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Day 13 is here! That means we have been expanding in our play personalities for 6 days now. How did it feel to play with REST yesterday? I enjoyed reading everyones posts about reading books, baking, exploring new tools for rest, and picking up old favorites in puzzles and board games.
I spent the night making a big bowl of ramen! I choose a moment of feeling stressed and uninspired to bring out my artist-creator chef personality and get creative with what's in my fridge / freezer. Part of what I notice happens when I get overwhelmed with work is that I stop engaging with this play personality first - when otherwise we hang on the daily. This play personality is the one that helps me feel most rested and taken care of by my own means. And I have the ability to dream up wonderful creations! So what does a playful approach to easy p z meal prep look like? A game of chopped.
I started with the first game parameter : I can only use the ingredients that are in my kitchen right now. and YIKES I haven't gone grocery shopping in awhile because I've been so busy..... thus the feeling uninspired.... but what I did find was some leftover broccoli, scallions, some random mushrooms, and a package of ramen buried in my freezer (a "take it easy" gift from my past self, to my future self), and a dream of some Miyazaki style anime world ramen as the epitome of total day end relaxation while I continue exploring the world of my new video game.
Setting play-based "traps" is something that I love to do for myself. Whenever I feel particularly inspired by an object or ingredient, I try to grab it. These are really good dropping in points when I'm not quite sure what to do and makes a decision for me when I'm stuck in decision fatigue at the end of a day.
Today - I feel super RESTED! And ready to adventure forward with Day 13 Prompt! I'm not going to lie - I use every day as inspiration for the play prompt. It's what feels most organic to me. But today I was admittedly spun around and prompt disoriented when I woke up to find it absolutely pouring rain outside. After a full day of rest, I had built up an expectation towards where I wanted my play to go next. Instead - I'm stuck inside, pushed back in to accessing play from my home space. We gotta work with what we got. And hmmmm isn't that really the theme of 2020 overall?
The Splattering
So I'm sitting on my porch, looking out through the window considering all of the drips and the drops. Seems appropriate since I've been going heavy on the water metaphors in my last few posts. But this has me thinking about a few things.
What is a single drop, a single drip, taken away from the context of the rainstorm?
Some drops SPLATTER. And reform.
A drop doesn't question when or how it drops, or the pattern it makes when it SPLATTERS
What is a drip? A drop?
For the past few days, we have been playing through ripple and rest. Yesterday I talked about the necessity of rest to reaching a state of calm from which to reset, and choose our new drop. So- what drops? A drip.
YOU are a drip my friend. Because you are like water (and mostly made of it) you are endlessly able to adapt to the shape of your container. And in this instance, the elements of the day are setting my container to be indoors-only playing. As a drip, I can choose to drop in any direction from my starting place of rest and calm. And I have been feeling like all of my play up until this point has been slightly.... directed in aim of a particular end result. (Is that you Director personality? Or my adult critic and societal pressure to "produce" getting in the way of my playing? it's sometimes a fine line for me) I am trying to control the aesthetic of my drip, and man thats just not how drips do!
Drips drop. They dribble. They splatter. They are messy, and chaotic, and not planned. They inherently know when it is time to drop and don't question it. They let the path be messy and weird and surprising. And so today, that is what I am channeling to bring to our expanding relationship with our respective play personalities. See how much you can SPLATTER and dribble your drop through a play personality - or multiple!
Who are you as a drip alone? Meaning to ask - how can you adapt to a container of playing in singular? How do you play when you can't access community space for blowing off steam? How does it feel to be a drip when your world is saturated with Play? When there is a season of drought? Has your play ever felt oversaturated? What playful words come to mind when imagining a SPLATTER, and how can you drop in a way that allows some SPLATTER to form through your playing today?
GET LOUD - GET MESSY - BLOW OFF SOME STEAM - DRIP YOUR DRIBBLE AND SPLATTER!
Don't be afraid to get messy with this one! The goal of SPLATTER is to encourage flexibility, freedom of expression , and experimentation without any pressure on what will come out of it. Be loose and free and wild just as a Drip would Drop! How will you SPLATTER? Tag me @eastonsmith on IG because I am dying to follow along on this one.
See you tomorrow at 6pm! Welcome any feedback about timing of these posts :) In my playing with timing, it does seem to have reached many more people yesterday! But for those of your reading this right now - definitely reach out and let me know how a later Drop time ;) affects your Play.