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How Coloring Can Impact Your Mental Health
By now, it seems like the craze of adult coloring is everywhere. Supplies can be found in most stores, online forums allow artists to post their creations while commenting on the work of others, and local groups meet in person to work together.
Despite its widespread presence, many people remain unsure whether or not adult coloring is right for them. If that sounds like you, consider these reasons why now is the time to jump on the bandwagon.
Coloring Isn’t a Fad
In reality, adult coloring isn’t really a new thing. Therapists have been using similar tools, called mandalas, for nearly 100 years to treat their clients.
Mandalas are usually intricate, symmetrical, geometric shapes and patterns that are filled in with color. Adult coloring lacks the ability to create the picture, but provides the benefits of coloring.
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Coloring Is an Expressive Art
Art has always been a fantastic means of self-expression. Whatever stresses or tensions are running through your mind can take shape in your art.
Even though adult coloring differs greatly from painting on a blank canvas or chiseling a sculpture from a block of granite, it provides a great level of artistic freedom and expression. The elaborate designs of adult coloring books offer room to explore your feelings and translate them into color on the page.
If you are angry and frustrated, show your emotions with a splash of red and black. Feeling sad? Reach for the blues and purples.
Beyond expressing your feelings, adult coloring books can aid in your ability to identify your feelings, as some people struggle with the task of accurately verbalizing them. Sitting down in front of an uncolored page lets you project your unrealized moods in an act of self-exploration. When the page is done, you can have a clearer idea of your feelings.
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It Serves as a Distraction
Everyone has points when life seems too overwhelming to manage. There are problems at home, problems at work, the car isn’t running well, and the bank account is dwindling.
Rather than taking out your frustrations on others, or seeking out a negative coping skill like a having a drink of alcohol, adult coloring books could be your solution. In this case, the coloring serves as a distraction from stresses of the world around you.
It will be your momentary escape as you delve into the world of the page and disconnect from the worries around you. Of course, any escape should be done in moderation, but when you return, you will have a fresher mind and a new perspective.
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It Aids in Mindfulness
On the other side of the coin from distraction is mindfulness. People who spend their days mindlessly scrolling through their phone or staring at their TV will cultivate a lack of awareness of themselves and their body.
They are not living in the “here and now” as they are far away. Adult coloring is a wonderful opportunity to be grounded in the present.
When you take the colored pencil in your hand, pay close attention to how it feels. Notice how it sounds as it moves across the page that becomes filled with color. Let all of your senses appreciate the task at hand.
As a grounding exercise, adult coloring lets you connect to the present, which reduces stress and builds a better understanding of yourself.
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Coloring Provides a Sense of Accomplishment
What did you accomplish yesterday? What about the day before that?
People thrive on a sense of accomplishment. It helps to foster feelings of power and control in their world. Without accomplishments, people think they are without purpose.
Sure, adult coloring is not the same as finding a cure for cancer, but the attention, concentration, and patience needed to complete an entire page is quite a triumph. If motivation has been a struggle, adult coloring pages might be the needed spark.
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Coloring Connects You to the Past
For many, coloring is an activity connected to their childhood. Whether you did your best coloring at the kitchen table or your second-grade art class, it was a low-stress period of happiness.
Adult coloring can channel pleasant memories from the past through associations like the smell or touch of the tools in your hand. You can use these positive feelings as an opportunity to learn what made those phases in your life so wonderful, and what you can do to replicate some of those same feelings. Just because you are an adult doesn’t mean you always have to act like one.
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Coloring Connects You to Others
You may choose to make adult coloring a solitary activity, but it doesn’t have to be. Many people use coloring as a means to increase their socialization with friends or a way to create new relationships with people previously unknown.
There are many opportunities online to connect with other like-minded individuals. Forums and social media sites are options to share your creations, discuss the benefits of the practice, and exchange tips for the best results.
Many of the same benefits are available in person as local groups meet to color together at a home or an establishment like the community library.
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Coloring Is Risk-Free
If the previous reasons to jump on the adult coloring bandwagon were not convincing enough, consider this: adult coloring is risk-free.
The materials are relatively inexpensive. Many pages can be printed out for free, and coloring books are available online for under $10, or even less than $5.
Although crayons might be the cheapest option, they may not give the control you are looking for in those tight spaces. Choose a reasonably priced set of colored pencils instead with a variety of colors.
For less than $10, you could have a stress-reducing activity established that pays dividends for years to come. It is less physically taxing than yoga and more convenient than weekly therapy appointments.
If you decide adult coloring is not for you, you can walk away at any time, but with a track record of results, you might just stay on the bandwagon.
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