watch live
Culture

Here's How To Explain Your New Coloring Book Hobby

Since coloring books for adults are bestsellers on Amazon, here are a few ways to explain your new hobby to friends and co-workers.

Here's How To Explain Your New Coloring Book Hobby
laffy4k / CC BY 2.0
By Christian Bryant
SMS
August 22, 2015

Are you an adult? Do you work a stressful job? Are you having trouble finding ways to relieve that stress? Well why don't you try coloring! 

Yes, the mindless task from your childhood is having a very mature moment. 

It's hard to say exactly how the interest exploded, but two of the top ten best selling books on Amazon are coloring books marketed to adults. 

But just because publishers are moving coloring books like hotcakes doesn't mean you won't get clowned if you whip out your colored pencils or crayons for a quick session. So here's how you, a functioning adult, can explain your new hobby. (Video via BBC) 

First off, tell the haters coloring totally helps you chill, bro. Mainly because of how it affects your amygdala. 

"It's a centering activity, the amygdala, which is the part of the brain that helps with the fear response, actually gets a little bit of a rest and it ultimately really has a calming effect over time," clinical psychologist Ben Michaelis told Fox News. 

That was one of the reasons renowned Swiss psychologist Carl Jung had his patients color. And if it's good enough for Carl Jung and his patients, it's good enough for you. 

Secondly, coloring isn't just something you do by yourself when you're feeling a little tense. Right now, there are adults all over the world planning a coloring meetup for fun. I know this because of coloring.meetup.org. 

Coloring can be a social activity. Grown ups ages 18 to infinity are meeting up in no-shame circles to talk shop and color inside the lines. Think paint-and-sip studios without half the mess. (Video via ABC) 

And it's relatively inexpensive. Coloring is the cheap date of childhood-to-adulthood activities, coming in second behind make believe. We all remember that game. (Video via The List) 

Finally, the end result. If you're an adult without children, use your finished pieces to decorate your naked fridge door — like so. Better than bills and to-do lists, am I right? 

This video includes images from Getty Images and laffy4k / CC BY 2.0 and music from Josh Woodward  / CC BY 3.0 and "There For Ya" / Birocratic / CC BY 4.0.