ESCAPE THE MADNESS, ONE COLORED PENCIL AT A TIME

Written by Georgianne Pijttersen

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU NEED TO BE "ON" ALL THE TIME?

You know what we mean right?  Get up, get dressed, brush teeth, take out the dog, look nice (or at least not wear your pajamas), drink a green smoothie (because hey you do take your health serious, right?), feed the dog, scarf down a granola bar, run out the door, forget keys, run back to get keys, almost lock yourself out, rush to your car, drive to work….

At work you have to be competent, proactive but not bitchy, boss like but not bossy, delegate but don't ask too much of your team. On your lunch break, it's a salad at your desk again while you check Facebook…Oh dear, you forgot to say Happy Birthday to Lucy from accounting! You look back down at your salad...oh shoot...you were so hungry you forgot to Instagram your lunch (which is so frustrating because it had the prettiest fresh fruit on it).  You hang your head a little lower now...wait a minute...what's that?  Sigh, forget about looking professional today because you actually did forget to change out of your pajama bottoms this morning. That explains the weird looks you have been getting.  Keeping up with everything is just so exhausting, how do they expect me to manage people when I can't even manage my own life?

OKAY, MAYBE THIS VERSION OF ADULT LIFE IS SLIGHTLY DRAMATIZED...

but I am sure you recognized parts of it.  Now let's hit the pause button a moment, do you remember how you felt when you were a child?  Sure not all childhood memories are super duper unicorns and glitter (I am trying to suppress my memories of doing endless math homework because my dad thought that would whip my brain into logic thinking shape. Which never happened…sorry Pa.)  but there are many memories that were truly magical.  There was the freedom, the carelessness, the weightlessness, the thinking that days could go on for well…days.

AND SUMMER...DON'T FORGET SUMMER

Summer was gorgeous! Summer was about the sun on your skin. It was the visit to the beach and hearing the crunching noise of sand in your teeth, the running after your sibling with a jellyfish that might sting him. (In reality, it was an empty sandwich bag…don’t tell him that.) It was the comparing of sun tans, the staying out late and hoping mom wouldn’t yell “dinner is ready” yet…she always did.  It was playing in the water sprinklers with your dog and running after the ice cream man.  It was opening the pages of a crisp new coloring book. It was wonderful.

I WISH I COULD GO BACK TO MY COLORING DAYS...

I never colored within the lines…I needed to make the My Little Ponies, Care Bears and Barbie more fashionable. They got new handbags, awesome hats, and dresses but that was okay. I was allowed to play. I was allowed to draw whatever the heck I wanted…no rules, no profit, no critiques. Just me, the paper and a bazillion color pencils (which I always seemed to lose). By the end of Summer I only had a yellow pencil and maybe a broken white one.

The point is we as adults need to get back into that way of thinking.  Not the whole time, I mean money needs to be made and pajamas don’t wear themselves but we do need to let go once in a while. Reconnect and regroup. Don't you think it is time to unleash a little "play time" and add some color back into your life? Yes!! We think so too and now you can. Download our a la carte coloring pages and reconnect with your own fun unicorn self.