In 2013, my older sister bought herself an adult coloring book. Titled, “Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt and Coloring Book,” the book was only black lines and swirls– the outlines of flowers, butterflies and small forest animals waiting to be colored in. The book sold over two million copies (and I’m sure Crayola had a spike in business too).
A lot of people were surprised at the sale numbers and the new booming genre of adult coloring books. Adult coloring books soon became a staple in Yankee Swaps as well as go-to birthday presents for friends you don’t know too well. Why, suddenly, did everyone want a coloring book?
It probably has something to do with the fact that no one wants to believe their childhood is completely over.
Most adults miss the simplicity of being a kid. Instead of playing outside for hours on end, we run on a treadmill for twenty minutes. Instead of emptying piggy-banks for a trip to Claire’s, we try not to empty our bank accounts through online shopping. Instead of complaining about naps, we daydream about more sleep. Instead of tea-parties and dressing up, we drink coffee in sweatpants, trying to stay awake while writing term papers. We lose a lot of our favorite childhood as we transition in to adulthood.
While most of the transition in to adulthood is unavoidable, that doesn't mean that we need to lose all of the fun. We can still let our inner-child come out once in a while. That’s the reason for cartoons in news papers, the reason for adult kickball and dodgeball leagues, and the reason we all still dress up for Halloween.
Adults have taken up skilled crafts like knitting, needlepoint, crocheting and quilting as they reach older age. Unlike those crafts, however, coloring doesn’t require much skill, except for some sort of knowledge about what colors go well together. Coloring doesn’t require the investment in time that other crafts do, nor does it require the same investment in materials. Finally, unlike these more difficult crafts, coloring in these books is advertised as stress-relieving.
Coloring in empty spaces is simple and controlled, allowing for mindless creativity. Putting pen to paper, rather than using a finger on a tablet, a smartphone, or the paint tool on Microsoft paint (lol throwback), is therapeutic. There’s something refreshing about unplugging to do something mindless. There's something exciting about creating rather than consuming.
Though we no longer have recess, Lunchables, or make-believe friends, we still have some opportunities to get creative and let our inner-child out. While this isn’t a sponsored post and isn't a plug for every young adult to buy a coloring book and spend hours at a time curating a pastel mosaic, I really do think that everyone should make time to use their creative side. If that, for you, happens while coloring, all the more power to you.
