Unleashing My Inner Child

My anxiety reached its all time low when I was in 8th grade. I was not functioning properly. I could not focus. My grades were slipping. I was lashing out on people.  I was irritable, and quite frankly I was a huge mess.  This was the first time I honestly realized I was different. It's when I was put on my medication to help manage my symptoms, and it's when I first started realizing that my anxiety caused consequences in my life (I was not too happy when my mom took away my computer privileges at the time, but I now realize that it was so I could focus on bettering myself).

Eighth grade was also when I met my fabulous resource room teacher Ms. McLeod. She was fabulous and she would let me sit in her classroom if I needed to cool down. She also introduced me to what she called 'Color Therapy', to help me relax if I needed to. She would make birthday cards for all the students on my team and she let me and a few other students color them with markers and crayons if we needed a break. Looking back, it truly did help, but I didn't think much of it at that point. 

Fast forward to college. I was looking around Barnes & Noble after Christmastime and I found an intricate coloring book called "My Wonderful World of Fashion." I ended up buying it and buying a 24 pack of Crayola colored pencils and I spent hours on it. 

At both those points, I didn't realize how much of a trend adult coloring would become. I was excited when I saw coloring books popping up everywhere and that I was finding beautiful drawings on Pinterest. I was excited to find adult coloring groups on Facebook where people from all over the world shared techniques and their artwork. 

I have found immense joy in my coloring. It makes me proud whenever I master a new technique. It helps me gain confidence when I share my work with other people (to the point I now enter coloring contests geared toward adults). I love discovering new mediums and experimenting with them.. For example: Did you know if you put eye shadow on a cotton swab, you could use it to make a really pretty shadowing effect? Or if you dip a cotton swab in baby oil or petroleum jelly, it helps blend your colored pencils and it intensifies the color? 

I was at a pretty low point recently with my mental health, and adult coloring has helped me focus and ground myself. It helps my anxiety and it has been helping me regain my confidence after a tough blow to it. I am proud to call myself an Adult Colorist.