Play!

After what I would consider to be a pretty full on month, I've begun to really play around with (that was intentional) the idea of "play". Not just with the kids, but when I'm on my own, and with the intention to shift my energy/perspective behind it. 

When I refer to the word "play" here, I'm doing so with it meaning some sort of movement or activity that you can't help but smile while you're doing it. For example, I legitimately enjoy running, but I resonate with the challenge/reward of running and the clear head that it leaves me with afterwards. On occasion I'll find myself grinning half way through a 5k or something, but when it comes to that, I'm much more drawn to the 110% effort and take a knee when you're done kind of experience. 

So for the last month, whenever I've gotten stuck up in my head, or my body is dragging from shitty sleeps, stress etc, I've added some form of legitimate, smile enduring play into my day. Generally as a warm up for workouts, but also in the morning and before bed; and I gotta say, the results have been pretty fantastic.

"Play" has involved juggling and attempting to become proficient with a footbag (hacky sac), dancing........yeah I said it (I'm not good at it and have always hated it, but I am good at laughing at myself), and some over the top playing with the dog. 

For how simple and accessible those 4 things are, their ability to flip my emotional/physical state upside down every single time is mind-blowing. As an example I had a shitty experience with a "client" the other night, and it put me in pretty below the line and surly place. Instead of just sloggging through a workout motivated only be caffeine and fast music, I threw on some up beat tunes on Soundcloud, kicked the footbag around for 10mins then danced (like what I'm sure looked like some sort of weird bipedal beluga whale) for another 10. What followed was an immediate and long lasting shift in perspective/mindset, as well as a ton of energy that carried me through the rest of the day. 

Ever see your kids go full bore for hours and wonder how they do it? Because they're having FUN while PLAYing. After incorporating this more and more into my days, I'd say we would be wise to look at our kids for some lessons when it comes to this stuff instead of the other way around. In a profession where most of us wear a resting bitch face and mainline coffee all day, I'd say we could use a little increase in happiness and energy.....no?

I'm not telling you to not crank Metallica and get after it, just mix some fun in there and see what happens.