Adventures in Coloring

This week, I decided to try out adult coloring books. No, these are not pornographic outlines ready to be filled in with a Crayola 64 pack. Instead, adult coloring books are intricately detailed black and white images that just happen to be the newest method of relieving stress. Yup, right up there with yoga and meditation, only significantly more fun. So, after class one day when I was feeling particularly bogged down by homework, I put my assignments aside and took out my brand new coloring book. Immediately, my childhood came rushing back to me, but I didn’t feel like a four-year-old. I remembered coloring with my mom and my grandma, my babysitters, my friends, but I was experiencing the act of coloring in a completely different, adult way. It was fantastic. I could feel the stress evaporating from my body.

All week I found myself telling people about my adventures in coloring. I urged them to follow my lead and even considered ripping pages out of my Lost Ocean coloring book to share with friends. But then, in the midst of one of my most spectacular encouragements, my friend warned me of the controversy surrounding adult coloring books. Controversy? I was utterly confused by the thought of it. She explained that many people view adult coloring books as a way to further infantilize adults, especially young adults in the millennial generation. Coloring books are seen as a crutch to keep people closer to their childhood so they take longer to “grow up” and therefore take longer to make “valuable contributions” to the community.

Well, as you can probably tell, I am in complete disagreement with these coloring disbelievers. Our values as a culture are changing. Nothing is as black and white as it was once perceived. Things like gender and sexuality, which were once considered completely binary, are no longer perceived that way. The world is leaning towards acceptance, although it’s a slow tilt, and that has opened up our world to more people and more ideas than ever before. Everything is changing. Why not embrace the change and accept the value of doing something as seemingly simple and creative as coloring? Just because a person takes the time to fill out a page in a coloring book doesn’t mean he or she is not taking the time to contribute to society in a valuable way. In fact, taking the time for ones self that coloring allows could give a person a chance to develop even better ways to contribute by opening up the creative side so many adults don’t have the opportunity to access in their nine-to-five jobs.

I asked my friends why they like to color and not a single one said it reminded them of childhood. One friend said, “I find it incredibly relaxing. Lots of things change, but coloring always feels the same. The important decisions during that time are what page to pick and whether to go with green or purple. It’s so simple!” Another friend said, “I like coloring because it makes me feel artistic when I’m not really.” In a world filled with constant complex choices and structure, why not take a moment to appreciate the simplicity and creativity of a coloring book?