According to healthline.com, “In a small 2007 study, participants listed 10 of their most significant worries. They then spent 20 minutes drawing or sorting through art prints. Participants who spent the time drawing reported greater improvement in negative mood symptoms than those who simply looked at art.”

In connection to this quote, there is a sense of comfort when I draw as I get to focus solely on the paper that I am drawing on. As my hand and fingers grasp the pencil, I move my wrist back and forth and lay down my pencil at the right angle onto the white sheet of paper. As soon as the stroke begins, the world stops. With different shades of black to fill the plain whiteness, the worries and unnecessary thoughts that filled my brain also started to fade away.

It would be a lie to say that drawing is always therapeutic. Well, at least for me. My ambition to make flawless art pieces sometimes leaves me stressed. My desire to recreate the tree exactly as the one I see outside the window can sometimes stress me out. I want to mimic the image exactly the same. I desire to draw out the perfect shades of each side of the tree, I need to draw the tree’s leaves in the perfect size, I need to draw each leaf differently with its different ratios… I can go on and on. I can easily spend days on one piece of art. My eyes focus like a hawk’s eyes on the image of the tree, with one goal to draw out its exact image. However, I realized through time that even if my drawing doesn’t come out exactly the same as the image I wanted to draw out, my mistakes and little shades of drawing create one unique image of my own.

Though a number of days are usually spent on a piece of art, the feeling of reward at the end is unforgettable. I look back to my own drawing to see every stroke I made and the shades I created. The art pieces aren’t carbon copies of the object I referenced from, but my personal work is there. I can see the different swirls, shades, and lines I drew out. Each one defines my thought process.

Through lots of stress and joy, drawing has taught me more than the tree I was able to recreate in the sketchbook. Whether perfect or not, the final piece at the end is of my own. A work of my personal touch and personality. Through every stroke I made, a worry has also been lifted off my shoulders, and I was no longer held back by my baggage in life.

Sometimes, drawing brings me stress. Sometimes, it brings me so much joy. Drawing has allowed me to forget everything that goes on in my life as an upcoming senior in high school. Drawing has taught me how to focus better. It has given me an opportunity to create an image of my own.

I learned through my experiences that drawing allows you to both fill up the paper and delete the mistakes that may have arisen. It also allows me to use those mistakes to create yet another new image. It allows me to release all the worries that have been occupying my everyday life. It lets me set my mind on something new yet simple.

<Roanne Jubee Lee North Hollywood High School 12th grade>