An advocation for the reclamation of playfulness

Your inner child is waiting to come out.

“You’re so serious.” These words have been said to me more times than I can count. The earliest occurred when I was still knee-high and preferred to sit quietly with my parents and observe the other screaming children in whatever public space we happened to be in. I was a serious kid. I was a serious teenager. I am a serious adult. Let me rephrase that: I am now a playfully serious adult. Now, those two words may seem contradictory – playful and serious rarely occur in the same sentence, let alone the same description of personality. But hear me out. What do we have to lose from incorporating some inner-child energy and curious play into our oftentimes very serious and very busy adult lives? 

I don’t need to remind you that we live in a serious and often scarily adult world. Some of us are studying, some are working, and some are doing both simultaneously. We have bills, scary notifications from our banking apps about low balances, health scares, losing people, moving houses, and fighting with loved ones. We have A LOT going on. All of it is very serious stuff. On top of everything, we have a constant influx of media and information that is telling us about all the serious world issues and events going on. We need to deal with everything; it’s part of life – but it doesn’t need to be like carrying a ton of bricks all the time. The key? Some playfulness or, at the very least, a playful mindset. 

So why is playfulness so important? Without a modicum of joy or excitement, life gets very stressful, boring, and frustrating. When we are in our groove, having some fun somewhere, and generally remembering that joy does exist, we become better people, better friends, better students, and better partners. We may even be able to do more because we’re not so burnt out and over it. 

But what is playfulness? I define playfulness by three key pillars: a beginner’s mindset, openness to new experiences, and prioritisation of play. 

A beginner’s mindset allows us to try new things without the fear of failure or not being ‘good enough’. We can do what we’ve always been curious about, and we can do it for the sake of doing it, not to be perfect at it. This takes off a lot of pressure – which we already experience enough of in our daily lives. A beginner’s mindset also opens up a whole other timeline of possibilities to us. Maybe we want to learn Italian and travel to Europe, or maybe we want to take a pole dancing class and stumble upon a loving community of friends. Think about it – when you were a child, did you stop yourself from drawing pictures because you weren’t an artist? I’m betting the answer is “no”. Most of us drew stick figures and coloured outside the lines for the first few years of our lives because we had no one telling us we couldn’t. Reclaim your inner child’s belief that you can try new things and do them your way. It’s also important to mention that having a beginner’s mindset may help you level up and up-skill. You can only get better at something if you actually start it. 

Now, what about being open to new experiences? We can get so stuck in our old thought patterns, old habits, old relationships, etc, but if we consciously practice an open mind, an open heart, and a potentially open schedule, then we create room in our lives for better, bigger, and different experiences. We open ourselves to adventure and a flow state where we can enjoy the moment. And this ties into the prioritisation of play as well. My new favourite thing is dressing up and taking myself out, stepping outside with an open attitude and trusting that things will work out. Or maybe you could try being more open to meeting new people and making friends, and as a result, you spend more time in positive company, laughing and feeling joyful. Either way, any or all of this can only benefit you because why wouldn’t you want to be happier?

I learned a lot about playfulness and the reclamation of my inner child from other wonderful and powerful people, so I’m going to recommend two influencers/artists on Instagram to you. The first is Gabi Abrão, known as @sighswoon. Gabi focuses on spirituality, the invisible, reclaiming your innocence, and living softly. My second person is Florence Given, known as @florencegiven. Florence focuses on living deliciously small moments of daily joy and how to lean into your divine, playfully feminine side. 

Remember: playfulness and seriousness aren’t opposites; they’re both necessary ingredients for a more uplifting and fun life.