What Keeps Me Cool as a Chameleon

As someone who has varying bouts of anxiety, I'm always looking for something that will ease my nerves—especially for those trying times when stressors line the hallways of my mind. Coping mechanisms can be hard to find, but with trial and error you can come away with a lot of different hobbies that will bring you both joy and comfort.

When the pandemic induced state-wide lockdowns and restrictions, I had to turn to my "toolkit" for things that would distract me from the news and the state of the world at large. Brains are hard to shut off with stimuli coming from every angle, but I tried to find things that soothed me and took me far away from the things that bothered me or set me off as far as anxiety spells.

"Free time" has meant more to me when it comes to these activities, and I know all of them will be familiar to you—yet they worked for me and made my life feel a whole lot less stressful. Maybe they can help you too!

5. Coloring Books

I'm not an especially artsy person. While art is something that calms me and brings me a sense of satisfaction, I'm hardly someone who's creating masterpieces in her free time.

Enter the coloring book. Once left only to the bygone classrooms of kindergarten or elementary daycare, coloring books have had a resurgence over the past few years—especially for the adult crowd who should be "too old" to color. Blasphemy, I say!

The nice thing about coloring is that, if you get into a zone, you can really leave your troubles away from the page and just focus on the "vision" of what you want to see in the finished image emblazoned with color. And there are so many varieties too: themed coloring books make it easy for you to pick a favorite niche you want to explore. The above coloring page, brought to vivid life by yours truly, is from a Gothic-inspired coloring book by the artist Selina Fenech.

I may not be able to create elaborate drawings with all manner of detail, but coloring someone else's creation really helps me add my own personal flair into the mix. You don't have to be great at color theory or blending techniques either: just take the image and give your own interpretation of the beauty waiting to unfurl.

4. Sketching

I say I'm not an artist, yet I've been drawing on and off since I was in the second grade. I still remember trying to draw the main characters from the anime Sailor Moon because I just loved the aesthetics of the show.

But later in life, probably in high school, I devoted more time to sketching out my own characters ("OC's," as they're affectionally called in fandom spaces) who populated the rooms of my imagination. No, I was never going to go into design, animation, or comics, but I loved bringing to life these new beings who were as simple or complex as my artistic ability could make them.

Sketching brings me back to a simpler time when I was just a kid who didn't have to worry about work shifts, income, or the responsibilities that come as you grow older. With a blank page and a pencil, I am the master of my own universe and can wield some power that way. Sure, someone could walk up and say, "Your art sucks," but at the end of the day? It wouldn't matter. I draw for myself, not an audience to impress.

And when you find something that makes you forget the opinions of the world, you need to embrace that thing and hold on tight. Such passions are rare, like shooting stars across the sky, and they need to be protected by the dreaded naysayers of Real Life.

3. Reading

I have a book problem, though I suspect there are more people out there who have this ailment than just me. Reading is a glorious thing—each story can be made into a cinematic film all in the confines of your own mind—but I also feel calm when I'm looking at my shelves filled to the seams with books.

Though I've fallen off the wagon with reading novels, I do read a lot of manga (Japanese comic books). Last year alone I read around 700 volumes scattered across my shelves and my Kindle library. (What can I say? The pandemic left me with a lot of reading time in 2020.) When I'm reading, my brain relaxes into almost a trance as I flip through and absorb the story playing out across pages and pages.

And, as an added bonus, reading helps me refill my "creative well" for my own stories. I've long noticed that, if I'm not reading anything, my productivity with my own writing plummets. Reading isn't only just a way to take the edge off my frenetic thoughts; it's also a lifeline that helps me build my own worlds and characters. Art is not created in a vacuum.

If there's one thing I've learned, it's that reading is probably one of the most natural ways for our minds to decompress a bit. I mean, sure, you could just turn on the latest superhero flick to grace a streaming service near you—but there's some satisfaction in trying to imagine a book shot for shot in your head. The brain is capable of wondrous things indeed. And the imagination is anyone's superpower to wield.

2. Listening to Music

I probably turn to music more than anything else when I'm feeling stressed. You would think the noise might bother me or trigger something in my synapses, but no: music helps keep me centered when almost everything else fails.

Though I often focus on one song by having it on repeat, I do sometimes rev up a playlist if I'm looking to get into more of a "zone" (especially for writing purposes). The beauty of music is that there's a song for every emotion out there. You can make a playlist full of sad songs if you're in a melancholic mood, or you can find a dance party playlist if you just want to get some energy and movement going.

But what really gets to me are the lyrics of the songs I listen to: they often ring with universal truths that make a light go on in my head to make me say, "Oh, yes, I understand that feeling so well." And then I also feel less alone that way.

Music brings people together—though I know that sounds like such a cliché—and I don't know what I'd do without the technology that allows me to hear anything from opera to jazz to Broadway musical numbers whenever I please. Small first-world miracles, I guess?

1. Freewriting

You knew writing was going to be on this list in some form. But, to be honest, structured writing—planned out with notes and outlines of all lengths—stresses me out to no end. I am always afraid of taking that next step, going down that pathway for a scene I'm dreading, or just describing a place I've never even seen myself (doubly hard if you're making up your own world as you go along).

But freewriting—just jotting down things in a set amount of time—is exactly what it promises: it's freeing. You can write down any blather you want, any ideas that come to mind, and no one has to see it but you. The joy of it is that it's a lot like crafting with clay and just trying to mold that clay into shapes that delight and astound.

My freewriting exercises are pretty loose as far as "rules" go. I usually take a page and go with the flow of my thoughts; there can be lists, character descriptions, dialogue scraps, or portions of scenes that may be expanded later in another form. Sometimes I just drop a character into a space and see what he/she will do in that setting.

The end results may not always be pretty, but freewriting is more of a creative exercise than anything else. Also, the practice can help if you're struggling to get into a writing project you've been working on; freewriting can act as almost a "warm-up" before the "serious" writing commences.

For me, freewriting is what saves me as a writer. The doubt will start to flare up—"Oh, no, I'm never going to have a story idea again"—but the act of freewriting tells me that there are still things I can discover as a writer.

And the nasty inner critic? She always sits out when I'm freewriting.

Do you want to be as cool as a chameleon too?

Then I recommend you try out one of the above tools and see if anything helps ease the anxiety running through your mind. While they may be personally tailored to suit my needs and shortcomings, maybe you can adapt something for your own skillset and self-care.

As for me? I think I'm going to load up Spotify and take a break with some freewriting. It's my treat after writing this list for you all to peruse at your leisure.

Stress? What stress? I think you've got the wrong number.

Now it's time to go chill, thank you very much.