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These Illustrations Will Speak To Anyone With Anxiety

"It feels empowering to make something out of a blank sheet of paper, and it makes people happy in a way that nothing else does for me."

Emily Griffin is a 23-year-old illustrator from Texas. She majored in business and minored in art, but put her passion for drawing to the side for several years.

"When I graduated, I realized that I had a lot more anxiety and no classroom structure to make me paint, so I picked up my sketchbook again and remembered how much I loved it," Griffin told BuzzFeed.

"It calms me. It feels empowering to make something out of a blank sheet of paper, and it makes people happy in a way that nothing else does for me."

Griffin uses illustrating as a way to cope with her anxiety and emotions. Often times, she expresses how she feels about mental health in her drawings.

"Drawing pictures of a cartoon me drowning in weird abstract goo with my arms flailing is how I feel inside some days, but when I draw it, it becomes more acceptable somehow," she said.

The artist explained she thinks other people enjoy her work because it makes them feel less alone.

"I think people are deeply happy and relieved to see that they're not alone in feeling super overwhelmed," Griffin said, "Or feeling silly for feeling the way they do, whether that's ridiculously happy or ridiculously sad."

You can check out more of Emily Griffin's illustrations on her Tumblr.