When I was IP there were men happily coloring away. We had quite the group of color-ers this last time.

I have other things I do to keep my hands busy, like knitting and sewing, but when I reach a certain point of agitation/mania coloring is about all I can do to make myself sit still. I don't even really love doing it but I will do it for hours if I am at that point.

I have 3 books. One is a lot of just designs and is best when I have a low ability to focus. I have to work at not making "rules" that I get upset if I mess up, like having 2 reds touching in anyway (I have some OCD tendencies) One is mandalas which is fun but I have trouble with OCD-ishness making me upset if I mess up the patterns I start in it. So if I'm beating myself up a lot with depression/mixed/dyphoric mania I don't do it. Then my mom just got my butterflies which are kind of intricate but nice because it's hard to get into the OCD trap. All of them work when I am not in the right place to knit or sew.