It’s now the end of the sincerely rejuvenating season of Play. I’ve found so much freedom in releasing my expectations and allowing my curiosity to lead me. I didn’t want to worry about how something turned out or if it would be pretty. For this season I wanted to listen to my intuition and allow my curiosity to guide me.

 

 

 

 

See, when you play, you’re not concerned about something looking right. You’re just in the activity you’re doing. You’re fully present, caught up in the world you’ve created, whether that’s badmitten or baseball, Monopoly or being an imaginary character in a game of pretend. That doesn’t mean you’re relaxed about the activity — some times playing is super intense! — but you’re relaxed about self-evaluating on a micro level.

 

 

 

 

Adults need play just as much as children do. We connect in totally different ways when we’re playing. There’s something that allow us to see one another differently in play than in other circumstances. We get to know a whole different side of people, we find out the mild-mannered person from the cubicle around the corner is a baller (or the tall guy from marketing is NOT) or someone has a wildly competitive side we never would’ve predicted.

 

I’ve worked at a place that tried to encourage non-work interaction within the staff. As a part timer, this was difficult because I was already trying to cram a lot of work into a shortened work week. But in hindsight I can understand why these non-work activities were important. They allowed us to know each other better, connect different parts of our personalities in new ways, and form memories together even if it was because we could all look back on the time Bob from shipping and receiving got hit in the face with a bean bag whipped by the killer arm of Glenda from the mail room.

 

Glenda aside, playing is good for everyone for lots of reasons! It’s definitely been good for me. Here are a few more pics from this season:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally we’ll do a quick flip-thru of the two altered books I used this season.

 

I started with one, which I knew wouldn’t have enough pages, and then added a second book which size I liked quite a bit. I’d try to find one that size again.

 

In the video below you’ll see that some pages I’ve included in this post and previous ones aren’t in the video. I try to work in the same journals during a season but sometimes I just go bananas and bust out into a different journal without trying to. It can’t be stopped.

 

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The next season, which starts June 1, is the Season of Story. Of course I’m thrilled and totally tickled with this and the prospect of merging paint and writing. I’ll have more details for you tomorrow or Thursday, but start thinking now about whether you might want to join Get Messy for the season of Story. Even if you don’t mess around with paint much, trying a new creative angle can be really freeing. Painting/art journaling can clear a path for your words to ruminate and have more traction when you return to your keyboard. You can only sign up for a Season of Story pass for about a week (June 1-7), then the window closes. If you know you want to try it out, here’s where you can learn more.

 

As always, thanks for allowing me to share my journey and my pages with you. I hope there’s something here that inspires you to try something new or take a brave step into the unknown today.