I Was Chronically Stressed And Grieving, But Art Saved My Life

Clear your mind, cut through the noise, and regulate your emotions with Art-Based Coaching

Art-journalling Piece by Author (Sabrina Ahmed)

Art has always been a beautiful escape for me. From experiencing the joy of flow states and exploring creative energy to expressing my grief over my dad’s death, art remains a constant.

Throughout history, we’ve used art and mark-making to highlight what matters, express our existence, and share knowledge with loved ones.

I recall visiting Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory in my early 20s and seeing rock art in the Kakadu area, some of which dates back up to 20,000 years.

The Bininj/Mungguy Aboriginal people used art to tell Creation stories, depict wildlife, and document ‘first contact’ with European sailors. It was their way of sharing stories and facts, like many cultures around the world.

First contact rock art, Nanguluwurr, Burrungkuy (Nourlangie). Photo: Parks Australia.

Creative expression and art are intrinsic to who we are. They engage our mind, body, and brain, transforming into full-sensory experiences within our memories.

Think back: how many of you adored art as children but stopped as you grew older, feeling self-conscious? Maybe you found a spark again through your children's artistic adventures. But when was the last time you embraced art for your own creative exploration and flow?

If it’s been a while, now’s the time to reconnect - not just for the joy of it, but for a healthier mind, body, and brain. Let's reclaim that freedom and release our creativity!

Nervous system dysregulation: a symptom, not the only root cause

My journey through burnout and chronic stress has been far from straightforward. Early on, I navigated childhood trauma, which left lasting impacts on my mental health, chronic pain, and autoimmune conditions.

Despite these challenges, I've always managed to pick myself up and move forward. However, as I took on leadership roles in my business career while building my coaching practice, I became increasingly vulnerable to burnout.

As a neuroscientist and therapeutic coach treating burnout, I recognise the importance of tools and strategies for managing stress. It’s encouraging to see more discussions around nervous system regulation, but it’s just one piece of a larger puzzle.

While these tools, like box breathing, can provide immediate relief, they often fail to address the root causes of burnout. True healing requires a holistic approach.

Challenges in regulating our nervous system and stress response are the outcome of chronic stress. Without addressing the underlying stressors and harmful patterns, you're merely reapplying a plaster to the same weeping wound.

To shift from simple stress management to genuine adaptability and resilience, it’s essential to tackle these core issues and integrate a broader perspective into our long-term recovery.

My journey to art-based coaching

My quest for something deeper - both for myself and my clients - drove me to seek and understand the unconscious issues get in our way. I aimed to bridge the gap between our thinking and feeling worlds to inspire meaningful action.

I recalled my experience with an Art Therapist in my early 30s while navigating trauma, depression, anxiety, and cPTSD as an inpatient in a psych hospital. My psychiatrist emphasised how cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is the gold standard in mental health treatment, but for someone prone to overthinking, rumination, and worry, it might not be the best starting point.

Open-minded and eager for a different approach, I embarked on a creative journey with my Art Therapist, alongside EMDR (eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing). This allowed me to explore inner pain, sticky thoughts, emotional turmoil, and issues of self-worth in an entirely new light.

I recognised how small and insignificant I felt while simultaneously grappling with intense pain and rage. It was clear why I was so uneasy, desperately trying to contain immense negative energy.

Years later, I pursued a Master’s in Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health and became accredited in Psychological Coaching. Yet, I knew my learning journey wasn’t over.

I’ve always aspired to integrate art and creativity into my traditional coaching practice, and share the profound healing and discovery I’d experienced. I offer a range of solution to clients, as and when they are needed.

Creative expression helped heal deep grief after losing my dad

The big shift came at the end of 2021 when my dad passed away from cancer and COVID. Within two weeks of being hospitalised, he was gone. It was sudden, shocking, and devastating - we weren’t allowed to be with him at the end as he was in a red-zone ICU with strict visitor restrictions.

I did see his body, but only through layers of PPE. The whole experience felt surreal, like a sci-fi nightmare, and it sometimes does today.

At the time, I was already overwhelmed by a stressful day job contract and a freelance therapeutic coaching project. Both of these ended within a month of his death. Suddenly, all I had was this crushing grief.

I dropped out of life for six months. I barely remember that time - drifting is the only way to describe it. I didn’t want to be alive anymore. Everything felt pointless.

And yet, art slowly brought me back to life. I’d isolated myself, aided by the pandemic, and had no desire to be around people. I had no energy, no motivation.

Then I stumbled upon YouTube channels showcasing poured acrylic art. It seemed simple, unstructured - something I could try. A small spark ignited within me. Through this process, I rediscovered a willingness to keep going.

Acrylic on Canvas Depicting Grief by Author (Sabrina Ahmed)

In the past three years, this practice has been my anchor, helping me through the depths of grief and burnout as I navigate a transformative phase of life. I knew the shift wouldn’t be easy, but without this creative outlet, it would have been so much harder.

What is art-based coaching?

Art-based coaching isn’t about creating gallery-worthy art. Sure, you can aim for that, but the real focus is on developing your own creative language. Use it as a tool for getting unstuck, making sense of the unsaid, and fostering emotional healing and transformation.

In Coaching Beyond Words, author and art-based practitioner Anna Sheather highlights the power of creative expression, particularly when words fall short. She explains that art allows us to bypass the analytical mind and access the unconscious, where the root causes of our challenges often lie, hidden from conscious awareness.

Sheather notes:

Coaching through art-based methods opens up a world beyond words, allowing clients to move beyond the cognitive overload of their daily lives and into a space of self-reflection and healing.

Anna Sheather

Through this process, we uncover insights and emotions that would otherwise remain hidden, enabling deeper healing and personal growth.

Applying art-based coaching to burnout and chronic stress recovery

Incorporating art-based coaching into my work with burnout and chronic stress has been a rewarding challenge. Through art journaling and reflective creative practices developed during my Diploma in Art-Based Coaching, I’ve seen first-hand how effective these methods are for managing anxiety and gaining clarity.

This approach is ideal for business owners and leaders who feel too mentally drained to fully engage in traditional talk-based coaching.

The creative process is entirely yours. In group or 1:1 settings, activities like drawing, painting, or sculpting help access the unconscious mind, enabling you to:

• Express emotions

• Reflect on challenges

• Uncover hidden stressors and limiting beliefs

• Gain fresh perspectives

• Visualise goals

• Identify solutions and actionable steps

Research confirms the healing potential of creative practices. A study published in the Journal of the American Art Therapy Association showed that 45 minutes of art-making significantly reduced cortisol levels, providing immediate physiological stress relief.

Creative expression doesn’t just reduce stress; it lifts mood and provides a safe space for processing emotions - something I experienced in art therapy sessions over a decade ago.

Art-based coaching helps rebalance a dysregulated nervous system holistically, clearing mental clutter and fostering self-awareness, often clouded by chronic stress.

Why art-based coaching works

Art-based coaching in any form is effective because it:

• Bypasses the Logical Mind: Creative activities engage curiosity and emotional connections, allowing you to process feelings and challenges difficult to articulate in words.

• Engages the Body: Whether drawing, collaging, painting, or sculpting, art connects the mind, body, and brain, releasing stress and tension through physical expression.

• Reduces Stress: Research shows creative expression lowers stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, enhancing mental clarity and decision-making.

• Builds Emotional Fitness: Art helps you label, regulate, and reframe emotions, empowering you to handle stress, self-regulate, and manage uncertainty with greater ease.

• Fosters Problem-Solving: Creativity opens up fresh perspectives, helping you find meaning and solutions, and crucial for overcoming burnout and building resilience.

Healing in community through art-based coaching Masterclasses

If you want to explore art-based coaching for your burnout recovery and stress resilience goals, I’m launching quarterly free, live Masterclasses via Zoom, starting in October.

These are designed to foster community, creativity, and collective healing in a safe space, and they won’t be recorded.

Why Join?

• Guided Creative Exercises: We’ll use various artistic mediums to explore emotions and stressors through hands-on activities that help you express, process, and release unconscious experiences related to burnout.

• Group Sharing and Reflection: In a supportive group setting, you’ll share insights and creative expressions, reducing the isolation often felt with burnout and stress.

• Dedicated Self-Care Time: These masterclasses provide much-needed time and space for personal focus in the busy world of leadership and business activities.

• Therapeutic Coaching: As your burnout coach, I’ll guide you through the session, aligning creative activities with your recovery and resilience goals.

• No Artistic Experience Needed: Art-based coaching focuses on the creative process and developing your unique expressive language, not technical artistic skill. It's about using creativity to unlock insights and foster personal growth.

Key takeaways

Burnout is more than feeling overwhelmed; it often connects to deeper issues like childhood trauma. Past events affected my mental health and made me more prone to burnout.

This was especially true juggling a corporate job and my coaching practice, whilst experiencing complex grief and loss.

Even with my training as a neuroscientist and therapeutic coach, I found traditional stress management tools didn’t fully tackle the root causes of my stress.

To really beat burnout, we need a holistic approach. Nervous system dysregulation is a sign of the chronic stress we deal with. If we don’t address the core stressors and harmful thought patterns, unhealthy coping strategies, and limited self-care practices etc. at a deeper level, we risk falling into a cycle of temporary solutions.

My journey to art-based coaching started with a desire for deeper healing. This experience inspired me to incorporate art and creativity into my coaching practice.

Let’s create a safe space where we explore tricky feelings, build resilience, and find a path to healing and self-discovery. Join me on this journey and let’s form a creative healing community together.

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PS. If you’re ready to move beyond burnout, prioritise what’s important, and explore creative healing, join me for my first free live Masterclass (it won't be recorded). 

Face It To Make It: Art-Based Action Board Masterclass - October 2024

Date: Friday October 11 2024

Time: 9pm BST / 4pm EDT / 1pm PDT / 3pm CDT / 7am (next day) AEDT (convert to local time)

Duration: 60 Minutes

Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84381762552?pwd=kQWPceui8kAGk3DXfXRuMrOjrPlBC7.1

I’ll share these details in our chat channel for all subscribers, but pop it into your diary now.

Comment on what you’re most curious to explore together!