Doing the Unstuck: Crafting as Therapy for Depression and Anxiety

It's been a while since my last blog post, and I guess that's because I've been wondering what to write, what to say. And I realised that what's been missing from here is that little, critical element - that little bit where you get to know me a little, who I am, and why I'm crafting in the first place.  Because it isn't my day job, and it's not quite a side hustle. It's... well, let's call it a kind of therapy.

Hi there - this is me!

So let me say hello - this is me, Jacqueline Seidel, author of this blog, creator of soaps, experimenter of oils and scents and colours, crocheter, business owner, language trainer, online instructor, writer, mum, wife, daughter, sister, and expat Aussie.  Do I sleep? Barely!

Now, I mentioned that crafting is a kind of therapy, and I really believe it is.  See, I've got an anxiety condition which comes along with its best friend, depression.  This means I'm constantly thinking, planning, analysing - I like to describe my brain as being in constant SWOT Analysis mode, with multiple analyses taking place in parallel at any one time.  Now, this may make me a successful businesswoman (I've been running my business for 11 years), but it also makes me a little tired.

Which is where crafting comes in.  It all started with cross-stitch, years ago, and then moved into a large tapestry project. But although that was meditative and required concentration (not so much analysis taking place when you're counting stitches!), it took too long to see progress.  Patience is not my middle name!

Then came crochet, a meditative practice, and you'd often find me on the sofa of an evening, creating items big and small.  Beanies were an early speciality, and it was immensely satisfying creating a pile of them to donate to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.

A selection of beanies created for the ASRC.

And then came soap-making, bath salts, bath bombs, bath truffles, body butters, salves, lip balm... a cacophony of colours, aromas, processes, the whole beautiful, fascinating, enticing lot.

Soap-making... warmed oils are mixed together prior to adding the lye water.

When I'm calculating oils, mixing lye and water, balancing colours, pouring mixtures into moulds, infusing oils with herbs, shaping and wrapping and decorating gift packages, my anxiety is at rest, my depression sleeps, the Black Dog no longer breaths down my neck.

So, I guess I'm keeping this blog to share the crafting journey, to share recipes and patterns which I love, which work for me, and which are great to try.

And I guess I'm keeping this blog for other people who, like me, live with the Black Dog and find a path through those darker days through crafting, creating, having something tangible to hold on to when the intangibles are hard to find.

Alright, time to get crafting!