How good at play are you? What I have found with the hundreds of women I have worked with, is that many have forgotten how to play or aren’t very good at it. It falls to the bottom of the priority list along with self-care.
You may be thinking, “Who has time for play?”. You have a never-ending list of to dos, a family to take care of, and a business to run and grow. I get it. I felt that way once myself. Then, 20 years ago everything changed for me (more on this in a bit.)
What if I told you play was not only essential but also critical to your success? Would you think I’m crazy? Remember the saying “all work and no play make Jane a dull girl”? (Ok, it said makes Jack a dull boy, but I prefer JaneJ.)
There is a lot of truth to this statement.
All work and no play also turns into frustration, resentment, and burn out. I’ve watched this in so many women including myself.
Bringing play into your life will have such an amazing impact. You can go from doing it all to having it all.
Now, as easy as it sounds, it’s not as easy to do. This is because play can be a bit sticky as you get older. You may think that play should be easy, but in actuality play can be harder than you think as an adult.
You have all these perceptions as to what play is or should be. You also may be bumping up against a lot of conditioning.
Think about it. What did you hear about play growing up? I know I heard two things constantly – “Get your work done and then you can play” and “Stop fooling around and get serious”.
Growing up hearing these two things really instilled the thought that play was not that important. It was much more important to get your work done and be serious about it. I don’t know about you, but I never heard “Go out and play and then you can get your chores done or your homework done”. If you did, you were lucky and probably don’t need to read this blog.
So, when you look at bringing more play into your life, you will want to look at a couple of things.
First, is what conditioning you may be bumping up against, and second, what is play to you? This is where it can get sticky.
Discovering what play is to you will be a journey. It will evolve and change as you evolve and grow.
It is so worth the journey, because bringing in play will impact your priorities. I know this because most of the women I’ve worked with over the years have trouble playing. This is because their priorities need a little adjustment.
This is what I came up against 20 years ago. I believe that there are moments that come along in life that invite you to have a look at your life.
Sometimes, these moments can be a good thing like the birth of a child, a great job change, etc. or they can be what I like to call a 2×4 moment. Which in the past is how I usually learned things. It was a 2×4 moment that caused me to really look at my life.
When these moments happen, you can either embrace them starting the journey to more play, time, success, and joy or you can stuff it, resist it, and continue trying to do it all.
When I was faced with this decision 20 years ago, I had to really look at my life and my priorities. Up to this point, my priorities were to create a successful business, work, and more work.
Then my life was turned completely upside down. I had everything planned out perfectly. Successful business, marriage, home, children, and a white picket fence all by the time I was 35 years old. Where I found myself was sitting in an empty condo that I had just purchased, single, and no idea where I was going.
My priorities had to change. It was time to take care of myself and have a lot more fun by bringing play in. I was willing to navigate the journey to finding out what play meant to me and how that defined my priorities.
I soon realized that my number one priority had to be myself. This is a big one that I coach everyone women I have ever worked with through.
I know this might be ruffling a few feathers but think about this – if you don’t take care of you first, you will never have the energy and vitality you will need to take care of and nurture the people you love.
You will not have the energy to connect and build the deep relationships and communities you want and have the impact you want to have in the world. If you are not taking care of you first, then it won’t be long before you burn out.
Play is a huge role in taking care of you. It’s through discovering what play means to you that you bring fulfillment and joy into your life.
Here are a few things to consider when looking at creating more play in your life:
1. What is play to you?
2. What comes up when you think about play? List any emotions or thoughts.
3. What did you like playing when you where a child?
4. What brings you the most satisfaction in your work now?
5. What part of your answers to questions 3 and 4 could you experiment playing with? Give it a shot.
When you can bring play into your life you bring joy into your life; when you bring play and joy into your life, you redefine your priorities. When your priorities are in the right order, you will create more time for yourself, which will allow you to create a beautiful rhythm in your life.
Success is not only about having a successful business and making money. It’s that plus having amazing relationships in your life that love and support you. Being part of incredible communities that have a positive impact in this world. Feeling fulfillment and joy in your life.
Go get um!