Have You Tried Going Wordless?
A creative practice to let go of overthinking
If you’re a professional overthinker, we have a lot in common.
Lately I’ve been feeling the weight of decision fatigue — that overwhelmed feeling when every choice seems impossible and high-stakes.
Big ones like where to live and how to set up my work in France, and smaller ones that pile up: what to write for this week’s newsletter, what to cook for dinner.
Not to mention grocery shopping. How is there a half an aisle in the supermarket dedicated to jam, and not one that I can decide on? Which flavor? Less sugar, no sugar, preserves?
My nervous system doesn’t know the difference between “Which jam would please everyone?” and “Where do I belong in this next chapter of my life?” Both register as pressure to choose correctly.
All of these thoughts and decisions feel like too many tabs open in my mind.
I left the store today without any jam at all.
So let’s get to wordlessness.
Creative Practice is a respite from thinking.
It’s not about perfecting techniques or creating something you feel pressured to share or sell.
It’s about slowing down and making some marks in your sketchbook.
Smearing paint on paper is incredibly soothing. Playing with your art supplies, in the manner of your kindergarten self, usually evokes glee. Especially if you’ve got some glitter or something metallic to add to the page.
It just takes a few moments of wordless creation to give the mind a rest from itself.
There’s nothing to decide or figure out. Have you tried creating this way?
Scribbling, doodling, cutting and pasting, painting with just your favorite colors?
Have you tried going wordless?
A related creative practice for working with this is shared with paid subscribers in a separate post: Wordless Visual Journaling
For some reason I do not care for the white pages of notebooks so some days I will just take my paints and paint page after page in the notebook. Sometimes I will limit the colors I use just to see how many different ways I can put them on the page. I've often wondered what would happen if I just painted the pages in a notebook and never wrote words or collaged on top of them. What would it say to me?
This has been keeping me sane over the last few weeks - and even helps me focus during intense work meetings (doodling). Last night I noticed how serious everything was feeling, how heavy and burdensome. So I grabbed my sketchbook and drew some cute monsters like my 6 year old self would have. The relief was instant and profound!