Carla Strating

I am 68, although I think someone snuck a few extras in there on me! I live in a "small" town (not quite 10K people) in SE Wisconsin, USA. I married my soulmate in 1971. We have one daughter who is married and has a grown son and two dogs. We have two cats. About 20 years ago, I was diagnosed with a very stubborn form of depression and also anxiety. I started coloring a few years ago after our daughter gave me a coloring book and supplies as a Christmas present. It took me a while to get started. But once I did.... well, here I am after being a member of Favoreads for at least two years - so far. I found that for me, coloring is a great stress reliever. It gives me something to focus on, stops the circular thinking going on in my head and surprisingly, has made me feel a lot better about myself. Once I got into it, it didn't take me long to figure out that I really needed an area where I could keep all of my supplies together and easily within reach. I bought a small desk and started collecting various containers to keep different brands of coloring tools in. I keep a laptop handy to play music on while I'm coloring. The area is well lit and it's just my space. I even found a sign to hang on the wall above it that just reads "Happy Place". And that is what it is - my happy place. It's the place I can go to get away from stress of any kind. I love everything about Favoreads.