We’ve had a lot going on lately. They’re all champagne problems as Tom would say – tons of coordination around our upcoming move out of our apartment and into our new home, planning for our trip to England and Italy in August and figuring out where we will live for the few nights on either side when we will be out of the city but not yet in the suburbs, dealing with an ongoing broken shower in our apartment etc. So, I’ve been looking for new ways to relax, and I found such a great one.
Coloring!! (I think it’s actually supposed to be called adult coloring, but we’ll just go with coloring here.) It’s a trend that has taken off in recent months, and the ongoing list of benefits it can provide is pretty great – it’s a calming tool that relaxes the part of the brain that controls our fight or flight response, which keeps you in a heightened state of worry and panic when active. It can be especially helpful to those prone to OCD and anxiety (like yours truly), and is actually prescribed by many psychologists as it helps patients focus on the intricate act of coloring detailed pictures as opposed to focusing on negative thoughts.
Tom recently bought me this book and these pencils, and I’m hooked.
From the Washington Post: ‘Coloring has a “grounding effect”… a benefit that can be amplified with deliberate focus on the process — “the gentle pressing of the crayon or pencil on the page, the texture of the paper across your hand, and the soft sounds of the coloring instrument moving back and forth in a rhythmic fashion.”’
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