I’ve been going through a bit of a rough patch lately in terms of my mental health. I don’t talk about it that often, but I don’t keep it a secret that I’ve always struggled with anxiety. Recently I started on medication for it for the first time, which is currently having the wonderfully ironic side effect of increasing my anxiety. (Powering through until the real effects kick in…)
Anyways, this news post isn’t a sad one! One of the best ways I’ve found to deal with my anxiety is to identify and challenge my anxious thoughts. I usually refer to these internal dialogues as anxiety brain vs. logic brain. Logic brain is usually a ways behind anxiety brain, but he always shows up eventually. Anxiety brain is the one that says “you got turned down for that job because it’s a pattern of failure reaching into your past and future” and starts sobbing immediately. Logic brain turns up twenty minutes later and gently reminds anxiety brain of all my successes, and totally rational reasons why someone else might have been a better choice for this particular job that don’t reflect on me as a person.
I’ve never been big on journalling, but last week I started scripting some of the frequent arguments that anxiety brain and logic brain have. I found it made me feel a lot better to actually put down, in words, just how ridiculous my thought patterns are sometimes. Initially I was going back and forth between drawing the characters as caricatures of me or as giant brains, but ultimately they ended up as cats instead: one very frazzled, and the other with an elegant pince-nez. Somehow these guys seem like a pretty accurate depiction of my brain.
They’re probably a deeper look into my psyche than anyone else wants or needs, but what better time than right around Halloween to make everyone slightly uncomfortable? Check out one of the first ones below.
Do you journal? Do you ever use comics to express what's going on inside your head?
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Comicking your feelings
HippieVan at 12:00AM, Nov. 4, 2016
5 likes!
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PBandJ at 9:20AM, Nov. 7, 2016
For me, I get anxiety AND depression. It's the powering through it that I'm still working on. This is a great idea.
Udyr at 10:50AM, Nov. 5, 2016
Cool idea with the comic diary! Its pretty known fact that true artists puts their suffer into their work, that for a reason ;)
rmccool at 1:20PM, Nov. 4, 2016
I use comics to deal with stuff.. layer of meaning.. and sometimes raw emotion. Ph changed from a fun joke sort of comic story to a darker one after the death of a loved one.. Robert frost once said “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.” so maybe putting all that you are feeling on paper is a good deal. sometimes knowing whats going on with a writer in the real world gives one new insight into the tone of there work. I think we all do this on some level .. that a lot of our self ends up in the ink.. but I use one of my comics to not think emotionally.. I use how to be homeless to put distance between me and my despair. so I don't fall to deep into the darkness out here..some days it works some days not so much.. some problems are beyond the ability of hawk and chainsaw to fix..
HippieVan at 10:00AM, Nov. 4, 2016
@Ironscarf: Like a slice of life comic with occasional glimpses into the protagonist's thought processes featuring the cats, maybe? Probably more work than I want to do on this, but I'm glad you like them! I hear you on not wanting to face reality - I think that's why they ended up being cats. With a frazzled cat there's still some distance between myself and the character.
Banes at 9:04AM, Nov. 4, 2016
The conversations between characters in my comic are often versions of anxiety vs logic debates I've had in my own mind. For sure! Great post!
Banes at 9:03AM, Nov. 4, 2016
There's the makings of a great comic there - I'd imagine we can all relate to the logic vs. anxiety tug-of-war. I journal once in awhile, and it's been very useful; wish I did it more. Usually I just think things through, once the feelings of anxious/angry/sad get painful enough. Yeah, it takes pain to get me thinking!
KimLuster at 6:47AM, Nov. 4, 2016
Oh God I know all about the anxiety!! I'd like to say my stuff isn't really for the personal therapy, but I do find personal thoughts and feelings reflected in the pages, over and over... So maybe I am doing so, subconsciously. I think it's healthy, anyway...
bravo1102 at 5:56AM, Nov. 4, 2016
Drawings like this were actually part of my therapy after my 2001 breakdown. They were very helpful. I have kept journals, but now I just ramble on in my on-going self talk.
Ironscarf at 4:43AM, Nov. 4, 2016
These cats are actually very entertaining, much better than some of the journal comics I see out there. There's enough on this page to spin out into an entire graphic novel (for that I'd use people, maybe with the talking cats for narration!). I don't keep journals myself - everything is immediately converted into a character or story idea. In this way, I'm able to deal with my own internal conflicts without ever having to face reality.