Overcoming stress and ambiguity with a (cow) drawing routine
Back in January 2020, in one of these New Year reflections, I decided to draw a cow per day for 3 months, so I created @thecowoftheday account on Instagram. My three goals were: (1) to steam off some work-life stress and frustrations, (2) to keep my creativity flowing, and (3) to bring some smiles to my friend’s faces. In this article, I want to share how the @thecowoftheday helped me reach these goals throughout the year, develop as a creative problem solver and storyteller, and more generally as a designer.
Halfway through 2019, I realized that I was not giving my mind enough space to be creative. During this time, I went through a very intense and complex project with a small team and long working hours. I work for a venture builder, helping big corporations to develop new businesses. Building products in tight timelines pushed me to work more efficiently, focusing on delivering outcomes. Nothing wrong with that, but I felt I needed to steam off my creative juices and stress. I felt like I needed to find the right mechanism to cope with all of this.
The start — my scream pillow
During the last months of 2019, I tested the difference between having a drawing routine or not before deciding to commit to it in January 2020. Between August and October, almost every day, I did at least one 30-min break in the middle of my work to draw something. Between November and December, I stopped drawing completely, went back to my “normal” routine, splitting days between work and resting. I felt the stress building up again, more laziness, and more pragmatism in my day-to-day work. That was when I realized how positive the impact of these drawing-breaks was on my mindfulness and mental health. The drawing routine was an exit for the stress, my escape valve, or a scream pillow. I tried taking the 30min break to meditate, take a walk listening to audiobooks, do sports, but none of them had this impact on me, working as some sort of therapy, silently listening to my frustrations.
After experimenting, I learned that I needed a focal point, rather than random draws, so I went back to the moment it worked the best. When it all started, I was working on a project for a dairy producer, and one of our team leads (thanks, Miriam! :) ) saw my doodling with cows and started asking me every day in our check-ins for the “cow of the day”. Every day, I reflected on something that happened to the team (or something that caught my attention), drew it on post-its, and hanged on the wall. So, in January 2020, when I decided to go back to the routine, it felt natural to go back there but in a more structured way with an Instagram account to keep them all together in one place. Having it online, I could reach more people and pressure myself to keep doing it, protecting the habit from getting lost in the intense working days.
For me, it was important to test different methods and be honest with myself about what does or doesn’t work. Building up this stress-coping method helped me, in particular during such a unique year as 2020. If you find yourself in a similar situation, experiment, don’t force yourself into something that works for other people because it can be that it is just not the right thing for you. And don’t be so harsh on yourself, it can be something personal, and you don’t have to share it.
The creative escape
At the same time, I learned an essential lesson about facing ambiguity and creative block. In my job, I (and probably you too) go through uncertainty frequently and drawing taught me a good lesson. One of the scariest things is to face a blank canvas/paper, or nowadays, an empty screen. When I have it in front of me, my mind starts running frantically through all the million possibilities of how I could fill it, and so the time flies away. The ambiguity and the openness are overwhelming, and I am sure you can relate to that independently of where you are in your career. As scary as it is, I learned that fear is mostly in my head. I can say, drawing taught me to conquer this uncomfortable feeling.
The moment the first stroke is down, I realize how trivial this first stroke is — contrary to what made me stare at this blank space for 10 minutes. Drawing taught me that all the strokes I put on paper are the means to an end, and this is what matters. The faster you start, the more you get to experiment and the quicker you get to the final result; important is to start. It helped me to keep my mind sharp, to focus even when I’m in the middle of a storm in the ocean with no land in sight. Letting go of concerns about viewers’ opinions was an important step in my journey to become a better problem solver and taking more risks in storytelling formats.
Growing as a designer
Over the last 12 months, I feel like this experiment made me a better professional and a better designer. Having this mechanism became even more critical during the COVID pandemic in 2020. Taking time to breathe and reflect on what happened or is happening at the moment.
At the same time, drawing a cow per day helped me develop my own illustration style and restore my confidence to risk more when working on more visual tasks. Before the cow of the day, I had difficulties focusing on the core. The project’s constraints taught me a lot about simplifying the message and reducing the number of elements to deliver a message to the viewers.
If you want to hear more about how to get started with drawing, check the fantastic article from José Torre. He shows how drawing is not about talent, but rather a product of A LOT of practice and hard work. Important is to get started and not be afraid to show your work. Hearing what people have to say about my work made my journey more interesting and exciting and the learnings more impactful.
My original goal was to do it for 3 months, but recently I just reached post 300, so I felt the story could inspire some people. If you don’t know the Instagram account yet and got intrigued, check it out and follow the cow. I would love to hear your own experiences dealing with stress and work.
- What have you tried?
- What did work for you?
- What didn’t work?
Drop me a line and let me know.
If you are coming from Instagram, download the coloring book to help you go through another wave of lockdowns. Share your art, and I will happily share it with my small community.
