Do you play in your daily life? What says “playtime” to you?
“Playtime” sounds like something you would expect children to do. Many adults forget that there is importance in playing for us too! As an occupational therapist that works with children, teens and adults, I am lucky to constantly be reminded of the importance of play, and am involved in play every day. Going through the regular motions of work, house work, child care, pet care, errands etc, often has us forgetting to add play into our days!
Every day I have the honour of joining exploratory play and imaginary play with my clients. We roll down hills, explore the forest, pretend to be different characters and create magical pieces of art! I have so much fun adding to their play by bringing my adult creativity to enhance their imaginations, like making them a McDonald’s restaurant out of boxes, or creating a fake campfire to sing around. I am lucky to have these built in moments of play, but many of us don’t!
Playing is important to adults just as it is for children. As an adult, play can sharpen your sense of humour, boost your creativity, increase your mental well-being and help you cope with stress better. Creating time to play may take time to explore when that would happen for you, but I promise you it’s worth it !
What does playtime look for adults?
Anything recreationally that you do to enjoy would be considered play according to some of the different articles I looked at! Whether you like collecting items, playing intramural sports, playing video games etc , you are playing!
HOWEVER, from an occupational therapist lens, considering anxiety, the pressure of society to constantly be productive, and the idea that we shouldn’t be “wasting time”…. I think play looks very specific for myself and perhaps for other adults as well.
For me, PLAY is something that allows you to find complete joy and relaxation. This seems obvious, but society often pushes productivity so hard that we monetize everything we do, OR we can’t relax because we’re so stressed about NOT being productive.
Some of my play I like includes going for walks, painting, exploring nature, playing games, playing music, video games and reading. Some of these activities however can be mixed into productivity instead of relaxing and playing if I’m not careful! For example, I have quite a bit of anxiety and perfectionism, so the different between productive painting and play painting is the purpose of it and what the painting looks like. If I’m painting something very specific, I may get caught up in perfectionism and not feel like I’m having fun. I often like to use water colours and paint colouring books or abstract painting when I want to play and have fun. Going for walks is another activity that can be fun if I’m being spotaneous and adventuring with my music and bird watching, whereas if I feel like I’m walking to workout or thinking about work, it obviously is not play!
So what does your play look like? Before even seeing this prompt, Playing more was one of my 2024 resolutions! I hope to learn to throw pots at the pottery place near my house, go to dance classes, paint more for fun, and explore more! What are you going to be trying?
Click here to go back to day one of Bloganuary 🙂
Be Your Own Sunshine 