Pro Tips for Anxious Travelers

Six Mental Health Benefits of Learning to Play

Play Your Blues Away

The importance of play in our lives as anxious adults can not be overstated. We may not be living our early developmental years anymore, but we are capable of growth, healing and a myriad of other essential mechanisms if we would only allow ourselves the space to do so. Providing a safe space for ourselves to learn is difficult. It feels impossible find a place to begin!

How to Play

One fabulous way to practice providing ourselves this space is to begin by providing ourselves a safe space to play. It sounds easier to provide ourselves space for something that we think could be enjoyable for us, yes? This method of providing space for play can be practiced within yourself, in your hometown or in any city on any map. Upon arrival, you get to choose how you will PLAY YOUR BLUES AWAY.

Learning from the Best Learners

I’ve spent the better part of this year working in an elementary school with Pre-K (age 3–5) students. So much of their development is happening before our very eyes. Their learning is constant and therefore it is one of the most important jobs that I have in the classroom is to let them play. This skill is one I have had to practice. When I sit to watch them play, I am practicing the art of noticing. I am not there to tell them how to play; I exist to provide a safe space for them to explore their space and other toys while monitoring their interactions with other students.

Teach Yourself

With a similar aim, we provide a safe space for ourselves and then act as learner and noticer at once. Said another way, we use this space to pretend we are both a student and teacher. Especially in the beginning stages, it is imperative that our play must not be so “fun” that we get hurt or can’t remember it later. We must act with as much presence as we can tolerate because in our new practice of providing safety for ourselves we are also practicing self-trust. We cannot play with abandon if we do not trust ourselves to stay safe. This is essential to remember because this anxious girl thinks one of the best places to practice play is the French Quarter in New Orleans.

Arriving in the French Quarter

The French Quarter has something for everyone. History? Loads. Passion? Absolutely. Food? It’s flavor- and butter-full with deep, wide roots in local and world culture. Lore? Ghost stories abound. Character? The streets are accepting, loud and bright, yet soulful. Local Art? So colorful. Music? The grooving chordplay sounds of the human condition and acts as a pulsating glue that grows out of every crack and gutter and spills into the street from aged, open doorways.

In Search of the Nouns that Bring Us Joy

It’s been a few years since I’ve been to New Orleans, but the lesson I’ve learned from their colorful streets has staying power. When we allow ourselves to arrive in a place free from judgement and aim to play — to create and search for the nouns that bring us joy — we are opening ourselves to growth.

NOLA is not the only place to practice play. What we seek is a place where we feel comfortable to walk and talk and act in a space where there is minimal risk of loss or judgement. The streets of the French Quarter and the people walking them are unbothered, so we have nothing to lose by practicing something new and scary (and exciting!). The key is to find and/or create this space for yourself and then practice, practice, practice.

Benefits of Learning to Play…as an Adult!

By forging this path for ourselves, we can look forward to all or some of these benefits along the banks of our learning:

We learn to create a safe space for play, within and outside ourselves. This means we get accustomed to a new type of feeling that accepts and even desires play.

We learn the pathway to our own joys and desires. Playing is exploring, exploring is playing. If we find the work to List Our Desires (TAG’s #52) a near impossible feat, we will begin to find more and more things that bring us joy as we play.

We learn to make room for our joy in our schedules. As we find our way to have fun and access joy, we will hunger for it in our days. If we choose to continue in our bravery, we will make space for it with intention and satisfaction.

We learn that we are trustworthy. As we find that we can trust ourselves to create a safe space for play, we can choose to extrapolate our abilities to creating a space for more of what we want. Whether this is more travel, more growth, more healing, more exploration, more quality relationships or even a fabulous life worth living well, we will gain confidence in our strength and resilience.

We learn how to maneuver mistakes. Part of creating a safe space to play is learning how to deal with our missteps. Play may not come naturally to us. Whether we never learned to play or lost it along the way, we may face the personal disappointment that comes from not being good at our aim. BUT. As we learn to give ourselves a safe space for play, so too we find we can use this same space for exploring our perceived shortcomings. Our play space is fertile! It is the best place for new ideas, practices and solutions.

We learn to connect. Our practice of stepping out of our critical headspace to enter a space of play without expectation gives us the superpower of communicating and regarding the needs and joys of ourselves and our loved ones. Here is the ultimate deliciousness:

Self-love is maximizing our ability to play as it leads us to our desire, first for the meeting of needs that we have ignored and then for the filling of our soul.

As we learn to appreciate this process for ourselves, we will begin to appreciate others and their play. This road leads to new friends, brave days and nights swapping play stories, contented sleeps and a broader mind full with old, new and advised play.

A Lifestyle of Play

What adventure awaits us as we learn to play. In travel and in life, we are better for our practice. Play is a lifelong education; I can’t think of a journey more full with achievement and still void of end. Even so, we grow each day we provide ourselves a few minutes of safe play.

May we all create our space and grow our time spent within it. May we find that it is in this space where anything is possible. May we learn to take it every place we go. May we learn to live in it. May we invite others when the time is right. May we play ourselves right into a life well-lived. Play on.

Big Love & Happy Travels,

Brett Jenae, The Anxious Girl