Ask yourself, when did you last set aside time to play and seriously enjoy it?

There are many reasons we’re told to stop playing and actually listen to it. One is that as we grow up, we take on more work and don’t prioritize time to play. Instead, all of our time is spent on building our careers and other responsibilities. Alternatively, we may be criticized for playing and seen as “wasting time”.

Returning to a once-rewarding, now-abandoned activity is humbling, and, the older we get, increasingly rare.

Melissa Krisch, editor at New York Times

Play with Music

It’s only in the last few weeks that, among a group of music fanatics, I sat down at my piano and dusted it off after eight years of telling myself I didn’t have the time to play. With one of my favorite piano sheets set in front of me, I easily slid into old habits.

Though my muscles remembered the notes, my older hands couldn’t keep up with the speed. This was hardly discouraging – if anything, I found it thrilling to hear the piece and was excited to practice until I was satisfied. These days, I may play for 2 hours without really noticing the time slipping away.

The confidence and focus I gained from playing the piano bled into other areas of my life. Developing my skills in a hobby that has no purpose other than to have fun made it easy to remember to have fun with my work. For example, with my writing, I have started to focus solely on getting my ideas on paper and refining them until they told the story and messages I intended for them.

How Your Inner Child Fuels New Ideas

In front of the computer, it became easy to forget how fulfilling writing can be. I dreaded fleshing out ideas that didn’t seem to have any substance. It was during these breaks of playing the piano (and other hobbies) that released the stress associated with the pressure I put on myself when writing.

Whether it be reading, taking a walk, or picking up an old hobby, the benefits of going back and taking playtime seriously again can be incredible. Bringing habits back into your life is a great way to:

• Spark fresh ideas
• Stretch your brain to take on difficult challenges
• Strengthen your ability to focus.
• Release stress

It relaxes your brain to take on new ideas and put your twist on them.

Play expands our minds in ways that allow us to explore: to germinate new ideas or see old ideas in a new light. It makes us more inquisitor, more attuned to novelty, more engaged.

Greg McKeown, author of Essentialism

Especially true for creators, the best ideas often don’t come while doing the work itself. A blank canvas is hardly jumping with ideas. Constantly staring at a blank screen leads to stress, thus blocking the creative parts of our brains.

No, great ideas come from exploring the world around you and showing your experiences and interpretations in your work. It’s the interesting things that happen around us, the conversations we overhear, and the fulfillment we get from our work that breathes life into our next creation.

So, what activity do you want to jump back into? Let me know in the comments below, I’d love to hear how you de-stress and get your best ideas.