3 Reasons Why It’s Important to Make Time for Play (Even As an Adult)

Have you ever noticed how it’s often implied – or outright stated – that ambitious adults should strive for productivity at all times, and avoid anything that isn’t somehow connected to “getting things done?”

If you haven’t, just watching some of the most popular entrepreneur-targeted “motivational” videos should fill you in on this sentiment.

But is there actually any reason why you should feel guilty about playing a fun murder mystery game with your friends, or just hanging out, relaxing, and amusing yourself for an afternoon, if you’re not passing up on your key obligations?

As a matter of fact, there are many reasons why making time for play is not only important, but essential – even as an adult.

Here are a few of those reasons.

To stay connected to the light-hearted and fun part of yourself

As children, we all tend to be quite light-hearted as a rule – and to be able to have fun with life, and to view it as an exciting game.

As grown-ups, on the other hand, it all too often ends up happening that we become overly serious and stern, and miss out on a lot of the joy and enthusiasm that can be found in everyday life, if we would only approach it in a more light-hearted way.

Play is one of the most fundamental ways of keeping yourself connected to that light-hearted and fun part of yourself that helps to unlock a lot of the beauty and magic of the world around you, and to allow you to enjoy the experience of life on a day-to-day basis.

To help to effectively reduce stress and maintain proper balance in life

Inevitably, life ends up being stressful from time to time – and for the sake of our well-being and ability to cope with the challenges life throws our way, it’s necessary to have various techniques and approaches at hand that can help us to reduce stress and to maintain a sense of proper balance in life.

Play is, obviously, fun. It can help to distract us from stressful experiences, lift our spirits, and help us to thrive Instead of being weighed down by our worries and concerns.

To help nourish imagination and creativity

Imagination and creativity are intimately connected with one another, and both of these things can help to fill life with a great amount of richness.

When you are more imaginative and creative on an everyday basis, you are likely to be better at solving problems, more dynamic and innovative at your job, and more.

Play naturally tends to help connect us to our own innate imagination and sense of creativity – and it could be argued that it might actually be impossible to be creative without being able to explore different ideas and approaches in a playful and fun manner.

In fact, there are plenty of examples throughout history of assorted inventors, discoverers, and even scientists, who credited a playful approach to their work as being vitally important for their breakthroughs.