Art was not my strongest of subjects at school. Most of my group of friends took the subject to at least A-level whereas I dropped it before GCSE. I have learned over time that I’m not the most creative of beings, I can follow directions to play music or produce cross stitch, but actually creating my own – not so much. Anywho, I digress. During my 3 years of art in secondary school I achieved 2 A grades. One of these was for a trio of gargoyles (all the same but made of different materials) , I enjoyed this task, ans pleased with the result and my grade, but of course Gargoyles are famously mishapen and ugly. The other A grade was for a load of circles. I created a pattern of circles using a compass.

We often talk about vicious circles, but I will often think about this piece of work to remind myself that circles aren’t necessarily vicious but can actually be positive.

Why do we talk about vicious circles? It is because of the idea that circles don’t end and that bad things can lead to bad things and you end up doing the same things over and over. From personal example, feeling low means I don’t want to go out and do exercise or meet with people, which then means I continue to feel low.

Circles can be vicious but as my art work showed it is possible to move from one circle to a different circle, where I go out, get some exercise, meet some people, start to feel better, and go out more.

Please dont get me wrong, I am no expert at this AT ALL, and I’ve been going round a circle for what feels like forever. I know there are other circles I can move to, I’ve done it before, but as with so many things, it is making that first step, exiting the seemingly neverending circle, and seeing where it takes you.

This week I’ve made a couple of steps, they were small, but they were steps. Hopefully I’ll be able to share with you where I’ve made it to and what the next circle looks like.