"Doodling relieved my caretaker stress!"

When Harriet Hodgson's beloved husband's health began to fail, the stress and sadness she felt was all-consuming...until she stumbled upon a simple pastime that changed everything

- Katie Smith 

Harriet Hodgson gazed at her husband of 63 years, C. John Hodgson, and sighed. After the retired Mayo Clinic physician became a paraplegic, Harriet had become his caretaker. But when she noticed John’s health worsening in 2020, her world began to crumble.

With her to-do list growing ever longer and John’s care needs increasing, Harriet’s blood pressure soared, along with her stress, anxiety and sadness: a process referred to as “anticipatory grief,” or the distress and feeling of loss before the death of a loved one. Is there anything I can do to cope with this feeling? Harriet wondered.

A colorful solution

One day, with her stress levels at an all-time high, Harriet sat down with her to-do list and instinctually started to doodle. With a graduate degree in art education, she loved art and knew all about its manifold benefits—but as she got lost in the colors and lines, she was surprised to find just how quiet her mind became.