What did you used to have fun doing as a kid?

When was the last time that you did something purely for the enjoyment and pleasure of doing it?

Did you know that pleasurable activities play a vital role in our mental health?  They aren’t just ‘nice to haves’.  Without enjoyable activities we can quickly become tired, demotivated and low in mood.  Which all makes us less likely to be active, which means we miss out on the endorphin hit we’d get from doing something fun, which means we become more demotivated…and so on.  This is called the lethargy spiral and in cognitive behavioural therapy we often begin with an approach called behavioural activation (BA) to help reverse that spiral.

In a nutshell we need to be engaging in activities that bring us a sense of achievement and satisfaction AND activities that bring us joy, contentment and pleasure in order to have a better chance of maintaining our well-being.

Which begs the question – what do you do for fun?

This week at the Goodness Collective we were treated to an art session where we were all invited and encouraged to step outside of our comfort zones and engage in the art of, well, art!

There were plenty of self-stories, self-judgements and self-doubts being bandied around to begin with:

“I’m crap at drawing.  I’m useless at art.  This is going to be awful.  Mine is going to be rubbish.  This is so embarrassing. What is wrong with me?  Why can’t I draw a thumb (me).  This is so frustrating.  Everyone else’s is better than mine”. And so on.

But as the session progressed and we were gently guided through different exercises, we all began to relax a bit and actually enjoy ourselves.  It made me think that I’ve not done any art for ages, and yet when I was a kid I was always drawing and colouring.  What happened?  I guess I learnt that I should focus on the stuff I’m good at, not the stuff that I simply enjoy.  What a sad message!

In a society that puts such value on achievement and productivity it’s no surprise that doing stuff purely for the fun of it often gets downgraded.  But look at the impact of that on our mental health, our confidence, our interactions with others, our work – the effects of ‘all work and no play’ ripple out to every area of our lives.

Breaking the cycle

In a bid to up the fun and enjoyment levels in my own life this week I followed up my Monday art session with a mid-week ‘silent rave’ on my morning dog walk, tried a session of Reformer Pilates, and enjoyed a lovely natter with my friend before work today.  I hope this video helps you to remember some of the stuff you used to do for fun, and that it spurs you on to give it a go in some small way this week/end.

YouTube (11mins)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjuBKBEQVAo