Why you should be silly
As essay about how being silly and playful can be our strength at times.
I do “silly” things sometimes.
“Silly” things like writing letters to my future self, putting on an outfit that best represents the vibe I'm going for before going out, keeping the poorly made but precious gifts my craft students gave me—safely in a little box, or like deciding to learn guitar just because a fictional character looked so cool while playing it.
These are “silly” things, and I know a few people who would laugh at these activities.
But now, it doesn't matter.
I put on my best clothes because they give me more confidence when socializing, and I keep the crafts my students gave me because whenever I look at them, I get reminded that there was a time when I inspired my juniors to create art.
Which means, these “silly” activities have some meaning behind them.
Then what about actual silliness? Such as randomly wrapping around yourself in a purple blanket and pretending you're a wrinkly old witch? Or like pretending a wardrobe hanger was a guitar, or like randomly talking in Japanese to confuse your mom? (Yes, I actually did those before).
There are many psychologists (like René Proyer) and philosophers who mainly research this aspect of people’s lives. And there are numerous research studies showing that humour and playfulness can become a person’s most helpful personality trait as it adds to their their resilience, lowers stress, and gives them the ability to find humour even in tough situations. But silliness doesn't necessarily need to have humour in them, because maybe you just like doing the silly activity even if it doesn't seem funny.
Silliness is not a sign of immaturity, as many seem to think. It's a precious trait you'd want to carry with you from your childhood into your adulthood as well. It's a trait that is especially helpful for artists and creatives.
When I was younger, I used to think that to be taken seriously, I should act seriously too, but that's just not true. Now, I think of doing silly little activities as strength and as a way of bringing joy to one's life.
Until recently, I was too embarrassed to explain the reason to anyone who asks me why I do something that I do.
I often tell them something that is one of the reasons, but not the main reason for why I do it.
Now I realise that not everything we do needs to have a valid reason behind it. Now to respond, I just shrug shoulders and continue on with my day. And maybe if I find a plastic bottle, I can fill it up with water and thin stripes of colourful pieces of clothes to watch them floating around in the bottle.
When I come to the internet, I see people boldly pursuing their true passions, not being afraid to voice their opinions or be themselves. Maybe they have a side to them when they get afraid of posting the heart-felt essay they wrote at mid-night—like me. But they still have the courage to keep sharing their writing anyway. And I find that fricking inspiring!
You need to be silly sometimes.
I get a feeling that a lot of people (including me) feel the need to wear a serious face 24/7 to be taken seriously by others. But are we sure that's because it's how we got our family to stop treating us like a child during our childhood? (Yes, kids do want to be taken seriously sometimes).
The internet is a huge place. There can be people who experienced the same things as you so they understand your feelings when reading your article, but you might not know.
Even if you still believe there's no one who wants you to take out your old and unfinished sketchbook and make bad doodles until you run out of pages, or if you believe no one wants you to sing your favourite songs out loud because you believe your voice sounds weird—now you know that that's not true and it's okay to have fun for fun’s sake.
Adding some playfulness to your days is how you keep yourself from falling into the automatic, zombie-like mode where you do things without putting much thought into them. Being playful at times is how you uplift your artistic spirit and inner child.
Thank you for reading! I hope you liked reading this article, and I hope it was helpful. Come again next week on Friday for a ✨new post✨
- Harshini
Well said :D I think being silly is maybe a way of connecting to our inner child ?