"What do you call that?" Mrs P, my second class teacher bellowed at me, as she lent over my work, her silver snake bangle banging on my desk.

I tried so hard not to cry and said it was my colouring-in.

She then marched me down to the kindergarten class where she told the class I should stay there until I could learn how to colour in like someone in second class.

I can still here the laughter of the kindergarten students mocking me. How I wished I could colour in neatly. I tried so hard to be like my friend Belinda whose work was always neat and whose colouring in always perfect.

Somehow my coloured pencils, (not Derwents like Belinda's ), had a mind of their own and always messed up my colouring-in by forcing my hand to colour outside the lines.

I felt so humiliated that day, not only did I have to spend all day in kindergarten, I had to spend lunch time with them too where I was bullied by 5 year olds jeering - "You are a baby, you can't colour in!"

So fast forward 50 years, imagine my surprise that the latest publishing fad is colouring books for adults to promote calmness and mindfulness.

As you can imagine colouring-in is still stressful for me so the thought of using it as a way to destress really confused me.

Some people do find colouring in very therapeutic and research shows it does help people to zone out and relax.

One customer (I saw the trend and stocked up with adult colouring books) was going into hospital where she found colouring-in helped her to cope with all the waiting and the stress.

There is a theory too that as adults we want to go back to a child-like activity because we find it reassuring.

I assume that most people reading this will find colouring-in relaxing and maybe I am the only one who finds colouring-in brings back memories of inadequacy.

Is there anything you find relaxing but stressful too?

Leah

A Moodscope Member.