When you hear coloring, you brush your shoulder and ask what’s that? I get! What used to be known as a simple, fun activity for kids now is a tool for practicing good mental health.

Coloring is a healthy way you can use to relieve stress. It will induce calmness in your brain and relax your body.

A lot of benefits are attached to it!

Although coloring isn’t the ultimate cure for stress and anxiety, sitting down for a long coloring session holds great value giving you the relief you need. Just that the stress relief, you feel is mostly mental.

Observing coloring time is now popular among adults. There are lots and lots of coloring books for adults to practice with. The only difference between children’s coloring books and adult coloring books is in the content. They feature cartoon characters and simple designs on children’s coloring pages while adult coloring books have intricate patterns of flowers, mandalas, artworks, or animals.

You can buy the books or you can print free coloring pages online. And if you prefer a digital version of coloring pages, there are many coloring apps available for mobile devices with free and premium options.

Some of the apps that offer both premium and free digital coloring pages are Happy Color, Chroma, Pigment, Coloring book, Paint.ly, etc. The only downside is that you’ll be glued to the screen, which too will cause your eyes to strain adding to your stress. For an effective result, I will recommend you stick to the traditional coloring style.

Before we continue. here are a few posts about stress management that can help you improve your mood, you don’t want to miss;

How coloring can help you relieve stress and improve your mood

Through mindfulness

Yes! coloring can help you practice mindfulness. Mindfulness is the ability to focus and stay in the moment while enjoying it.

When you’re focusing on color choice and staying inside the lines, you’re only thinking about the present moment and what you want to achieve with the colors. It’ll allow you to shut off the noise around you, and give your mind the gift of focusing on the sensations and emotions of your present moment.

Don’t have any expectations while performing the task, just be in the moment.

Your mind may wander about, which is normal, and gently return to what you are experiencing at the moment. And while coloring, you can use the parts of your brain that enhance focus and concentration. It gives you the opportunity to disconnect from stressful thoughts.

Embracing the imperfect

You don’t need to be artistic to start coloring because there’s no right or wrong way to color. Take your time, and allow some mistakes, you‘re not competing for a trophy. So don’t pressure yourself to “level up,” win a prize or beat the clock.

You can color a single page as many times as you wish and for as long or as little time as you want. Or you don’t need to finish a picture in one sitting? No rush dear, not at all!

Embrace the imperfect by letting go of judgments or expectations of any kind and enjoy the simple beauty of coloring.

So it doesn’t matter if your picture is neat or messy, or if you chose the right or wrong color. The only thing that matters is to enjoy every moment and whether you find coloring relaxing and calming.

Do you want to see the magic?

I have a combined free floral coloring of 30 pages just for you. Download it!

If you are just getting started, a few essentials you will be needing to start coloring include- a set of coloring pencils and extenders, a good sharpener, good blenders, a set of markers, and a good eraser.

Our free De-stress Coloring Pages will help you reconnect your mind with nature, so you can feel more calm and relaxed. Trust me, you need this! I recommend you pick a page to color per day, or at leisure.

Other ways to relieve stress

If you don’t find coloring to be relaxing or enjoyable, or if you’re not into colors. That’s OK. There are other fun ways with consistency that will help you reduce stress, and give you almost instant relief. I’ll recommend these activities:

Spend time with a pet.
Are you a lover of pets? It’s no secret that pets make us happy. They give us unconditional love, they are always happy to see us and play with us and they’re so adorable. So I recommend you spare some time and spend some quality time with a pet. And if you don’t have a pet of your own, you can volunteer at any animal shelter near you.
Read a book
Reading just like coloring is a great way to wind down. It’ll help you lose yourself in the moment and forget about whatever might be your worry.
Massage your earlobes.
Holding my earlobes and gently massaging them, helps me fall asleep. The pressure points in your earlobes bring on a calming, relaxing sensation over your body. Try massaging your earlobes for a few minutes, and you may start to feel some relief.
Take a deep breath.
Taking a deep breath is always my quickie relief kit. Always take a deep breath, it’s a great way to reduce your body’s response to stress. Breathe in through your nose for five seconds and hold for two seconds. Then release your breath through your mouth for five seconds.

How Coloring Can Help You Reduce Stress