Self-Care for Anxiety: Understanding and Management Guide
By Monica Brinkman, FeministArt.ca
Anxiety isn’t always dramatic. Sometimes it looks like procrastination, over-explaining, feeling frozen in your body, or needing to “fix” everything just to feel safe.
And sometimes? It’s just the hum in the background that makes it hard to rest — or even breathe.
As someone who creates emotional, restorative art, I’ve learned that anxiety is often a signal, not a flaw. It’s your body asking for presence. A reminder that something needs your attention — not your judgment.
So how do we respond with care instead of shame?
That’s what this post is about: gentle, feminist self-care practices for managing anxiety in a way that supports the whole you.
💬 First, Let’s Name It: What Is Anxiety, Really?
Anxiety is a physiological and emotional response to perceived threat. It can be triggered by external stress, inner stories, trauma, or even chronic overstimulation. But above all — anxiety thrives in disconnection.
Disconnection from your body.
From your breath.
From your sense of safety and inner trust.
And that’s where holistic self-care steps in.
🎨 Feminist Self-Care Is About Reconnection, Not Perfection
Self-care in this context isn’t about doing more — it’s about doing less with more intention.
It’s saying: I deserve to feel safe in my own skin, even when the world feels overwhelming.
When I created Grow to Flow and Purple Sky, I wasn’t thinking about products — I was processing anxiety through movement, color, and line. These pieces were born from the tension between fear and flow. And now they live on walls and shirts as reminders: your feelings are valid, and they don’t define your worth.
🌿 Practical Self-Care Tools for Managing Anxiety
Here are some gentle, actionable tools that I return to often — many of which also influence how I create my artwork:
1. Visual Grounding
Surround yourself with visuals that feel safe, calm, or emotionally spacious. Art with flowy shapes, grounding colors, or nature motifs can signal the brain to soften. (This is why I often use blues, greens, and soft contours in my work.)
✨ Try this: Pick one piece of art in your space that calms you. Sit with it for 3 minutes. Breathe. Notice what your body does.
2. Sensory Anchoring
Anxiety pulls you out of the moment. So use your five senses to come back.
Hold something textured (a stone, fabric, or even your shirt hem)
Smell something familiar (lavender, coffee, your art studio)
Listen to ambient sounds or grounding music
These small acts can signal to your nervous system: “You’re safe right now.”
3. Creative Expression
You don’t need to be a “real artist” to make art that heals.
Journaling, sketching, or simply putting brush to canvas without a plan can shift anxious energy from mental to physical. That’s why my art is full of abstract symbolism — it’s less about “understanding” and more about feeling.
✨ Tip: Don’t aim for beauty. Aim for relief.
4. Body-Based Practices
Anxiety lives in the body, not just the mind. Movement, rest, and touch all help.
Take a 10-minute walk with no phone
Do a 2-minute stretch and yawn
Lay down and place one hand on your belly, the other on your chest — feel your breath
Try meditative poses like the ones in Yoga Meditation (even just visually connecting with them can help)
5. Digital & Emotional Boundaries
Protecting your peace is powerful. Anxiety often spikes when we’re overexposed or under-resourced.
Say no without over-explaining
Mute or unfollow accounts that spike comparison
Take tech-free time in the morning or evening
Give yourself permission to pause — rest is productive
🖼️ Let Your Environment Hold You
I truly believe art can be a co-regulator — a soft presence in the room that helps you breathe a little deeper. Whether it’s a framed Grow to Flow print or a calming art tee you wear on hard days, visual cues matter.
Your space matters.
Your energy matters.
You matter.
💌 Final Thoughts from Me to You
If you’re living with anxiety — know this: you’re not broken. You’re responding to a world that hasn’t always felt safe. But healing doesn’t have to be dramatic. It can be subtle. Slow. Unfolding.
Self-care isn’t about eliminating anxiety — it’s about building a relationship with yourself that feels steady, curious, and kind.
If you ever need a visual reminder of that, you know where to find me.
With softness and strength,
Monica
Artist & Founder of FeministArt.ca
