I know first-hand how difficult it is to prioritize time for yourself. There is always something ‘more important’ that needs to get done. But your mental health is even more important! When we get tired, overwhelmed and burned-out our mental health suffers and that directly impacts how we handle stress and how we cope (or not) with our family and loved ones.
One quote that I always refer to is: Resting your body takes time, resting the mind takes discipline!
To rest the body, you just need to get enough sleep, but to rest the brain you need to actively make time for an activity that will help your mind unwind. Time for colouring, or any creative activity for that matter, is not magically going to appear in your schedule. Nope, you have to make the time!
If you already have a creative activity that you enjoy but never seem to have time for, it’s as easy as scheduling some much-needed time and my 5 tips for making time to colour will help you do just that.
But if you are new to any type of creative activity, colouring is a great way to get started and it is easy to do, it uses very basic supplies and can be done in a short amount of time. My free mini colouring workshop is a great introduction into the world of colouring. In this workshop I teach you the importance of nurturing creativity and my 10-minute colouring technique.
Changing or adding to your daily routine takes time and some trial and error, but persevere and try a few of my tips and see what will work for your schedule.
5 Tips for making time to colour:
Have your supplies handy
Have a colouring book or printed pictures and a set of colouring pencils ready. This will prevent you from running around looking for your supplies when you want to colour. Sign up for my newsletter to get a free set of post cards to print and colour.
Involve the kids (or not)
From experience I know that if I sit down to colour my kid is suddenly utterly bored and wants to do what I am doing. No worries, he has his set of pencils and I have pictures ready for him to colour (yay me for pre-planning!). When Mr colours with me I know I have about 5-7 minutes of peace and quiet. Side note – it did not start out that way, we had to work him up to 5 minutes of quiet colouring. Involving the kids also teaches them the importance of nurturing creativity.
Unplug from distractions
Put the phone down! (you’ll be ok without FB and IG for 10 minutes) You will benefit more from mindful colouring for 10 minutes than mindless scrolling on the socials. Refrain from listing to podcasts, radio or tv while you colour. To keep yourself mindful and in the moment it’s best to remove outside stimuli and rather keep your focus on what you are doing. Your colouring session will not be beneficial if your hands are on auto-pilot and your brain is occupied with something else.
Take it outdoors
Pack a picnic blanket, your colouring supplies and snacks for everyone and visit a park, the beach or even just your garden. I often colour when we go to the park or the river. Kids tend to be more relaxed outdoors and often find things to distract them for at least 10 minutes.
Colour in the car
Sitting outside piano, ballet or karate? Classes are normally around an hour. Commit to a short 10-minute colouring session to relax and revive your brain. Get your colouring done first and then you can check your email.
It’s about finding little pockets of time. When you start prioritizing yourself and your creative time you will start to find more and more pockets of time that can be used for creative activities.
But you need to have your supplies ready to go. I’ll share more tips on this in a follow up blog post. Keep an eye out for my newsletter.
I’ll end with one of my favourite quotes: When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life – Jean Shinoda Bolen
Have a fabulous day,
Theresa