I have a bit of a hyperfixation problem, and every time I find myself with a new hobby, I think, "I should really document this somehow", so this is me, documenting it somehow.
Hyperfixation of the (undetermined but probably short amount of time) is adult coloring books!
So here's what happened:
For a long time now I've been fascinated by the Yoto Player, which is essentially a little speaker for kids that has cards you put into it to make it play different audio books. I've always wanted one, even though I'm an adult who can just use any audiobook platform and listen to audiobooks on my phone, but still, there is just something very appealing about it being screen-free and having those little cards to pick from.
So I bought one.
And then I got to thinking that I really needed a hobby to do while listening to my new Yoto Player, and I did some searching, and adult coloring books kept coming up.
Now I've been hesitant in the past about adult coloring books. I remember when they first became popular thinking they were too hard and the spaces were too small for me to use my crayons, so I wasn't interested. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE coloring and always have, but I've been using my Crayola crayons in kids coloring books very happily for my entire life.
But despite my past resistance, here are a few reasons why I think adult coloring books will be a good hobby choice.
1. I've been trying to work on my focus this year so far, and while I love kids coloring pages, they only take a few minutes to complete. I think it will be really good for my ability to focus to have projects that take a little bit longer to complete and I maybe don't even finish in one sitting.
2. Another thing I've been working on recently is creating without expectation, or really doing anything at all without expectation. I have a tendency to get too bogged down by the details of something and making sure it's just right, which makes creating very challenging, so I've been trying to let go of that because creating in any capacity is really good for my anxiety.
(To be clear, adult coloring is actually a for real art form apparently, like check out this video by Fesselfee88 on YouTube and Instagram to see what I mean, but my intention is not to create masterpieces, but rather just to add color to cool drawings.)
3. One can collect art supplies and coloring books, and anything where I can collect stuff is a promising hobby in my book.
So I did what I always do when beginning a new hobby and turned to YouTube for advice on what to buy, and then Amazon to buy it.
I will write more about the things I bought once they arrive, but for now while I was waiting, I decided to get a head start with supplies I already had at home. I pulled out my box of 12 washable markers and my box of 64 mini colored pencils, (and left my crayons in their bowl to give other mediums a chance to shine), and I googled "free printable adult coloring pages" and picked out a few to try my hand at.
Stay tuned to see how long this hyperfixation lasts, but it seems promising!
