Play, Adventure, and Exploration

In one of my recent articles called How to 10x your Micorodosing Practice. It’s an article that lists 8 habits that can greatly improve our lives whether we are microdosing or not.

One of those key items I highlighted in that article is that there is a space between laser-focused work and active rest such as meditation. That sweet middle spot is; play.

Let’s start with a little cultural pop quiz for Gen Z. Have you ever heard of the term Gap Year?

In the early 2000s, taking a gap year was all the rage as an emerging and legitimate travel market.

What was a Gap Year exactly? It started with high school graduates taking a year off and traveling before heading off to college or university.

Which doesn’t sound like a big deal and is hardly worthy of mention.

Back then there was a lot more social stigma than today. Casually taking off to travel was not the way people typically lived or even considered as plausible.

Young students were the trendsetters and soon enough very professional and responsible adults adopted the idea of a Gap Year into their own lives.

Sabbaticals always existed but they did not quite manifest like a gap year. 

The British Journal of Sociology of Education published a paper in 2007 exploring the growing popularity of such an undertaking. They argue that: 

“….the gap year’s enhanced profile raises important questions concerning the processes by which certain groups of young people can gain an advantage over others during a period of educational expansion.”

This trend of leaving our lives behind for a few months, a year, or even indefinitely is so ubiquitous now but quite against the grain at the time.

Over the years, we’ve seen the result of such untethered and untamed teens and adults.

The results are all over our social media feeds. 

These untethered travelers have become global citizens, running businesses they never dreamed of, global citizens not landlocked to any specific town, city, or country.

Such ‘untethered’ humans have built an entire life out of play, adventure, and exploration.

Defining Play

The Oxford Dictionary defines play as: “to do things for pleasure, as children do; to enjoy yourself, rather than work”

I will go one step further and even define it as the primal version of a flow state.

When we play, we are fully engaged physically and mentally and do so without constraints regarding goals, protocols, or etiquette.

To play, all we need is a curious mind, a laughing heart, and a body at ease.

This trifecta of attributes is something that evolutionary psychologists have been looking at for a while and continue to learn more about to this day.

What the science says

It was only in the 1960s that we figured out that our brains are not static throughout the life of an adult human, and that neuroplasticity is real.

The link between play and neuroplasticity is why I included these activities in my recent article How to 10x your microdosing practice.

A biomedical science article from 2001 describes Play as Environmental Enrichment which is also linked to neuroplasticity in adults.

“The demonstration that environmental enrichment can modify structural components of the rat brain at any age altered prevailing presumptions about the brain’s plasticity (Diamond et al. 1964, Diamond 1988). The cerebral cortex, the area associated with higher cognitive processing, is more receptive than other parts of the brain to environmental enrichment.”

Since then, science has linked play time to an extensive range of benefits but arguably as vital to optimizing our levels of resilience. 

Psycentral outlined the scientific studies regarding playtime for adults these past 2 decades and included stress management, positive reframing (aka resilience), motivation, type 1 diabetes, and mental health benefits.

Difference between Play, Adventure, and Exploration?

I would say that the difference between these three terms is the level of engagement.

Play can be giggling with our bestie in the living room.

Adventure can be taking a road trip someplace nearby but new.

Exploration is immersing ourselves in foreign and remote lands.

Any one of these three states of play induces benefits that are real, important, and vital to our well-being.

I double dare you

So this week’s challenge is to comment here below with the way you’ve played this week.

Maybe you discovered something in your backyard that is interesting and curious recently. 

Maybe you’ve decided to take a trip that has no specific itinerary. 

Or perhaps you’ve had your indefinite gap year these past 2 decades and never looked back.

How have you played in the sandbox we call life? 

How are you willing to play today, tomorrow, this week?

Summer is in full swing currently in the Northern Hemisphere.

There is no better time than now to challenge yourself with giggles, spontaneity, and plenty of curiosity.

Playtime, by definition, is a good time and you know I wanna hear all about it!

Tell us in the comments below and be sure to keep in touch via our Facebook group and/or in our Discord channel.

As always, 

Shine bright. Do good. Flow strong.

Asha ✨