Kids do some of the darndest things, but some of it can be beneficial later down the road.

An adult coloring program in today’s lifestyle feature got me thinking about how a simple activity like coloring could provide insight into what a person enjoys in life and might even foreshadow what they choose to do for a living.

Previously, I did not know how coloring positively affects how children learn to read and write. When I was a kid, I simply thought it was a progressive way to keep me quiet. Though it might have been successful, for a moment, coloring does much more than keeping your hands busy. It builds hand-eye coordination and allows children the freedom of imagination.

Everyone is different and enjoys a wide variety of activities, even during their adolescent years. Art is a great way to express a love for those hobbies, while throwing some unique and personal twists into it.

After thinking about how coloring could influence one’s life, I began to think back to my experiences with coloring.

During art class, I would draw football fields filled with stick figures and soccer balls soaring into an open net. I can remember pondering how I would look when I became a “professional soccer player” and trying to put that image on paper. Of course it never came out exactly as I imagined, but the process of coloring was a hint as to why I became a sports writer. My brother would draw the most creative and colorful images full of detail and abstract backgrounds. It’s no surprise that he soon became a professional artist.

Now that I am older, I can appreciate coloring and the mindless venue it provides for self expression. It’s a great way for adults to relax and get their minds off of the grown up world to experience a flashback into the carefree childhood mindset.

A lot of people correlate “growing up” with losing their imagination, but your imagination never stops. Finding that spark as an adult could open doors you never knew were there and discover things you might not have known about yourself.

So pick up a crayon and start coloring; who knows what will come next.