So, like, is it true that adults are coloring because they are stressed out?

Have you heard? There is this extremely popular here-to-stay trend in the world where adults are coloring like kids. Why are adults coloring? Research states it’s because we are all stressed out.

Which brings me to the song for this post in probably the world’s only soundtrack having blog. So…open whatever music app you prefer and look for “Stressed Out” by Twenty One Pilots. Listen to it on Spotify HERE. <Long Pause> I mean it… go look for it, put your headphones on and crank it up.

I wish I didn’t have to rhyme every time I sang

I was told when I get older all my fears would shrink,

Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol’ days,

When our momma sang us to sleep but now we’re stressed out.

Let me tell you my friends, the bottom line is that life can be stressful. We are grown ups now. We have responsibilities. We need to be parents, husbands, wives, friends, parents, bosses, chauffeurs, team members, leaders, writers, teachers, therapists, and the list goes on and on. We need to be in a good mood and smile when we feel like crap…we need to help others while we are struggling ourselves…we need to be unbreakable when all we want to do is hide in a dark room and sleep for a while…we need to find a way to pay the bills on time when our child care and health insurance costs are rising faster than our income…after a long hard and difficult day we need to be the rock and support for our significant other…and, again, I can go on and on and on.

We didn’t have these issues when we were kids because everything was just, simply, taken care of for us. If we wanted something, we would demand it, get reprimanded for acting so entitled and demanding, then try again by asking nicely using the word “please” and a well-practiced cute and manipulative smile thrown in for good measure. Of course, we didn’t get EVERYTHING we wanted and our parents did not spoil us! If they did, they would have been setting us up for failure later in life and turning us into adult imbeciles, which we are not…right? The bottom line is that real stress doesn’t start until after you are grown up and have hair in all the right places.

We would build a rocket ship and then we’d fly it far away,

Used to dream of outer space but now they’re laughing at our face,

Saying, “wake up, you need to make money.”

If you are like me, you can’t draw worth a damn. I’m no artist in the traditional sense. My daughter draws better than I do, and she’s 7 years old. I’ve given painting a shot and I suppose I’m better at that than sketching because when your canvas looks like garbage, you can call it ‘abstract’ and smile your way out of the embarrassment. But, no matter what the end result is, the process of being creative is incredibly therapeutic. Being creative centers you, lets you focus on what you are doing, helps you tune out distractions, and provides some calm even if just for a little while. It also brings you back to the time when you were a child and not responsible for anything.

But it would remind us of when nothing really mattered,

Out of student loans and treehouse homes we all would take the latter.

Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol’ days,

When our momma sang us to sleep but now we’re stressed out.

Coloring allows you to reenergize and once again be ready for the hammer to start coming down on top of your head…your kid crying loudly because he barely bumped into a wall and is now looking for attention by emulating pain and so now you have to act like it’s no big deal so he doesn’t grow up to be a softie…your boss demanding work to be done at an unreasonable time of the day for an imaginary reason that would make no sense to anybody else on planet earth…or coming home after a 14 hour day and seeing the freaking mess in the kitchen with dishes everywhere and pieces of food on the floor. Man…what the heck am I talking about? Well…coloring is an easy way to light your creative juices without having to be a talented artist. It lets you tune out the world while creating something beautiful and colorful if you take it slow and enjoy the process.

Cooking is a similar therapeutic process. You can follow the guidance of recipes and, by enjoying the process, light up your senses and calmly increase the serotonin levels in your brain. You can give the meal you created to your loved ones and they will OOooo and Aaahhhh over it. After they are done, if they really love you, they will also rub their bellies to accentuate just HOW good that just was and to butter you up and try getting out of washing the dishes (huh…not a chance). Kids probably won’t be as giving saying things like “Eeewwww” “Disgusting” and then shoving it down their throats anyway because they secretly love it and will want to eat it again tomorrow.

Sometimes a certain smell will take me back to when I was young,

How come I’m never able to identify where it’s coming from,

I’d make a candle out of it if I ever found it…

What’s my point? The bottom line is that coloring provides the guidance of a recipe, and it lacks the mess of cooking. You can take the coloring pages you made, or free coloring pages, with you on the plane, in the car, into the bathroom at work, and pretty much anywhere. I mean, it’s not like you can go to the bathroom at work and fire up a portable stove and start making chicken cacciatore while watching a YouTube video with Giada De Laurentiis guiding you along on your phone.

Besides that idea being kind of gross (I would choose the conference room maybe instead of the bathroom), it’s simply just not practical. With adult coloring, and adult coloring books, all you need is a few colored pencils in your pocket or purse, your lap, and the stress starts to melt away.

After you are done, you can give your pages to your loved ones and they will OOooo and Aaahhhh over them just like with your food, but with no cleanup required. You get tranquility, creativity, positive reinforcement from the people you love, simplicity, a healthy escape, and…a break.

Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol’ days,

When our momma sang us to sleep but now we’re stressed out.

Peace to all of you. Till next time!