Bringing Play Back Into Your Life: Summer Edition

Summer has officially arrived and this season naturally lends itself to being the perfect time to get back to your childhood roots! With summer break being a staple in most of our childhoods, this season reminds us to take some much needed time off. Not only is this season about taking a break but it is also about engaging in fun activities. The summer season offers many opportunities for joy, no matter your age. You just need to be willing to set aside time to reconnect with your inner child! As we know, play and fun are the first things to go when life gets stressful and hard but play and fun help combat the impact of that same stress!

While summer provides so many fun activities, it can also mark a lonely time for some of us. With less structure, less community support and unavailable family members, you might not have gotten to have the quintessential summers that are represented in pop culture. For those of us who found summer to be more of a period of hardships than fun, it is important to begin to do the work to heal your inner child. The idea here is to honor what you went through as a child, validate that experience, acknowledge the pain and then begin to treat yourself the way that you should have and deserved to be treated back then. If you’re wanting more guidance around this process of healing your inner child, reach out to me and we can get started!

In the meantime, refer back to the questions from a few seasons ago to start thinking about bringing more play back into your life! What did you come up with? Remember, your adult shame will pop up as you think about what you authentically loved as a child. Your job now is to sit with that shame and be curious about why it wants you to deny yourself this joy. In case your shame is stopping you from coming up with an idea, here are a few activities to consider:

• Run through the sprinklers

• Go to the water or amusement park

• Eat a popsicle

• Watch fireworks

• Go to a Drive-in movie

• Go look at the stars

• Jump in a lake!

• Lay out on the concrete after going to the pool

• Go fishing

• Stay up way too late watching movies

Summers can be magical, lets go capture it!