This week I struggled to write my blog. It has been on my to-do-list all week. I kept on procrastinating to the next day. The past week all the public holidays made me very lazy. I was not in the mood for writing. I did not want to be productive and efficient. I just wanted to play and daydream.
Lucky for me my brother visited us with his three daughters (aged 5-, 3- and 2-years old), so I could play with his kids. I really enjoy escaping into their fantasy world for a while or colouring with them. When I was four years old colouring, playing with my dolls and building puzzles were of my favourite playtime activities.
We all know that play is very important for the cognitive, emotional and creative development of a child. However, research indicates that play is also important for adults. Play is an essential activity to optimize our brain function and enhance our well-being.
Interestingly Sigmund Freud (1958) suggested that every child at play “behaves like a creative writer, in that he creates a world of his own, or, rather, rearranges the things of his world in a new way which pleases him. . . . The creative writer does the same as the child at play. He creates a world of phantasy which he takes very seriously—that is, which he invests with large amounts of emotion” (pp. 143–144).
After reading and reflecting on the topic I realised that my body knew what it needed all along. It needed play time to recharge. So that it could function more effectively. It was not trying to be lazy. It was being creative.
Learning: My brain needs play time to recharge.
Healing question: How can I play more?
grethacronje 