I play all the time. I like making silly voices when reading bedtime stories and refusing to stop because the kids are laughing too hard. I like making silly dances and sing loudly to my right-now favorite song on repeat. I like building stuff, like a train track that goes out the window or up in the ceiling. I like painting, sculpting , drawing, clay-ing with and without my kids. We love to use our hands and create something we didn’t know we wanted to do.

I’m deeply creative, which means I almost always have a hobby project going. And I go all in. I research, buy supplies (I spend way too much money every time, because I buy exactly everything you can possible need), practice practice practice, and imagine myself doing this forever. For a while, it becomes my entire personality.

Right now, it’s wood carving. Before that, it was crocheting. Before that, I made soap. And so on…

And one day I just wake up and feel absolutely nothing for it. No spark. No curiosity. Just a quiet, firm nope. Usually it happens when I feel like I’ve mastered it. Like ”this looks good, I can do this, I got this”. So I guess I like the learning part of the projekt, and when that’s done, I move on!

For a long time, I thought this meant I lacked discipline or follow-through. Now I see it as play. Creative play. My ADHD brain exploring, learning, touching, testing, creating — and then releasing. Playtime, for me, isn’t about finishing things. It’s about being in it. Hands busy. Mind calm. Nervous system regulated in the most chaotic way possible.

I don’t force myself to “stick with” a hobby anymore. I let it come, I let it take up space, and when it’s done with me, I let it go. That freedom is part of the play. So when I jump from yarn to soap to wood, I’m not quitting — I’m playing. And honestly, that’s where my creativity feels most alive.

Someone smart said ”We don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stoped playing”.

So, Go play!