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An Anxious Artist’s Journey with Dan Pietens

Episode 40|27:30 min|

Workplace, Perfectionism, Adult,

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#OurAnxietyStories – The Anxiety Canada Podcast
#OurAnxietyStories – The Anxiety Canada Podcast
An Anxious Artist’s Journey with Dan Pietens
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About the episode

In this episode of #OurAnxietyStories Dan shares that anxiety affected his work as a physiotherapist, which led him to seek treatment and explore alternative career trajectories. Dan notes that although he felt symptoms of anxiety from a young age, he didn’t think much of it at the time, assuming it was a feeling everyone experienced to some degree. After recognizing the therapeutic benefits of creating art, Dan chose to pursue a career as an artist, and continues to work on overcoming his anxiety and perfectionism. To check out Dan’s work, visit www.pietensart.ca.  

About the guest

Dan Pietens is a pencil artist from London, Ontario, known for his highly realistic portraits of professional hockey players including Wayne Gretzky, Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid. To help raise awareness around anxiety, Dan donates proceeds from his artwork sales to Anxiety Canada. 

"When somebody finally came along and said “you know what, this isn’t entirely normal, there’s something else here, there’s something that you can work on, and it’s not all your fault” that was super relieving for me."

- Dan Pietens

This podcast is brought to you by Anxiety Canada™, a leader in developing free, online self-help and evidence-based anxiety resources. For more information and resources, please visit our website and download our app, MindShift™ CBT.