I’ve got the joy, joy, joy…
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Hey Reader! As an adult with a type A personality who is very performance and productivity-driven, I actually have to be intentional about bringing some playful fun into my life! Can you relate to that? Many of us live such busy lives that we have forgotten what “play” for adults actually looks like. If I asked you “What would you like to do for fun?” many of you would reply “nothing” or “sleep” or “rest” or “take a nap”. At least that’s been my experience when I’ve talked about this topic to various groups of teachers and leaders. As adults, we’ve decided that “play” = “rest”. Hear me out…rest is critical to our well-being. We talk about it often at ECCN. But play and fun are equally important for our well-being. However, rest and play are not the same thing. Rest means “cease work or movement in order to relax, refresh oneself, or recover strength” according to dictionary.com. Positive Play Coach Jeff Harry states, “Play is an action you do that brings you a significant amount of joy without offering a specific result.” So if you read a book because you need to get it done for work, that’s not play. If you read a book because you love to read, then that would be considered play. If you go for a run because you need to get some cardio in today, that’s not play. However, if you go for a run because you enjoy running, it actually brings you joy to run, well…than that is “play” for you! Why is play important for adults? According to THIS article, “Play has been shown to release endorphins, improve brain functionality, and stimulate creativity. And it can even help to keep us young and feeling energetic. Studies show that play improves memory and stimulates the growth of the cerebral cortex.” I don’t know about you, but I love the idea of adding more play to my life just to stay “young and feeling energetic!” So how do you figure out what would be fun for you? I’ve found that often we like doing the same things that were fun for us a children or teens! So think back…what did you enjoy doing as a child in elementary school? Playing sports with friends, riding bikes, playing music, crafting, sewing, baking…whatever it was – when was the last time you did it as an adult? Do you still enjoy it? This week, hopefully, you have a couple of days off. I want to challenge you to pick one thing that you used to love doing as a child and do it now! If not, keep trying new things until you find something that is really fun for you. When you find those activities that bring you joy, do them more often! Remember what Jesus says in John 10:10 “The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Jesus himself wanted us to live an abundant life! How can we have an abundant life without joy? It’s not possible. If you need more ideas for increasing the Play in your life…we have a whole course on it in our course library and we released a podcast this week on the same topic as well! Listen in by clicking the link below.
Cheering you on this week! -Your ECCN team
Colossians 3:16 “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.” |
