“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”
- George Bernard Shaw
Somewhere between childhood and adulthood, our work and family commitments become central to our lives and our playtime comes to a halt. Our lives become hectic and serious and when we finally find that time for leisure, it’s likely in front of the TV or computer. As adults, we aren’t usually opting for the same sort of fun and rejuvenating play that we experienced as children.
But this is where we go wrong – play is also essential for adults. Adult play is an important source of relaxation and stimulation. It’s the time to forget about work and commitments and navigate the world in an unstructured, creative way. It’s a way to fuel our imagination, problem-solving abilities, and emotional well-being.
Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way, dives deeper into this concept by suggesting that adults set up a calendar with assigned playtime every month. She calls this assigned play an artist date – a scheduled time that’s devoted to fueling our creative self. Artist dates should preferably be done solo. These dates might involve activities like walking through an art supply store, visiting a museum, listening to music in nature, swimming in the sea – anything you find creative and enjoyable. Cameron suggests that we aim for at least one artist date scheduled per week, but realistically, even one artist date per month will suffice.
Artist dates feed your artist soul. Don’t forget - you must refill your cup to pour into the cups of others. When you carve out time for self-exploration and self-care on artist dates, you heighten and renew your creativity. In doing so, you refill your cup so that you can effectively share your creative energy to fuel the lives of others.
Below, we’ve outlined just a few out of the multitude of benefits of play that exist (x). Play helps…
- Relieve Stress: Play triggers the release of endorphins, one of your body’s natural feel-good chemicals (read more about our happiness chemicals on Shraddha’s blog here)
- Improve Brain Function: When play is stimulating (ex. playing chess, completing puzzles or other activities that challenge the brain), you actively prevent future memory problems and improve everyday brain function.
- Stimulate the Mind: Just like young children learn best when playing, adult learning follows the same principle. When you’re relaxed and playing, you liberate your imagination and creativity so you’re better equipped to solve problems and tackle the task at hand.
- Improve Relationships: Play doesn’t have to include a specific activity; it can also be a state of mind. Developing a playful nature will help you loosen up in stressful situations, break the ice with strangers, form new friendships, and deepen the compassion, trust, and intimacy of existing relationships.
- Keep You Feeling Young: When you immerse yourself in play, you boost your energy and vitality. More so, playtime has demonstrated to improve our resistance to disease and helps us function at our maximal quality of life.
Playtime is essential for unlocking the heart of your creativity. It’s scientifically backed and simple to execute – all that’s necessary is finding the time to have fun with yourself. The power of play is the is one of the core themes of our upcoming online workshops series, Alchemize Your Life.
Join us in our liberating getaway for our upcoming online workshops series Alchemize Your Life with Brielle. This course can be the perfect setting for your scheduled playtime for the winter of 2022. If you’re in need of letting go of the stress from the past year and tap into your creative and intuitive self, it’s time that you click here & step into the near year with optimism, playfulness, clarity and intuition.
(X) https://theartofeducation.edu/2019/08/27/how-to-set-up-a-year-of-artist-dates/#:~:text=So%2C%20what%20is%20an%20artist,describes%20them%20as%20assigned%20play.
(X) https://www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/benefits-of-play-for-adults.htm
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