We Got This!

By Eve Brownstone, LCPC 

During a family BBQ recently…

I want to pause for a moment and say how grateful I am to be able to attend a BBQ with my family.  A year without hugging loved ones is hard. Zoom helped but Arghhhh not the same. 

I mentioned to my cousin at the family BBQ,  the way I got through the lockdown and isolation was painting.  I was surrounded by friends. My paintings became my companions. I share with my clients how painting and drawing can be healing for them as well. 

I get through hard times in my life through art-making. In 2010 when my Mom was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), Words didn’t come easily for me but images flowed out. Mom wanted to draw with me. It helped us both make meaning of what was happening to her. She lost her voice, ability to eat and then move. She was still mighty even at the end in her motorized wheelchair and Speak it on her iPad. By February 18, 2011, mom was gone. In that last year of life, mom taught me how to live life while we can. 

Remember the campaign of 2016?  During that campaign season, there was ugliness.

I turned my attention to Love. I wrote about the many faces of Love. Romantic love, parental love, familial love, spiritual love, and community love were featured. It started as a blog and then a book, I Got This! The book is a collection of poetry, prose, and photography. This creative project helped me focus on what was important and remain hopeful and engaged.

Fast forward to March 2020. We were told to go home and stay. The City of Chicago was in lockdown. Nobody knew what that meant or how long it would last. I have a lot of self-care techniques but I found the isolation challenging. Again words didn’t come easily, but paintings flowed out of me. 2020-2021, I painted 50+ paintings. I decided to call this collection We Got This!  Thank you paintings for helping me get through.

Also Thanks:

Friends and family, doctors, nurses, scientists, Dr. Fauci.  Wearing masks. Social distancing. Getting tested. Getting vaccinated. Being kind. Vitamin D3 and Vitamin C. Symmetry Counseling.  Art class. My therapy. Meditation.  Deep breathing. The Vagus Nerve.  Naps.  Exercise. Zoom.  Lake Michigan. 

Some things to try to get through this next period:

1. Color a coloring book with colorful makers.
2. Journaling (Just start writing. I don’t know what to write is a good start.)
3. Dance Parties (Move to your fav tunes, Shake It Off by Taylor Swift.)
4. Paint or draw and turn the paper/canvas every five minutes to let go of the outcome.
5. Write a blog or do a Tik Tok video.
6. Watch a fav movie like Caddyshack or Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
7. Move your body. Walk in the sunshine.
8. Meditate for at least 2 minutes a day.
9. Try Tapping (EFT).
10. Call Symmetry Counseling. 🙂 

Being an expressive arts therapist isn’t just a job, it is a way of life. I love using art and writing to make sense of my life, understand myself and others.  I encourage my clients to find a creative outlet to help cope and to find their voice when voiceless through the arts, as well as more traditional approaches and somatic techniques. We got this, together! 

More and more people are reaching out for support these days.  We are beginning to breathe a collective breath. Feel free to reach out to me through Symmetry Counseling to work with me at  (312) 578-9990.