Stressin'

Don’t stress homies, be easy! So… I probably need to take my own advice this week. I’m in my last semester of school, and as always am doing a ton outside of school, including a show at the AGA, a solo show at Finesse furniture gallery, this year’s Center for Race and Culture March campaign (including a big bus ad that I’m pumped about!), and a few other projects besides. Needless to say, I’m stressed! I created this series of digital illustrations for an article on recognizing and managing stress and its symptoms, and I definitely went through all three of these three responses to stress at least once over this week – I’m sure some of y’all can relate!

The first is referred to by psychologist Connie Lillas as the angry, agitated response to stress, and involves being heated up, overly emotional, and unable to sit still. I imagined this character getting all steamed up, and literally blowing his top. Another potential response to stress is a withdrawn or depressed response – here you shut down, space out, worry a ton, and let the stress drain your batteries. The third most common way to respond to stress is a tense, frozen response. We literally ‘freeze’ under pressure and can’t get anything done – we seem paralyzed but under the surface remain intense and agitated. Here’s the original source for the article in case you want to find out about some of the ways to deal with stress http://www.helpguide.org/mental/stress_signs.htm . Me? I don’t have time to read that, I have way to much to do. Just joking. Check it out, there’s some good advice! Thanks for comin’ to kick it, and I’ll see you soon!