Healthy Life Tip: Put on a Cape and Call It Self-Care by Sharonne Gracia

By Sharonne Gracia

Put on a Cape and Call It Self-Care 

Before you learned to schedule every hour of your day and measure your worth in productivity, you played. You didn’t need a reason. You didn’t need to be good at it. You simply followed what felt fun, and that was enough.

Then came the pressure to grow up, get serious, and leave play behind. Somewhere along the way, you started believing fun had to be earned, or that play was only for children.

But play doesn’t distract you from life – it brings you back to it!

When you play, you let down your guard. You reconnect with your body, your breath, your 

joy. Your laugh! You make things – sometimes imaginary things – without needing them to be perfect. You shake off the tension and let your imagination stretch again.

Play pulls you out of autopilot. It wakes you up. It reminds you that life isn’t just 

about getting through the day, it’s about being in it.

You don’t need toys or gear, just permission to loosen up. Maybe that means pausing the to-do list. Maybe it means tying a towel around your shoulders. Because sometimes, all you need to feel alive again is a cape and a sprinkle of make believe.

Try these:

Dance around your living room as if you’re six years old again

Start a fake band in your kitchen with wooden spoons and pots, listening to “Pots & Pans” by Mickey Hart & The Bacon Brothers

Make up a ridiculous voice for talking with your pet

Draw a self-portrait or one of your best friend with your non-dominant hand

Skip instead of walking – the New York Times recently reported how healthy it is for us!