Introduction
Welcome to Out of Your Mind! I’m Dani, and I created this activity filled book to provide you (and me!) with a positive distraction for your anxious mind.
For years, l've created art and self-help content for my website, Positively Present, to help me cope with my anxiety. Recently l’ve realized that, while it's great to soul-search and learn about the causes of (and coping mechanisms for) anxiety, what helps me the most when l’m in the thick of an anxiety spiral is doing something to get out of my own head. A creative distraction usually works best!
Anxiety is inherently creative, which is why an outlet like this book can be so helpful for breaking the overthinking cycle. Even if you don’t feel like you’re a "creative" type, this is still the book for you. It's been designed using my own anxious mind to help you channel your creativity and quiet your anxiety.
Distraction might sound like avoidance, and I certainly don’t want to encourage you to avoid feelings. Feelings should be felt but, as anyone with anxiety knows, sometimes you need a break from the feelings. Sometimes diving into a soul-searching book or journal isn’t what your anxious mind needs.
This book is for those moments when you feel you can’t do anything, but you know doing something to completely numb your mind isn’t the best solution. Distraction is powerful, but it takes the right kind of distraction to stop you from dwelling on worried thoughts. I’ve designed these pages to be just the right amount of distraction-simple activities with enough depth to be meaningful.
By channeling your creativity into this book, you can disrupt overthinking, embrace imaginative expression, explore your emotions in new ways, and maybe even defuse some of your anxiety.
This book can be used in any order. Some pages are completely about mindless distraction-simple exercises or coloring pages while others dig a little deeper. Choose what works best for your current emotional state. If you turn to a page and it feels like it's adding to your anxiety, flip to another one.
Because the act of coloring has been known to help quell anxiety, most of the pages can be colored in, even if that's not their initial purpose, which provides a bonus creative outlet!
As you work through these pages, remember: you don't have to be "good" at any of these things. You don't have to ace the activities or have stellar scribbling skills to benefit from this book.
These pages are likely to help you interrupt your rumination, focus more on the present moment, increase your self-esteem through creativity, reduce overstimulation, experience playfulness, feel less stressed, and maybe even learn a thing or two about yourself! I'm not saying this book is going to change your life...but it just might if you let it.
Now, let's see what happens if you get out of your mind for a bit...
Copyright © 2022 by Dani DiPirro. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
