A. Catherine Noon here, author and textile artist. Thank you so much to Delilah for hosting me today! I’m glad to be back.

I don’t know about you, but the pace of life seems much faster than it ever has before. And I’m definitely struggling with burnout.

This beautiful boy above is a golden eagle, who lives at the Northwest Trek wildlife preserve in Washington State. He’s got a problem with his wings, but he’s fierce and beautiful.

One of the suggestions for recovering from burnout is rest. I’m not sure I have any suggestions for how to rest, but the zoo is one of my experiments. I left my ringer off for the visit, though I did use my camera on the phone for a few shots. For the most part, though, I tried playing with my digital SLR camera, a Nikon CoolPix.

My next experiment is to take a course on Bluprint in Digital Photography, so I can get better at using the camera.

For most of the day yesterday, I didn’t think about anything besides wandering around the wildlife preserve with my husband. I didn’t worry about politics, work, or any of the stressors that plague daily life.

If you are reading this and have suffered any kind of trauma or major stressors, know this: you are not alone. Resting is not a weakness, and getting help is not stupid. Mental health is health, and we need to end the stigma. And writers are as prone as anyone to having challenges with mental health. The frustrating thing for me is that I’m at the point now where my personal issues are not reached by words, by writing. They’re deeper, pre-verbal. Image-based.

And so, I play with my camera and fiddle around with collage. I remember Delilah talking about her doodling, and I’ve watched that avidly. It seems like a fun way to engage some of the same parts of the brain.

What about you, Dear Reader? What are some of your favorite ways to de-stress?

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”
– E.E. Cummings

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