End of Summer/Back to School

We’ve been busy finishing off summer with swimming, playing, and s’mores. School started this week and it’s been a bit of a rougher start than I imagined. My middle child is starting first grade and really struggling with anxiety and my husband needed some temporary help with his business so it’s been physically and emotionally busy and I haven’t had the space for art yet that I have been looking forward to.

About 6 months ago I checked out the book The Highly Sensitive Parent thinking it probably wouldn’t apply to me. I always thought I wasn’t highly sensitive when I heard that phrase in passing because I pictured it as a person who was emotionally intelligent or really intuitive and masterful at reading people or something. I am not sure what I thought, but that is not how I am and that isn’t what it means. I took the test recently on the internet and turns out it is mostly feeling overstimulated most of the time with is definitely me. Either way, both the book and the test turned out to completely and totally apply to me.

Many highly sensitive people are “deeply moved” by arts and music which again is me. And it feels like this should be the upside in what honestly feels like a downside a lot to the time. Although like many things such as introversion it might not be a problem if the world was set up for us more? But it is definitely not. So when I am not making art AND feeling overwhelmed by everyday life and kids screaming and the crushing violence in the world it feels like all downside. Making art with my kids, reading to them, and creating makes it feel like a positive thing again. So I hope I will feel more aligned when school really gets going (preschool starts tomorrow) and I can make time to make things.