We here at GRL PWR DEN wish all women would embrace PLAY more!
It is one of our founding values because we have experienced ourselves the way that play has lightened our souls and reminded us to intentionally bring our focus to joy!
When we were girls, we enjoyed dress-up, but why did we stop?
Play isn't just for little girls anymore. It is scientifically and neurologically proven to enhance our learning.
It takes 400 repetitions to create a new neural pathway in our brains, unless done with play. Then it only takes 10-20 repetitions (See the work of Dr. Karen Purvis.)
Remember when you were in your Little Mermaid dress singing or declaring rules on your queendom like Ursula? You were doing deep, meaningful work - you were finding your voice and setting boundaries.
Or perhaps you were zipping around your yard in a Lightning McQueen car (like my daughter does) or saving people in your Spidey suit. Again, you were "playing" your way into vital self-development skills - like learning how to assess your intentions and set goals or investigate what power means to you.
We so much want to bring that kind of energy back!
When did we lose our ability to play, to experiment, to look at things from multiple angles?
Why must "personal growth" be heavy, challenging, boring, or such a struggle?
There is no doubt we still like to play with identities. We change our hair, makeup, outfits.
We still have the essence of it sitting right below the surface, but it creates a tension within us because we know we will be judged for it as women stepping outside of our prescribed boundaries. We must acknowledge and be ready to meet this outside resistance. And that means having a community walking the path with us. We must acknowledge that we will have wobbly first attempts, which in no way means we failed.
While we are heavily marketed and socially conditioned to constantly change our appearance, the change is about morphing ourselves into something that would make us more appealing or sexually enticing to men instead of exploring what makes us feel empowered and joyful from the inside out.
Can you allow yourself to soften into a new you? What if we throw "goals"/ "perfection" out the window, and find our way back to the little girl inside of us all who's mindset is less concerned with what people will think about us or how we will look to others outside and honor our very real, very adult need for play as a way of experimenting with self-development/growth?
Can we retrain our eyes to see when someone/some company wants us to change to increase our sex appeal versus when we can sense that "playing" in this way is opening up a new way for us to be? (Note: Being our authentic sexual self can be empowering as well, but we are being mindful to not make our decisions based on being appealing for other's pleasure only.)
How much freedom and fun is waiting for us when we let go of the rigidness of external perfection?
Let's find mentors who PLAY with their choices, personality, and ultimately, exercises personal power that feels right for them. Let's follow people who inspire us (men, women, nonbinary) to EXPLORE, FAIL, and TRY AGAIN and who allow us to see more POSSIBILITIES than just one way to be beautiful, have fun, and embrace strength. Let's understand this new way of being is going to be met both outside and inside with fear and friction, but we will be here for each other along the way.
Now, give yourself permission to go laugh, have fun, and try on as many personalities as you wish.
Tell us someone that you love because of their sense of PLAY in the comments below!
Here is your very own PERMISSION SLIP TO PLAY.
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