(PROGRAMMING NOTE: Big Quit Energy is on hiatus from regular essays on work culture and workaholism until the end of November. Until then, enjoy our backlog of Slacker film analysis and “Friends With BQE” podcasts episodes!)
I know
, a friend of the blog, through her two substacks. One is Hair Girl, a delightful serial comic about a girl who can control her own body hair’s growth.And then there’s her main one, The Stress Less Pencil, which is part of a broader practice she offers to help people manage their stress and mental health through making quick, easy art projects.
Beside designing awesome weekly prompts that prime self-reflection, Lorena spends a lot of her energy helping people be less afraid of making art in the first place. Specifically, helping them see the value and reward of making “bad” art–something our culture taught us to see as shameful.
Among other things, we discuss:
How she rediscovered creativity as a stress-management practice, and how she designs creative prompts to serve in maintaining and boosting a healthy mental state (plus: important clarity on what these prompts are meant to help with and what they’re NOT)
Why any type of creative project involves therapeutic self-reflection (whether we realize or not), and images tend to be an easier medium than words for people to express their emotions
Why she thinks both our educational systems and media make most people afraid to make art
Why making “bad” art is part of the process for people who make “great” art, and why it’s worth doing even if you never get to the “great” part
Implementing these prompts in corporate environments, and the irony of many corporate leaders (those who set culture at workplaces) feeling the least safe to model good mental health practices
This episode is best enjoyed on a comfortable chair while sketching beautifully bad drawings.
You owe it to yourself to make “bad” art