Play: I think my biggest challenge is to be playful. When my children were little, no problem. They climbed all over me, as I lay on the floor like a mother lion. We did finger painting together,spent time doodling with pencil crayons or felt pens, slid down waterslides, ran through the sprinkler, went to the local pool - you have no choice but to be playful with little kids around. But these days, at mid-life, my natural, serious side would rather sit in an armchair and read a good book. (Lately, Louise Penny's murder mysteries are captivating me. She's an international best selling Canadian writer living near Montreal, whose stories are set in the Eastern Townships and Montreal area).
But even a bookworm like me needs to get out of the house sometimes, and the further from my computer, the better. Say, down south for a vacation weekend, like this photo above, taken in Miami in January. I forgot to bring my straw hat with me, and the only available head cover (necessary protection from the strong sun) was this blue one. In this photo I am wearing my only other item of blue clothing.
When I was a little girl, my mother used to dress me and my younger sister in the same dresses, but different colours. Sue was always blue. I was in pink or red. It took me a very long time to be able to look at anything blue. it just wasn't my colour. Now, I see that as a form of playfulness - to see myself in blue.
Exercise is not something I normally associate with playfulness. Although I used to love down-hill skiing with the kids. Now, cross-country skiing has taken the place of downhill, since I broke my knee skiing over ten years ago. I don't skate much either. But Zumba has made exercise fun. That Latin music and those crazy quick salsa steps are so much fun, AND they get your heart beating. It makes it easier to segue into lifting weights or doing the plank when you spend 30 minutes dancing and laughing in a living room with friends.
What do you do for fun? Do you consider yourself a playful person, or a creative person? It's funny how our self-image can get stuck by a lifetime of habit. I will be 60 this year, and am just getting serious about playing.
Next week I'm going to be playing on some other blogs: doing a Book Blog Tour. Every day starting March 10 there will be a link on this blog to the host blog where I'll be giving you some tips on being Sensibly Selfish, Creative Self-Care, Mid-Life Moms and the Hot Flash Clash, and others.
Stay tuned and stay playful! (Winter is almost over.)
Musemother/Jenn
www.jenniferboire.com
No comments:
Post a Comment