Prioritizing Play

How many hours per week do you spend playing? 

If you’re like most adults, your answer would be “not many.”  Play is underrated in our culture of hard work and achievement, and productivity is the golden calf that many of us worship and prioritize.  It can be a challenge to remember the value of stopping the rat race and recall what it’s like to be a kid. 

This week I found myself drowning in a sea of to-dos, appointments, commitments and obligations. Being an adult is hard work and the pressures and responsibilities can slowly create a burden that can be difficult to get out under. 

Sometimes in these moments, I get a flash of clarity that invites me to step away and figure out what’s lacking that might offset the serious tone of life.  Usually my first insight is that I need to find a way to PLAY.   

Play is not just for kids. 

It can include ANYthing that reminds us that life is not just about work and paying bills and cooking and cleaning.  For me in this particular week, the question led me to book a hotel, toss my kids and I in the car, and have a night centered around pizza, star wars, and swimming in a pool.  The net result of this decision equated to countless laughs, an incredible night of sleep, a feeling of lightheartedness and connection with the ones I love the most.   

Stepping away from work demands and doing something fun for its own sake puts into perspective all that is most important and valuable to us.  When we take a pause to see life through the eyes of a child, we hedge ourselves again cynicism that can come from taking life too seriously.   

In the words of George Bernard Shaw, “We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”  

How might you carve out time for yourself this week to prioritize what is fun and pleasurable to you?