Hi! My name is Davina

and I am 17 years old. Drawing and painting have always been a passion of mine. I loved creating pieces that were my own and I was proud of myself for taking on challenging projects that were outside of my comfort zone. It wasn’t until last year when I started to use art not only for pride and enjoyment, but to help myself feel less anxious and stressed out.

Although the discussion of mental health is growing, the topic is not as frequently talked about with children, who have arguably faced the worst of the social impacts that COVID-19 has caused. I have a little sister, Lauren, who did her entire 3rd year of elementary school online. During this time, I have witnessed frequent tantrums, difficulties focusing, short-temperedness, and an overall hard time controlling her emotions. I saw that not only was Lauren stressed about school and missing her friends, but she was also visibly frustrated that she was not understanding what she was feeling and why she was feeling them.

See, I am currently writing this coloring book during a global pandemic. Necessary precautions to protect our physical health have interrupted our social lives and have taken a serious impact on our emotional well-being. Without being able to see friends at school, being unsure of what our futures hold, and feeling loss, we have all been facing social, academic, and emotional struggles daily. This has sparked a widespread and honest conversation of mental health that is more important than ever. Many of us have started to prioritize our own mental health and taken the steps to cope with our feelings.

Let’s briefly go back to art. While I was experiencing my own anxiety and stress, I found that drawing and painting made me feel good. Since March of 2020, I have filled entire notebooks of random drawings and sketches because I felt my anxiousness lessen and my stress reduce when expressing myself artistically. My passion for art had grown from a hobby to a coping strategy. When Lauren started to join me in my drawing and painting sessions, I saw a gradual and overall improvement in her mental health as well. I noticed less irritations and tantrums, and more feelings of general happiness.

Hopefully after reading this you now understand the purpose of this book. You may have already noticed that many of the characters (who I can’t wait for you to meet) are lacking a little... color. That is because this is a coloring book! Through this book, you will learn about my friends Sofie, Alex, Faith, and Henry, the daily emotions you experience, and what they can tell you about yourself and the environment you are in. At the same time, you will find that coloring and drawing are great tools to help control your feelings and feel better. It is important to remember that you can have control of your emotions, and my hope is that by the end of this book you will know why.

A big thank you to Polygence and mentor Taylor West, who have helped me immensely in developing this idea into a real coloring book. I have learned so much about the writing process as well as the large and ever expanding field of psychology.