It all starts here: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/johnbeckett/2017/01/divination-coloring-book-preview-2017.html

I, too, am a fan of adult coloring books. I'm working through The Secret Garden, although, only while watching Arrow, and I've ordered the Buffy the Vampire Slayer one through Amazon. It should be released this month.

I don't actively choose what color to put where. I have a cheap box of Target Koobi colored pencils and I dump them all out on the bed and let the colors come to me.

Beckett writes, "In 2017, we're going to meet the monsters. What will we do when we meet them?

. . . . .

"If your thought is to rescue them, then I suggest you think again. Perhaps the Brides of Dracula are in a queer/poly/kinky four-part family that works very nicely for them, thankyouverymuch. Their story was written by their enemies - you might want to hear their side of things. Perhaps the human servants of Dracula have lived in the Carpathian Mountains for so many generations that the idea of being "rescued" to London sounds like kidnapping and torture to them. And maybe they're grownup individuals who neither want nor need your help."

That last sentence struck me. Maybe, they are grown-up individuals who neither want nor need my help. I like to think of myself as a charitable person. A person who helps others. I give cash to the men on the side of the road, the ones who hold signs: "Need Help." I started a business with the intent of being able to help my friend without her feeling like it was a handout. I took care of my mother for six years while she had terminal cancer and I took care of my father, as much as he would allow, while he was slowly dying between heart attacks. I help animals on the side of the road. I give advice. I have been struggling with a friendship in which my friend likes to complain to me about how much her life sucks and I made up a plan in which she could solve her problems and she has not taken me up on my generosity (to use my storage locker) or made any changes that I suggested. I have taken that as her choice to not change her life, to live within her misery. Yes, no maybes about it, she gets to make choices about changing or not changing her life and her happiness/misery.

One of my watch-phrases for 2017 is "Give birth to my own power."

Maybe they are grown-up individuals who neither want nor need my help.

I have been taking other people's power away. Those people are all grown-up individuals - they have the power to change their own lives. Me attempting to do it for them doesn't help them own their power. If anything, it makes them feel more powerless, doesn't it? When I say to my friend, "here is how to fix your life," she hears "Jennifer could fix my life; what's wrong with me?"

I, too, have felt powerless. My problems have always been fixed for me, by loving and gracious parents who came to the game handicapped by their own experiences. What else were they to do with a child who was incredibly intelligent . . . and had mental health issues? I have been taken care of so long, that I have trouble believing that I know what's best for me, that I have the resourcefulness and the sound judgment to be able to take care of myself.

It seems somehow wrong to say that, in 2017, I will not help another person. That sounds Scroogish, doesn't it? But I think that is where I have to go with this. I will witness others' struggles; I will cheer them on. I will be the voice of empathy - Yes, I see that you are struggling. I see the efforts that you are making. No, I cannot fix this for you. I love you. I see the light of humanity within you. No, I cannot fix this for you. You have the power to change your life. You, alone. I will not compound the problem by making you feel powerless.