Scribble Your Cares Away

Some people journal. Some people doodle.

I scribble. When I get bored sitting in a class or meeting, I find something to scribble on. When I am frustrated and overwhelmed, I like to grab a pencil and release that tension with heavy, quick marks on paper.

Writing in a journal has never been interesting to me. I never have time to sit and write everything I am feeling down nor do I always have the words to express exactly what I am feeling. So I have started a scribble art journal or sketch book.

I can express those feelings and release them much faster by drawing them. My scribbles are not pretty and they are not meant to be. They are meant to clear my mind of the jumble that builds up.

Scribbling is a great way for children to express what they are feeling. It allows them to create a tangible representation of their feelings. Most children, like a lot of adults, do not always know the words or how to use words to share what is going on inside.

When school was cancelled because of Covid-19, my youngest son had a really hard time. He was used to and really liked being in his physical classroom. He needs the structure and normal routine of his school day. He missed a few assignments one week and was so disappointed and upset with himself because he is an ‘A’ student who always gets everything done before his classmates.

I asked him to scribble how he felt. He was hesitant but I encouraged him to do it anyway. After 5 minutes, he came to me with a piece of paper that he had clearly scribbled on. He spent the next 10 minutes explaining it to me. He was a different child. The weight he had been carrying was gone. He could look at his scribble art and see what he had felt. The jumble of emotions was now tangible and explainable.

It is hard to see all of his marks but the thick dark places are where he released the strongest moments of frustration and disappointment. Where the lines are lighter and not as harsh is where the feelings started to change.

Here are a few of examples of my scribble art. Some of them are light and with circular motions. Those reflect bright happier feelings. The others are jagged marks that express my frustration.