The importance of PLAY

“People who cannot find time for recreation are obliged sooner or later to find time for illness.” A quote by John Wannamaker.

I recently listened to a podcast on the importance of play in your life. One thing that stuck out to me is that it can make your soul come alive and that it is a release for your soul. Also how important it is for your health.I have to be honest that I really have not thought about play being that important. Play for me has always been for fun and fun has been more of a reward than a necessity for life.

When my family...

When my family is all together, one of my children or spouses of my children will initiate play. I have excused myself at that point to clean up the dishes or anything that needs my time. They play and laugh and enjoy their time together. As I heard this podcast It came back to me how many times I went to work while others played and it wasn’t refreshing. I thought that if I got some of the work done, then I would be able to play. This has rarely happened.When I heard this podcast, I was on a road trip with my daughter and her roommate. We were on a three day trip. When we got to our destination we got busy on unpacking and then we were going to go do some shopping and get something to eat. When we got back to where we were staying, either my daughter or her roommate asked me to play cards. I made a conscious decision to play with them. I say conscious because I did have some work and reading that I would have liked to do and I was also tired. Our trip there was around 7 hours and I felt like I might need a little space.

Our card game...

Our card game went from one game to two games that night. Seven games in total the whole time that we were there. Some things that I noticed were that we didn’t turn on the tv once and we were always looking forward to playing again. We were joyful and happy no matter who won. Any work that I did, didn’t even feel like work. I also felt light and in a way, refreshed.I haven’t figured this all out yet because this concept is new to me, but it is on my mind. I’m looking at it differently in my life. One thing I do know is that if someone initiates a game or something fun, I’m going to think about it first before I make the decision to do some work.

How about YOU? 

How do you play in your life? Do you take time for it? How has it affected you overall?