How do you create time for play? Do you give yourself any amount of time to play? Often we become overly busy and so tied to our responsibilities that we do not carve any time aside to do things we truly enjoy. It’s how our passions die, and it’s how little pieces of our soul drown.
It is so important to have some time to get out of ourselves, our heads, and especially a break from all of our roles and responsibilities. If you spend all of your time on just your duties and responsibilities you may be out of balance. Your soul may be yearning for a bit more in life. If you are not carving time out for things outside of your chores and deadlines, you may want to ask yourself what you are saying yes to. Why aren’t you making time to play? Do you feel guilty or judge yourself for allowing time for play? Could you be in fear of what other people will think of you? Or have you ever even truly pondered how you spend your hours in the day? These are some questions to ask yourself if you are feeling out of balance in your daily life.
Your life and time are worth investigating. You are worth the exploring. I’m a busy person just like you. I’m not trying to convince you that it’s simple to give yourself large amounts of time devoted to your hobbies or creative endeavors. I am saying you can carve small amounts of time towards what fascinates or interests you. And you can start wherever you are. I have often noticed people choosing not to take any steps towards things they would like to learn how to do out of fear that they do not have the time or aren’t good enough. These are lies many of us tell ourselves. We could be holding ourselves back from undertaking creative projects, spending hours of time lost in our art, and stumbling across our own masterpieces.”
The only way to get anywhere is to start. Start with your knees shaking, your insecurities quaking, and your lack of confidence aching. No one expects you to be an expert at anything on Day One. You don’t even have to share what you are doing, creating, or learning. A start is simply there initially as your sheer intention. Then we move forward for our enjoyment. Spending time on things we love or what interests us is our therapy. It is how we balance out the roles and responsibilities in life.
You don’t even need a goal to start. After spending some time in your interests and endeavors, it will be up to you as to what you share with the world. Initially it’s carving out small amounts of time to follow your passions and bliss. It doesn’t necessarily have to become your next career. If it evolves that way, great, but we do not have to have an end goal to be creative and enjoy the things that bring us to life.
For example, I regularly attend a pottery/art class. Due to my busy schedule, I do not always get to attend every week, but I do get to attend often. And over time, I have really gotten better at little creations. I’ve learned one thing for sure, your crafts do take time to develop. If you can hold off on judging yourself and your results, you have the capabilities of learning many great things. Much of it has to do with being OK with being a beginner and allowing yourself the time to progress. Just the fact that I make time for this class has helped me in my more serious aspects of work like my writing.
I would have never guessed initially how much practicing and learning art would enhance my writing skills, but they have. I think part of it had to do with giving myself that permission to learn something at my age as a beginner. It was also allowing myself to be terrible at it and still continue to do it. It has helped build my confidence in many areas in life, and it also allowed me the space to focus creatively. I had to leave out my roles and responsibilities to learn some pottery. It did not come so easy to me initially. With dedicated time and repeated practice, I have greatly improved and have much more to show for it. Another great benefit is that my teacher and I have become intimate friends and that relationship has helped us to encourage each other, and we hold space for each other’s creativity.
I don’t have plans to become a professional potter. Over time, perhaps I will become skilled enough to sell pieces of work or perhaps not. The main point is that it doesn’t matter. I do not take my pottery classes for the end result. It is for the play and enjoyment for a brief period of time. It helps me to breathe better when I carve some space for play. I’m a kinder human to all that interact with me. And last but not least, it enhances my confidence in improving my writing and blogging skills which I do take seriously. It allowed me the bravery to start where I was with the knowledge that I can get better.
You do not have to be at a professional level to start anything. How else do you even become experienced until you have utilized much time there? The time spent on any craft or hobby will have moments of greatness and sheer failure. That is how we learn. That is also how we get better. The good news is when you enjoy what you are doing or learning, the failures you may encounter are all worth it because you love or enjoy it. You’re still having fun in the process. Learning is a process just like life. Don’t forget to carve out some time for play.
We often omit play for ourselves and only allow it to our children. Play often balances out those everyday tasks. And when we play, we have to let some responsibilities go for a period of time. The time is an investment to yourself; it can help you balance life better, be more light hearted toward others, and hold important space for fun. We all need a little Peter Pan escape time. Otherwise you will grow old.