Get your color fix at a paint store
“All work and no play makes Jane a dull girl”
No energy or ideas for creativity? What you need is a Creative Playdate!
How to have a Creative Playdate: Schedule an hour of two of unproductive fun into your week—alone. You can do whatever you want, from climb a tree, to peruse a yarn store to play with paint. The key is to spend some “quality time” just you and your inner artist–who is, of course, a kid at heart. If going to a museum sounds decadent and inspiring, then do that. If playing in the mud or going to a cartoon matinee makes you giggle, go for that!
You know it’s a good creative play date if it makes your eyes light up and you clap your hands with glee. I realize this may be a challenge for you—all the more reason to remember and practice how much fun it is to be alive!
I have students brainstorm a list of possible play dates on the inside cover of their journal when this is weekly homework in my classes. You can try something new every week, or keep with a few classics that you love. Here are some creative playdates my students or I have taken:
- Get your color fix by playing with paint chips at a paint store
- Knit in a cafe
- Read a book at the pool (especially decadent when my kids were small!)
- Nap under a tree
- Walk alone in a nearby nature reserve
- Go out and shoot a roll of film
- Go to the hardware store with a $10 budget for cool do-dahs
- Play with fabric scraps
- Browse a flea market
- Take the bus downtown for an adventure
- Play around with a new box of art supplies
What you do is less important than the re-discovery of fun (and yourself).
Inner Critic Alert: Your Inner Critic will tell you this is stupid, a waste of time, and very unseemly for an adult of your social standing. Don’t buy his desperate plot to stop you and go have some well-deserved fun. He’s desperate to stop you because he knows the more fun you have, the less power he has!
What are your favorite Creative Playdates? Post them here: