So I never thought that I would be jumping on the adult coloring book bandwagon, but here I sit.
I had seen people raving about adult coloring books and how relaxing it was but I just didn’t really get it and have to admit I thought it was a little silly.
Then I saw a comment somewhere on the Internet from someone saying that they didn’t get why it was so special either until they sat down and tried it themselves and walked away a new person.
That peaked my interest enough to look at some on Amazon and mention it to my mom. Well along came Christmas and what did I find under the tree but an adult coloring book and some colored pencils for me :).
Needless to say I have discovered that adult coloring is a good fit for me!
Since Christmas, I have only completed one page in my book. But really, who cares?
The beautiful thing is it doesn’t matter how quick or even how good I am at coloring the pages.
What matters is that it’s something creative I can do that I enjoy and there’s absolutely no pressure about it at all.
I don’t feel like a new person when I walk away from a session of coloring, but I do walk away a more relaxed person and that definitely says a lot.
In addition to being relaxing, it also felt pretty good to finish my first page and look back and realize that instead of picking up my addiction of choice when I had some downtime, I had made a series of healthier decisions to spend time on something rejuvenating and restorative for my soul rather than wasting time on what I know drains and depletes me.
Will I even finish the whole book by the end of the year?
Probably not, it took me a whole month just to do one page.
But that’s okay and that’s the beauty of it, there’s no time limit, no right or wrong way to do it, and no one depending on me to get it done.
It’s just me sitting down, relaxing, and having some good old-fashioned fun.
And doing that, I’m learning, is important in this life to help offset all the pressure filled stuff.
(Tip: I have one spot where I usually sit to relax and I keep my coloring book and pencils in the end table drawer right there for easy access. I keep a lap desk, similar to this one here, next to where I sit as well. I store the colored pencils (in their box) along with a pencil sharpener in a gallon size ziplock bag. The colors I’m using for the particular picture I’m working on I keep all together in a rubber band in the ziplock bag so I don’t have to keep searching for them when I sit down to color. This way everything’s right there and ready to go when I am!)
UPDATE: I now use this case here to keep my colored pencils and Tombow brush markers corralled! I love my new case. Now I’m even more ready to color when a few minutes of free time arises!
What to do with completed pages? I plan on keeping some of them for myself but some I’m planning on sending off as fun mail for family or friends. My first completed one is going to my niece because she’s pretty awesome!
(This post contains affiliate links. Read disclosure policy here.)
Let’s Talk: What do you do to rejuvenate yourself when you have a few minutes of downtime?
