We All Need More Play in Our Lives
It’s how we learn. How we relax. And it helps us think more creatively. So why do we struggle to give ourselves time to play?
“We don’t stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing.” — George Bernard Shaw
I’ve been reading a lot about play, lately. No books I‘d recommend. Most research and writing about play seems to be surprisingly dour and joyless.
But everything I’ve found agrees that play is essential, for humans and animals alike. It’s how we develop, as children. But we don’t stop needing this as adults.
Play is how we learn.
A study of engineers in tech companies found that children who play using their hands — building and making things, taking things apart to see how they worked — were by far the better problem-solvers as adults, the most creative thinkers.
In adulthood, play continues to teach us, to fire new pathways in our ever-malleable brain. But only if we allow ourselves time to do it.
Play is how we relax.
Doing something non-work related that absorbs us completely helps us unwind far more than passively slumping in front of the TV or scrolling.