Renowned artist Pablo Picasso once said, ‘Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up’. Sadly, many of us tend to put ‘fun’ on the backburner to cater to impending responsibilities as adulthood takes over. Our routines are reduced to work and household chores with a cheat meal in front of a screen over the weekend, at best.
Experts, however, recommend incorporating regular recreational and physical activities into our schedules no matter what our age because play benefits adults in many ways. Several reports indicate that grownups who engage in playful activities tend to cope better with stress, experience more positive emotions, show greater resilience when facing challenges and report higher levels of life satisfaction.
“When I play football after a long day at work, I feel energetic the next day after having a good sleep from the night before,” Bahraini media professional Hadi Galal said.
“It promotes my focus and concentration on tasks whether work-related or not. Additionally, playing football helped me create a bigger social circle in Bahrain,” added the 37-year-old from Juffair.
Indian expatriate and chartered accountant Vinod Rathi has always enjoyed watching cricket but actively took it up as an escape from the demands of professional life. “Playing has improved my stamina, energy levels and overall well-being, while also reducing stress and enhancing focus. It has helped build resilience under pressure.
“Equally valuable are the friendships and sense of camaraderie that come with the game,” noted the 37-year-old from Sanabis, who has been involved in the local Abraj Premier League and the GCC Cricket Cup.
While outdoor play enhances mood and provides exercise, indoor activities like board games also qualify as ‘play’ and have been a source of family entertainment for millennia. Rolling dice with friends or throwing darts with colleagues can offer respite from the routine.
The kingdom is also home to a vibrant board games and tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) community.
TTRPGs in particular have brought together groups of friends who get together to role-play fantasy and science fiction adventures usually only seen in TV shows and movies.
“I have been playing tabletop role-playing games since 1999,” 46-year-old investment broker Nasser Al Alawi, who lives in Gufool, told GulfWeekly.
“We grew up in the era of sword and sorcery cartoons like He Man or Conan, while reading fantasy novels, so in TTRPGs, you get to actually be that character and play out the adventure, feeding your inner child.
“People of all ages are involved in the community, some of whom have been there for 20 or 30 years!
“The beauty of it is a lot of them get to escape the world and go through an adventure where they get to control and shape the world around them, leaving chance to dice.
“There are also a lot of real-life skills people hone, like confidence - myself included - I was able to conquer my own stage fright by just pretending I was a character from one of our adventures.”
The arts and crafts are an avenue for ‘play’ too as experienced by Bahrain’s beloved 3-D artist couple from Seef District Limnesh Augustine and Jincy Babu.
“Our work feels like a playground and keeps our inner child alive as it demands imagination without boundaries,” art educator Jincy, 33, explained.
