When it comes to hobbies to help me relax in life, I enjoy walking, reading, crochet, and photography, but I must admit the pastime that feels most like play to me has to be colouring-in. Everything else can potentially be bracketed under ‘responsible adulting’ – walking is good for my health, reading broadens my mind, crochet creates a useful end product, and photography has a technical element and of course the end results can be kept for posterity to be shown and shared with others.
But colouring-in remains something left over from childhood that is done purely for fun, done for no other reason than because I enjoy it! It is not a means to an end but instead is an end in itself. I find I easily become absorbed in the process of choosing a medium and colours and designs, and apart from the few I photograph to share on my blog the majority of my completed colouring-in sits squirrelled away in closed books in a closed cupboard, effectively for my eyes only. It’s my secret stash of indulgent escapism, page upon page of playing just for the sake of it, and I absolutely love it 🙂
