Rediscovering Joy: Why Creativity and Play Matter (Part 2) EP#112

In today's special rerun episode, we delve into the transformative power of play. Following up on our exploration of creativity in the first part of this two-part series, we now turn our focus to how play can rejuvenate our lives, reduce stress, and spark joy. If you've been feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or simply in need of a little fun, this episode is for you!

Why Play Matters

Discover why play isn't just for kids—it's essential for adults too! Play has profound benefits for our mental well-being and personal growth. Drawing on insights from play researcher Stuart Brown, we explore how play helps us unwind, reconnect with our creative selves, and find balance in our hectic lives. Whether it's structured activities like building Lego sets or spontaneous fun like flying a kite, there's a type of play for everyone.

Play vs. Creativity

In this episode, we discuss the nuanced differences between play and creativity. While creativity often involves crafting something new, play can simply be an activity where you lose track of time and enjoy the moment. Hear a fun conversation with my friend Jodi as we debate the "two camps" of Lego enthusiasts: those who follow set instructions and those who build from imagination. This light-hearted discussion illustrates how play can manifest in various forms, each bringing its own joy.

The Benefits of Play

Explore the multitude of benefits that play brings into our lives. From reducing stress and enhancing our brain's executive functions to fostering better problem-solving skills, play is a powerful tool for improving overall well-being. Stuart Brown's quote, "The opposite of play is not work; it's depression," underscores the importance of incorporating play into our daily routines.

Practical Tips for Incorporating Play

Get practical advice on how to add more play into your life, even amidst a busy schedule. Whether it's through reading, puzzles, or outdoor activities, find simple ways to reintroduce play into your routine. I share personal stories and tips on balancing structured play with more spontaneous fun, encouraging you to explore different activities that bring you joy.

Resources Mentioned

• Brené Brown – The Gifts Of Imperfection​
• ​Stuart Brown – on the importance of play.
• Tips for integrating play into daily life from various experts.

Challenge of the Week

This week, I challenge you to identify activities that feel like play to you. Reflect on past experiences where you lost track of time and felt completely absorbed in the moment. Try to incorporate at least one playful activity into your week and notice the difference it makes in your mood and energy levels.

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Quote of the Episode:

"We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing." — Charles Schaeffer

Tune in, rediscover the joy of play, and remember, when you have a choice, choose happy!

Transcript

 

Hey, happy people. Welcome back to our summer rerun series. Today's episode is a rerun of episode eight, part two of my two part series on creativity and play. And so in the first episode, I focused on creativity and today we're going to focus on play. We all need play in our lives, but it's often not something we focus on.

We get so busy being busy that we forget that play is actually healthy.  I loved the reminder to put more play in my day to day life, as honestly, I've kind of let this slide over the past couple of years. Post COVID, getting back into the busyness of life, it just seemed less of a focus. But when Stuart Brown says the opposite of play is not work, it's this.

Depression? I realized play is not frivolous. It's important and deserves more of my focus. I realized that some of my recharge activities are actually play, but I appreciated the reminder as to the power of play in my life and I've committed to being more proactive about play. I hope you enjoy today's reminder about the power of play and hopefully by the end of it, you will recommit to more play in your life as well. 

So last week we talked about creativity and all of the benefits of adding creativity into your life. And so this week is about play. And the trick with play is some play can be creative, but not all play is creative.  So Stuart Brown seems to be the leading researcher on play and he talks about play is when you lose track of time and it's all consuming that you have no insecurities.

So you just get right into it and lose track of time basically. Those of you that are naturally creative, probably your creativity can be play. For those of us that are not naturally creative, play isn't always creative. So play can be like reading, flying a kite, doing a puzzle, and Lego. Now, the funny thing is, is I ran this idea past Jodi a few weeks ago when I was starting the research on these episodes.

And we had a really funny story about Lego and creativity because Jodi, like me, likes to do Lego sets. But there are those of you out there who can be totally creative and you can put all the Lego blocks in a pile and make your own thing from it. Now,  There's absolutely two camps on this, I think. And here is a funny excerpt from my chat with Jodi about Lego and creativity and play. 

So I think that that creativity is  different for everyone. Different things to different people. Yeah.  But I agree with you. You can't put all the Lego in one bucket.  Shame on you, Norm. Who does that? You know, there's a lot of people who do that, actually. And it's really funny. There's, there's definitely the two camps, right?

There's the camp. Like, like us, um, and then there's the other very definitely creative camp. I love a good Lego set, but  separate it. I know, right? You know what? I'm going to use that for my next, uh, online Facebook quiz.  Lego, dump them all in one box or keep them in their sets. We'll see the camps divided, right?

But I, I would say we're like, we looked at, um, getting a Lego set for sort of, again, our small family. Activity. Um, we've been building, um, foam model planes.  Right. Right.  So again, has a pattern, I wouldn't necessarily say that it's creative because it's structured, but it's To me it's still creative, I'm building something.

And when you, when you go fly it, it's play.  So Stuart Brown says, the opposite of play is not work, it's depression. And that speaks volumes. I think that's what made me realize I need more play in my life. And if I can make creativity play, then even better. I feel like I can get, you know, double whammy kind of thing.

But play helps us see possibilities and make connections where we might not other have made them. And also, um, Play reduces stress, and given that there is a constant level of stress in the world today, then I think it's something that we need to delve more into and figure out how to get more of it in our life.

Stress can actually shut down the creative and inquisitive, exploratory parts of our brain. So, by adding play into our life, it helps us deal with stress better.  Play also has a positive effect on the executive function in the brain, and for those of you who are like me and didn't really understand what that was, it's the ability to plan and prioritize and schedule and anticipate and analyze, delegate, all those things.

And so if you imagine day to day life, if you can handle those things better, if you can plan and analyze and reduce your stress, all that good stuff, then play is absolutely something that we should figure out how to get more of in our life.  Now, Stuart Brown says that to figure out what play is for us, we should go back to a memory where we remember being totally caught up in something and completely, um, not self conscious and just drawn into something.

You don't see time pass. So, if you think back in your memories, when was the last time you did that? So, I know for me, reading, I can lose track of all time. Have you ever, you know, sat down with a book at bedtime and then realized it's the middle of the night and you're still totally into your book?  That for me absolutely is play and then it's finding the balance between play and work.

I have absolutely been having fun with figuring out adding creativity to my life. The play one I think I've got figured out. Now I'm trying to figure out how to combine the two so that creativity is more play, and I'm not so scared of it, and I, I've stopped saying I'm not creative because I realized that that was my defense mechanism and my mental block.

You've heard me talk about Brené Brown and her book, The Power of Vulnerability, and she's the one who brings up play and creativity. And, She tells this story about a road trip with her family and she creates a Venn diagram. So basically she asks each member of their family, when are they in play? Those moments where they lose track of time, they're in complete joy, completely lost all insecurities.

And then she makes a list for everyone and then she creates the Venn diagram and figures out the overlap and then figures out they need to change up how they do their summer holidays. And I thought this was brilliant because when we go on holidays, we do it to recharge. and feel better and basically come back undressed.

But if we're not, if every member of the family is not receiving that benefit, so, you know, if we take the kids to Disney, but that's super stressful for the parents, and the kids love it, then not everybody's getting recharged. Or vice versa, you know, if we go to the beach, and the parents love walking along the beach and the ocean side, but your kid's not a beach person, then it's, it's, it's, It's not serving its purpose.

So I took her story and I brought it to our dinner table, which is where a lot of our discussions happen. And I just said, let's figure this out. Let's figure out what our holidays could look like to make sure that we are all getting recharged and the benefits of play. Cause if we're going to spend the money and take the time and do this, let's make sure all three of us are getting what we need out of it. 

It was a really fun exercise and we narrowed it down to a few things. Sadly, it didn't save us any money.  It makes some of our holidays a little more expensive, but we figured it out. Now we're all excited to come out of COVID 19 so that we can get back to planning some fun family holidays.  So the purpose of talking about creativity and play is to figure out how to add more of it into your life now.

And I think so many of us are ready to push things back and say, when I get this promotion, or when my kids are done high school, or when I retire. We keep putting off sort of fun things in our lives until later, until we've reached that goal or that milestone. And I think the trick is, is because happiness is a journey, we should try and figure out how to add it in now and realize that there's actual benefits with dealing with day to day stress by adding this stuff into our lives.

And so that is your challenge this week. If you can't figure out what creativity and play is for you, then start asking your friends and your family, and start a discussion about what it is for them. Maybe it'll spark something for you. Maybe you can start a discussion and start opening yourself up to different ideas of things that you've never thought of before.

That's really it for this week. More play and creativity and joy into our lives, and stop putting it off until later, until we achieve the next goal. Before I let you go, here is today's quote about the power of play, and it's from Charles Schaeffer. We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing.

Alright, happy people. Go have fun and play and know you're doing something great for yourself. Remember, when you have a choice, choose happy. Have a good one and go get your happy on.