Last night my teenage daughters were doing their homework for their BTEC in Health and Social Care. They were asked to ask a family member for a list of things they used to do as a child, and a list of the things they do now as an adult, and to compare and contrast the two things. So I set about writing my list. Remembering many happy hours climbing trees, playing with toys, creating things just for the sake of creating things, sewing, painting, writing stories, playing out with friends, baking things (mainly to sell to my poor disgruntled parents who were not overly happy at having to pay for things that I'd created out of the ingredients that they'd been the ones to buy in the first place!) We used to spend many happy hours playing tig in the garden or a variation on the theme of this called Blockee which basically is where people hide, and try to get back to base before the person who is 'it' sees you. Great game, especially if you play it at night with a torch.
These days my life is littered with a series of repetitive tasks, such as work, housework, cleaning, cooking, shopping, paying bills etc. A lot of the stuff that I do outside of my 'grown up duties' tend to be nothing terribly exciting. How has this happened? What happened to my younger self who believed that life was full of infinite possibilities?
If my teenage self could see me now, there would be serious trouble. She'd be shocked! I had ambitions. I was going to live abroad. In fact at one point my ambition in life was to live somewhere hot and sunny so I could sit and sip cocktails all day under a palm tree. Then I had children and suddenly my ambitions changed, overnight my only burning ambition was to go to the loo unaccompanied and to drink an entire hot cup of tea. I still have a bit of a desire to travel through Europe, but not the fast route. No what I fancy doing is setting off one summer, and traveling down through England (taking some of the more scenic routes, stopping off for coffee along the way, maybe taking in a museum here and an exhibition or festival there. Then hopping either on a ferry or on the Eurostar and going down through France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Poland etc, and then coming back a slightly different route. Again stopping off and finding the fun things to do on the way, not rushing and certainly not just flying down the motorway. No, making it a real journey instead. An adventure even.
I'd also like to go to America, I can't make my mind up between San Francisco, New York, or Texas. I am avoiding LA at all costs because I like food and I hear that it's not the fashion to eat that much in LA!
I really believe that we only grow old when we loose track of our younger selves, and who we are at our very essence. We seem to spend so long trying to strive to be grown up, but what does this mean? Does it mean that we have to give up playing because we've grown up? I don't think so, I think we can still play, albeit with different toys. We can choose to be playful and creative with what we do in life, we can bring playfulness and creativity into our lives at work (unless of course you work in a factory where you have to put a set part in a set place or if you're a brain surgeon. I doubt there are many opportunities for a brain surgeon to be truly creative at work, you can't suddenly decide to rearrange the way the brain is laid out, can you? *tempting though this would be* )
You can add an element of playfulness into your life by taking a different route to work, going somewhere new, booking a holiday of a lifetime (no, please don't send me the bill!) listening to a new genre of music, taking up a new hobby, going to a different style restaurant than you would normally choose, learning a new language, or just playing like you used to play. Buy yourself a pack of coloured pencils and a colouring book or sketch pad and just play. Write a piece of fiction, or a poem. Make a den. These days you will probably have a bigger budget so the den you build could be in a whole room of your house, and be up permanently. Go for delicious colours, warm textures, cosy hues, comfort, or make it simply a fun place to hang out after a long day at work. ....I dare you!
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