Episode 20: Dr. Shawn Finch chills out with coloring books

Dr. Finch and I have sat a few times at veterinary conferences and mused over introversion, work and life stress, and mental health. She’s one of the world’s genuinely good people, so when she talked years ago to me about how she used coloring books in veterinary practice to decompress, I was intrigued. 

Now, years later, she needed her friend and veterinary technician colleague, Allison Parker, to talk her back into daily coloring again.  

With the pandemic, “life has gotten more stressful for everybody,” Finch says. 

She loses herself in the coloring, though, so it needs to be solitary: “It’s not often I can do it. … I’ll light a candle, I don’t watch TV. I don’t even usually have music on. 

“It’s really calming, a constant hum, not trying to think about saving lives or sick pets or complicated things. … It’s a simple thing to do instead of all the complex things we do.”  

Listen in as poor Shawn puts up with my endless questions and shares where she is with the practice of putting colors inside the lines today (and she does keep her colors inside the lines). If you haven’t tried coloring again since you were a kid, it’s time you did. 

 

WANT TO KNOW MORE? 

> There was a big adult coloring book craze: “Was it because of me?” asks Shawn, laughing. “I’m so cool, and everybody else wanted to be cool?” It started here, petered out, and now … where did it go? (“Maybe everyone’s still secretly coloring!” she says.) 

> Want to get into coloring books? Don’t start with a big buy, Dr. Finch says. She recommends printing a page or two off the internet (she makes sure the art she uses is free for printing) and using whatever coloring implements you have around the home. Want a sample page? We made one at Vetted magazine years ago. Want more? Try here or here or here. Once you know you love it, then go crazy. 

> Dr. Finch rocks Sharpies of all colors. But, y’know, there are crayons and pencils, too, for y’all if markers feel too intense. 

> Yes, the thumbnail is Shawn's picture. It's great.