Make Space for Play Again
Life can get pretty serious sometimes. Responsibilities, routines, expectations and it can feel like there’s no space for play. But what if we changed that?
How can we bring small acts of joy and pleasure into our every day and let our inner children come out to play?
✨ Here’s some examples of how to bring play back into your life but there are so many possibilities:
🌱 Dance Like Nobody’s Watching
Put on your favorite song and dance wildly for one song. Let your body move however it wants, no choreography, just freedom. The weirder the better. Move in ways you never have before. When we move in novel ways this creates new neural pathways, improving coordination, balance, and overall brain function. Breaking habitual movement patterns trains your brain to think in new ways, encouraging more flexible, original thinking.
🌱 Create a Tiny Piece of Art
Doodle, paint a rock, cut up some magazines and create a collage or make a composition by laying out whatever’s on your desk. It doesn't need to be pretty. Leave your perfectionist out of this and create for the sake of your inner child. Allow whatever comes out and leave judgement and self critism outside. It's about how it feels to create not about a beautiful outcome.
🌱 Build a Blanket Fort
Create a cozy space just for you. Or invite a friend over and do it together. We would love it so much if someone did this in their workplace. Have fun hanging out in your beautiful new sanctuary.
🌱 Ask someone to do a swap story with you
Find someone to do a swap story with (maybe you could even be brave and ask the person close by in the cafe). My sister and I would do swap stories a lot as children and they were so joyful. The idea is that you write a sentence or a paragraph and then give the piece of paper to the next person to complete the next line (or paragraph). It's amazing where they can lead and they can just be silly and non-sensical and that's totally ok. Again, let that part of you that wants it to be a masterpiece take a back seat.
🌱 Do a Silly Walk for 30 Seconds (or longer if it feels good and you get pleasure from it)
Make up your own ridiculous walk, moving in a way you maybe never have before. This could be in a public place or somewhere just for you. The exhibitionist in me loves the idea of doing this on a public street in Melbourne. I get fearcitement (fear and excitement) just thinking about it. Even better… dress up for it. It always adds an extra layer of fun.
🌱 Create your own life musical
Narrate what you are doing in Song for 5 Minutes (or whatever time feels good for you). Make your everyday tasks a musical!
What were the things you loved doing as a child?
Go fly a kite, go to the playground and jump on the swing, build a sand castle, have a pillow fight, roll down a hill. You may feel self conscious but do it anyway!
🌸 Why Play Matters:
When we play, we break free from rigidity and reconnect with joy. We let our creativity breathe. We find pockets of wonder in the everyday.