Expressive Doodles: A Low-Spoon Journaling Practice for When Words Feel Too Heavy

I want to share something with you that has genuinely helped me on the days when my body feels like it’s made of lead and my brain is running on 2% battery, and when the idea of “being creative” feels a little insulting because I can barely get through the basics.

It’s a journal technique I developed called Expressive Doodles.

And it started as a very simple idea: what if I stopped trying to make journaling look neat, or put pressure on myself to journal for long periods of time all about my feelings only to cause myself more pain and discomfort. What instead if I let it be short and become a flow?

Not sentences...not paragraphs...not anything that needs to make sense to anyone else. Just a line, moving across the page. Words spilling out continuously without spaces or punctuation, like the thoughts in my head. Then at the end I can add fun little drawings and doodles woven right into the line.

It looks like this in practice: imsotiredtodaymybodyfeelsheavyandimfrustratedbutialsonoticedthesuncomingthroughthewindowanditfeelsgoodonmyskin

Just continuous text along your loopy line.

Why this matters (especially on a low spoon day)

When you’re chronically ill, there are days when even journaling feels like too much. Like it asks for a version of you that isn’t even available.

Expressive Doodles removes that barrier. There’s no starting with a blank page. No whining about how you feel for an entire page only to feel worse about yourself. It’s just short and sweet, freely moving your pen along the loopy line. And somehow, that tiny movement becomes a bridge back to yourself.

It surprised me at first how grounding it was when I used it consistently. The line becomes a kind of nervous system outlet. The doodles soften the intensity of what you’re carrying. It turns internal noise into something you can see, instead of just feel.

It’s not just journaling, it’s a release!

I originally created this technique as an art therapy exercise after my baby died and I almost lost my life. The grief was suffocating and finding the words to put into a journal at the time was actually impossible. But this technique gave way to my words in a way nothing else could. It became just expression along a line. It was beautiful even if the words were ugly. It was hard to read which meant I never had to re-read the words that hurt too much to say.

Doodle art was also a big part of this technique because it’s the most instinctive form of creativity we have. There is no right way. Doodle art is often overlooked, but it really shouldn’t be. It bypasses overthinking completely. It shows you what your hand wants to do when your brain stops trying to control it.

Some people naturally draw spirals. Some repeat little flower shapes. Some make chaotic marks that look like energy itself. Some just draw circles over and over again. The doodles you gravitate towards are line tiny fingerprints of your inner world.

How to do it on hard days

There is no right way, but here’s my simplest version:

1. Start a line on one end of the page and create loops here or there as you travel to the other end of the page. I use both pages of my notebook but you can do whatever feels right for you.

2. Begin writing your thoughts continuously, no spaces, no punctuation

3. Let it be emotional, honest, or repetitive. Just let whatever it needs to be...be

4. Add doodles inside your loops, or even around the page. Anything goes here.

That’s it!

If you feel drawn to this practice and want to see it unfold step-by-step, I’ve got a more in-depth class on Skillshare where I walk you through the full process. If you’ve been looking for a softer entry point back into creativity, especially on low-spoon days, this might be a good place to start.