The Art & Poetry of Mary Coleman

I thought I would share my best work of 2024 today. The first half of the year was rough. I had pretty bad artist’s block, but the second half of the year was fairly prolific for me. The PPE series was started and I got five done (one is not pictured) of that and I finished the work for my show at Splendorporium (well it was a group show where I was the featured artist). My best from that exhibition was the self portrait of me on the roof of Dammasch State Hospital. The mouth painting was part of a small series I did but it was the only one of note from that endeavor.

My favorite physical activity is running. Anything else related to exercise I find really boring although I am attempting to get into some limited strength training for bone and muscle health. It’s torture though, working out inside.

I’ve never tried sports outside of PE in school so I can’t attest to how much I would like them. PE was not a pleasant experience for me ever, so I am kind of doubting I would enjoy team sports very much. I do not enjoy being in groups and team sports very much is about groups. Maybe one-on-one kind of games I might enjoy if I tried, tennis, pickleball, or golf etc.. Somehow I doubt it because I’m a very uncoordinated person so it’s likely I’d struggle. Running is okay for uncoordinated people because it’s just about putting one foot in front of the other for a long time, no trying to hit balls with bats or clubs which would take some hand eye coordination. Maybe I’m just being a negative Nellie and should try sports before I write them off completely.

I haven’t had a panic attack in six days which is a big relief. My anxiety level has been pretty low too. It’s there, but not overwhelming. I keep track of my mood every few hours in my daily planner along with what I ate each day, daily expenses, caffeine intake, and a note about the various stressors of the day. Hopefully I can gain some insight into what causes the panic attacks and anxiety to flair up. I’m not making much headway in therapy on that front, so maybe if I have more information gathered before each session I can share it and gain some insight.

Today I ran 2 miles with my friend Krista. It felt good to just do a relaxing, short run. I enjoy half marathons but training for them can burn me out after awhile. No more long runs until March. I’ll start adding some miles on the weekend in the second half of February but nothing more than a 10k. Tomorrow I’m going to try to introduce strength training. I was going to do it today but it’s nice and clear out so I decided to run instead. There’s rain in the forecast solidly until next Wednesday, so I’ll have plenty of days in which to do indoor exercise.