (here) and immediately wanted to make one. I spent hours as a child playing this game and hope my kids do the same. While my board growing up was wooden, I love how this ceramic board can be left out as coffee table decor. I’ve found that something playful left out in common places can give you hours of time back in the form of kids with busy hands.
Pro tip: Use two packets of clay so the little divots can be deep enough; ours is a bit shallow, but still pretty and fun!
Paint a weekender bag. I have a favorite Goodwill and found this little duffle bag the other day. It’s not real leather, but it’s sturdy and the perfect size. I do love things that are a little masculine, but I decided that I could use a seam ripper to remove the leather tag and replace it with my own leather patch, as well as paint the bag with something (dogwood blossoms came to mind first, so that is what I went with). I LOVE the juxtaposition of masculine and feminine in my design work, in clothing, in home decor - in everything. So this project excited me. I layered the paint on and tried to allow my brush strokes to show - it’s a little amateur looking, but it was fun and is so unique now!
This was exactly what I needed to hear this morning! Thank you! ❤️🙏🏻😊