Where did we get the idea that maturity mandates the end of playfulness?

So often we overcomplicate our lives. I recently began a daily practice called “morning pages”, inspired by the Artist’s Way course on creativity. The routine is strikingly simple– one writes three pages of longhand, stream-of-consciousness rambling first thing in the morning.

Within a week of implementation, I feel I marked difference in my mentality. Counteracting the effects of over-rigid scheduling, these exercises massage and loosen tight creative muscles. The practitioner emerges with a zest for life and sharper focus on their passions.

Within three days of beginning this practice, I posted to this blog for the first time in over a year. I possessed more than enough time to complete a post in that amount of time; I was trapped by the deadly duo of perfectionism and procrastination.

So often when I have a goal, my subconscious traps me with the compulsion to create the perfect plan before I spring after it. In reality, I am frequently more than prepared for the challenge already. When I went to Costa Rica a couple years ago with my dad, I brought a Spanish phrasebook with me. The prospect of communicating entirely in Spanish while there intimidated me, despite the fact that I loved learning languages and engaging with other cultures.

The result? In the entirety of the trip, I did not once pick up the phrasebook.

I made friends, talked about politics, religion, and education, and conversed for hours entirely in Spanish. My technical skill with the language was not perfect, but I was far more capable than I realized. I just needed a fresh encounter with reality to reveal the dormant power within me.

The practice of “morning pages” reawakened a sense of playfulness and spontaneity for me. It unveiled that I underestimate my writing ability without reason.

If I can write a sentence that clearly articulates a meaningful idea after waking up at 5am and groggily scrawling out random thoughts, what kind of potential do I have when I am fully alert and focused? This is in no way meant to be a celebration of my own abilities, and I certainly do not put myself on a pedestal. The point is that we all contain so much more potential in us than we engage on a consistent basis.

This year, do not be controlled by perfectionism and procrastination. Feel free to treat your work like a piñata at a kindergarten birthday party: swing around in the dark, laugh with your friends, and celebrate the sweetness that follows breakthroughs.