I hope your team is one of the lucky few that are feeling positive, energised and well.

Because the discussions I've had with new clients this past few weeks have really hammered home the challenges people have endured of late.

I share this, not to put a dampener on things but because sometimes I think posts on LinkedIn can be a bit too glossy.

It's simply not capturing the emotional fall-out of the past few years.

It can feel like we're encouraged to dutifully sweep covid, mass layoffs & employee mental health challenges under the carpet and just get on with it.

But there seems to be a collective cry for respite, reunion and a reset in the air.

I'm going to share my personal journey when facing this need for reconnection.

Out of the Darkness

It was back in February 2021 when I hit the end of the road. Burnout. Numb. Nothingness.

Too much Microsoft Teams & work pressure, not enough joy and a lethal concoction of a husband on the NHS frontline, a very unwell relative that I couldn't hug and a child with deteriorating mental health.

The perfect storm.

I desperately needed respite from the digital world - a way to slow down and process what was happening.

It was through rediscovering the joy of drawing and painting in the pandemic that I discovered its value - it helped me to reconnect to myself.

Wanting to share this life raft with my family, I wrapped our kitchen island with paper.

We drew our thoughts and feelings and left thoughtful messages for each other.

Not only was this connective and joyful but we discovered that we felt better, learnt to share our concerns more openly and offer support.

The dark, emotional numbness started to subside and the light flooded in, hence Art After Dark 💫

The Enlightenment: Emotional Reach

Curious, I then frantically researched what was on earth was happening! I wanted to understand it on a physical, psychological and sociological level.

It turned out that one key element at play was that we'd been building our “haptic skills.”

It relates to our sense of touch and its literal meaning is the ability “to grasp something”.

In other words; PERCEPTION.

Talking as a family whilst drawing and painting became a way of relaxing, grounding us in the moment, offering respite from the digital drain and reconnecting with each other.

We'd stumbled upon the key to extending our EMOTIONAL REACH and empathising with each other.🗝️

Enhancements & Iterations

What I've just described was Art After Dark, mark 1. The very first iteration. The "MVP" if you will!

Having worked in Innovation for 20 years, I couldn't help but get really excited and this "project" now entered the next stage in "stage and gate" process in my mind!

Time to tinker under the bonnet, more research, more questions. Iterate, test, learn, go again!

I was in the zone, trialling hundreds of different soundtracks, playing with how different scents impacted our moods, added flowers....and then came the art materials...😍

...Roll upon roll of different sizes and gauges of paper, pencils from every brand, tins of watercolours from all the manufacturers and brushes that were not to scratchy, didn't shed hairs and were "just right."

I obsessed over EVERY detail, all the while testing in the community and with friends and family as the world opened up.

The energy and the joy was back!

Seeing it in Action

There's nothing quite like seeing the difference between when people arrive in my workshops.

A little jaded, unsure, some serious, some nervously laughing, some with an excited glint in their eyes when they see the art supplies!

But after two hours it's always the same.

They're reenergised having shared and connected in a way that only humans can.✨

A short, potent flexing of their haptic skills, helping to make a start on washing away the layers of silt that have built up over the last four years.

United, reset and ready to put their best foot forward. 🙌

Painting🖼️

I painted these abstracted flowers and a battle between the dark and the light within.

I hope you've enjoyed learning a bit more about the inception of Art After Dark and understand why I'm so passionate about it's benefits.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.