Coloring for Relaxation: A Simple Way to Slow Down This Autumn
There is something about autumn that naturally makes me want to slow down.
The days become shorter. The air is cooler. Evenings begin a little earlier, and suddenly staying home with a warm drink doesn’t feel like doing nothing. It feels exactly like where I want to be.
And lately, I’ve been thinking about one of the simplest ways to spend those quiet moments: coloring.
Yes, coloring.
The thing many of us probably haven’t thought much about since childhood.
No complicated equipment. No need to be artistic. No finished result that needs to be perfect.
Just a coloring book, a few pencils and a little time.
And perhaps that simplicity is exactly why it can feel so good.
Why Coloring Can Feel So Calming
Most of our days are full of decisions.
What needs to be done first? What should we cook? Did we answer that message? What are we forgetting? And why are there suddenly seventeen things open on the phone when we only picked it up to check the weather?
Our minds rarely seem to have nothing to do.
Coloring gives them something very different.
You choose a color.
You fill a small space.
Then another.
That’s it.
For a few minutes, your attention has somewhere simple to go.
Research into adult coloring is still developing, and coloring certainly isn’t a magical solution for stress. But studies have found promising results around coloring, anxiety and wellbeing. Some research suggests that short, regular coloring sessions may help people feel calmer and more focused on the present.
I think the nicest part is that you don’t have to turn it into another thing you are supposed to be good at.
There is no productivity goal here.
You don’t even have to finish the page.
A Small Break From Screens
I spend more time looking at screens than I would like to admit.
Probably most of us do.
We work on them. We read on them. We answer messages on them. And then, when we’re finally finished with everything, we somehow relax by… looking at another screen. 😅
Coloring is one of those little activities that gives my hands something to do without needing a phone.
A coloring book can sit on the table beside a cup of coffee or tea. You can pick it up for ten minutes, color part of a page and put it down again.
No notification.
No scrolling.
No need to check what anyone else is doing.
Just ten quiet minutes.
Sometimes that is enough.
Coloring Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect
I think adults have a funny habit of turning hobbies into projects.
We start baking and suddenly need to make perfect sourdough.
We start gardening and somehow end up researching twenty varieties of tomatoes.
And if we start drawing, we immediately wonder whether we’re any good at drawing.
Coloring doesn’t need any of that.
Choose the orange pumpkin.
Make the leaves red.
Make them blue if you want.
Nobody is grading the page.
You don’t have to frame it.
You don’t even have to show it to anyone.
The point isn’t really the finished picture. It’s those few minutes when your attention is on the page instead of everything waiting outside it.
That, for me, is what makes coloring such a lovely slow-living activity.
Why Autumn Is My Favorite Time for It
Autumn already gives us the best color palette.
Burnt orange, warm brown, mustard yellow, deep red, muted green…
Pumpkins, mushrooms, falling leaves, little cottages, cups of something warm, baskets of apples and all those cozy details that make the season feel like autumn.
So it seemed quite natural to turn some of that feeling into coloring pages.
A rainy afternoon is probably my favorite excuse.
Put the kettle on.
Find a comfortable corner.
Choose a few pencils.
And color for a while without worrying about whether the laundry is still waiting.
It will still be there later. Unfortunately. 😄
My Autumn Coloring Books
I created my autumn coloring books for exactly these kinds of moments.
They are something simple to keep nearby for a quiet afternoon, a slow weekend at home or an evening when you want to do something with your hands instead of automatically reaching for your phone.
If you’d like to have a look, you can find my autumn coloring books on Amazon here:
🍂 Discover my Autumn Coloring Books on Amazon
Affiliate disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. If you buy through my link, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Chez Thao Hoang.
You don’t need an enormous collection of art supplies either.
A simple set of colored pencils is enough.
This isn’t supposed to become another expensive hobby or another thing filling a cupboard.
The idea is the opposite.
Keep it simple.
Try a Ten-Minute Coloring Pause
If you’ve never tried coloring as an adult, don’t start by deciding you’re going to finish an entire book.
Try ten minutes.
Make a cup of tea or coffee.
Put your phone somewhere you can’t automatically pick it up.
Choose one page you like.
Then choose your first color.
Don’t worry about creating the perfect palette. Don’t worry about staying perfectly inside every line.
Just color.
If ten minutes turns into thirty, lovely.
If ten minutes is enough, that’s lovely too.
The point isn’t how much you accomplish.
The point is that, for those ten minutes, you allowed yourself to do something slowly.
Making Ordinary Life a Little Softer
Slow living, at least for me, isn’t about living in a perfectly quiet house, growing everything in the garden and spending every afternoon reading beside a beautiful window.
Real life doesn’t work like that.
There are dishes.
There are emails.
There are appointments.
There are days when dinner is whatever can be put together in fifteen minutes.
Slow living can simply mean noticing the small spaces between all those things and occasionally choosing not to fill every one of them with more noise.
Coloring can be one of those spaces.
So can walking around the garden.
Cooking something slowly.
Writing a recipe down by hand.
Or sitting at the table on an autumn afternoon with a box of colored pencils scattered everywhere.
Nothing extraordinary.
Just an ordinary moment made a little nicer.
And sometimes, that’s enough.
— Chez Thao Hoang
Travel slowly. Cook with love. Grow what you can. Make ordinary life beautiful.
