Re-Creating Through Recreating

Most health care professionals, if a patient is wound up and stressed out but otherwise healthy, will advise the patient to take a little time off, get some recreation—go on vacation, take the weekend, or at least get out for an afternoon walk.

I’ve spent my fair share of time being wound up, and have had the “get out for some recreation” talk from friends, if not doctors. And in the past, I generally had one of two responses:

• I smiled and said “thank you for the advice” with no intention of doing anything about it. Because I didn’t get the value. I didn’t see recreation as anything more than just “blowing off steam.” And if I had a lot to do, that seemed like a time-stealer. Better to push through and work.
  
• I said “fine” and went off and engaged in some recreation. And while it was good and nice and perhaps cleared my head a little, it didn’t seem to matter much.
  

I’m going to suggest a third option, one that, to my surprise (as evidenced above) has in more recent years served me well. Rather than not recreating (bad for your health, actually), and rather than recreating without it seeming to matter much, how about taking it to another level? How about recreating, and really benefitting? How about recreating and seeing a real change, as a result?

It starts with awareness:
Is it possible this horsing around, this blowing off steam, is part of something greater and grander? It’s a great word, especially when you break it down: re-creating. Is it possible that recreating has creative powers? If so, then this is a whole new ball game (yes, ball game). Because the creative process—creating something, or re-creating something—is amazing, mysterious, divine. And powerful.

So here’s the third option:

Get some recreation this week, and when you do, go beyond blowing off steam. Be wonderfully aware of the powers of the activity to bring re-creation to you. Give yourself to this. No pressure, no expectation, simply the knowledge that this bike ride or this game or this trip to the museum is great and powerful stuff. Take a deep breath, have fun, and allow the creative process to do its thing in you. Who knows what you’ll find, what re-creation will happen, as a result?