This Little Known Remedy called Doodling: A Personal Essay

Courtesy of Media by Wix

Whether it was an old-timey car or an extravagant hairstyle that stood out to me in a period drama, or even a miscellaneous flower design that would somehow end up looking like a monstrosity from another world, I’ve been doodling my way through life.

From a young age, I remember my family encouraging me to draw whatever I observed. Looking back, I feel like this was such an important message to impart as it compelled me to explore this visual medium in which I could easily express myself, and it didn’t matter if I was any good at it.

This habit carried through into the early days of elementary school, with me sketching away on the sides of in-class worksheets or even quizzes and tests. I’m sure my teachers had some questions when they saw the odd shoes or dainty hands with pointed fingernails on my homework, but from what I could tell, they never felt the need to bring it up.

However, on this one occasion when I was about 9 or 10 years old, I recall presenting my math worksheet to my teacher, having finally managed to complete the equation which had caused me some grief for the past 10 minutes. After briefly examining it, she looked up at me and, half-chuckling, asked “Evan…what’s this?” My eyes darted to where her finger rested: the very small lady at the bottom left corner of the paper, her tiny stilettos being the most prominent feature. 

I dreaded the response that came next. “You know that’s not what you’re supposed to be doing right now.” She continued, wearing a gentle expression, “We’ve talked about time management—that’s something you need to work on.” As if I needed yet another reminder about time management.

Up until this moment, it had always felt like there was this unspoken understanding between my teachers and I. As long as I’d done the work, who cared what decorated the empty spaces surrounding my answers? I realized now, rather uncomfortably, that not everyone saw it this way. 

So how long has doodling been considered the enemy of productivity? How long have teachers dissuaded their students from utilizing a tool which, as recent studies have shown, might actually be their best shot at completing intimidating tasks?

From monarchs and world leaders to the everyday bored office worker, people have doodled through the ages. For Winston Churchill, it was airplanes, for Queen Victoria, it was donkeys, for Leonardo da Vinci, his doodles ranged from crude drawings to the beginnings of his groundbreaking laws of frictions—I’m sure that in their respective timelines, doodles were also seen as a distraction, an indication that their minds were not where they were supposed to be. But still they doodled, and look what they went on to do!

If these prominent figures, who made such notable contributions to society, were doodlers at the end of the day, then shouldn’t we take a lesson from them?

Studies conducted in the past two decades have shown us that doodling can actually enhance mental attention on the primary task rather than fracture your focus. For instance, a study by doodle researcher Jackie Andrade in Applied Cognitive Psychology revealed that people who doodled while listening to a dull telephone message, actually recalled 29% more information after the call than those who didn’t doodle. 

In my case, doodling was somewhat of a comfort during class —when I couldn’t quite grasp the challenge presented to me (which was frequent due my tendency to overthink), I could disappear temporarily into my own little world of miniature art and imagination. Then, once I’d finished in a minute or two, I’d be in a fresh state of mind, ready to give it another go.

So often we hear about this fight-or-flight mentality when being presented with a challenge, so when you doodle, think of it like your mind making a last-ditch effort to stay awake and attentive.

I mean, if the alternative is to stare blankly at the page in front of you or gaze off into space with no idea of when you’ll return to reality, I think I’d stick with the first option, where at least I can exercise some control over the situation.

As Carol Edmonton, author of The Healing Power Of Doodling: Mindfulness Therapy To Deal With Stress, Fear & Life Challenges, once said “While it may sound a bit crazy, doodling can actually help calm the racing mind and bring it back to a more quiet, restful space, not unlike meditation”.

I wish someone had told me this right at the beginning; surely it would have helped to know this. However, even after being told that doodling didn’t serve me well, all I had to go off of was my own experience—and my experience had taught me otherwise. The simple truth was that whenever I doodled, the troubles of the moment faded away. 

Now at age 21, in my final year of university, I still doodle. Not so much when completing assignments but during long lectures, when I know I need to give my brain a break, I sometimes find myself sketching the odd animal or shoe in my notebook.

Now, it’s worth saying that doodling is not something you want to indulge in while concentrating on a complicated task. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to understand that a sense of urgency can indeed be useful when completing tests, exams or other timed assessments.

But I have to believe that those moments when I was younger, being free to doodle and not dwell on the problem at hand, are what brought me to where I am now—approaching everyday challenges with a more relaxed mindset and the assurance that I can handle whatever comes my way.