The Importance of Play in Our Lives

In first year university, I had a sociology professor who specialized in play and leisure. I remember him justifying his choice of specialization to his peers by saying that with the emerging technological developments, people would accomplish the required work quicker and thus have more leisure time. Well, that was in the mid 1980s and we all know how things turned out. Instead of giving us more leisure time, the increase of personal computers, internet connections, cellular phones and the like have resulted in the expectation of 24×7 accessibility and have blurred the lines between work and personal life.

Our high tech life with its accelerated pace has fostered a culture that seems to be always working, always rushed, always connected. With cell phones ringing in movie theatres, laptop computers at the beach, internet connections at every other cafe, and home offices that beckon us all hours of the night and day, it’s hard to separate “play” from “work.” Yet to maintain balance in our lives, and for our ultimate well-being, play is important.

Lenore Terr, a psychiatrist at the University of California, San Francisco, and author of Beyond Love and Work: Why Adults Need to Play, argues that play is crucial at every stage of life. In play, we discover pleasure, cultivate feelings of accomplishment, and acquire a sense of belonging. When we play, we learn and mature and find an outlet for stress. “Play is a lost key,” Terr writes. “It unlocks the door to ourselves.”

In his book, The 100 Year Lifestyle, Dr. Eric Plasker, the founder of the Council on Family Wellness for the World Chiropractic Alliance, reminds us that when you are constantly exhausted and stressed, your energy goes toward survival - it goes toward managing the stress inside your body and pushing you through fatigue. However when you live in balance, your energy is free to go directly toward your creativity.

When you are completely involved in play your cares and worries disappear. You feel pleasurably alive and light-hearted. Play time is simply about enjoying your life. You are doing whatever it is that makes you happy and rejuvenates you - reading a good book, frolicking on the beach, going for a walk in the woods, spending time with your life partner, traveling to exotic places, and celebrating life.

In order to ensure you have enough play time in your life, Dr. Plasker recommends scheduling your play first and fitting work in around it. This might seem counter-intuitive to what you have always done. When many of us are in a time crunch, we try to work ourselves out of it and instead we just end up further behind. The way to get out of a pinch is to step away and take play time.

The benefits of play can not be over stated. Play allows you to be present in the moment, brings out your creativity, creates balance, and frees you from the grind and the intensity of work. Play increases your energy, relaxes you, balances out your system, and produces a condition of equilibrium throughout your mind and body. It is often where your next big idea is born.

If you feel like you don’t have enough play time in your life (and who doesn’t), try these suggestions:

Turn-off. Turn off the television, computer, beeper and cell phone for at least two hours a day.

Let your mind wander. Recall what you used to enjoy doing or what you always wanted to do before we became so technology-oriented.

Include others. Invite someone over to play, just like you used to when you were a kid. Nothing planned, nothing structured. Let your play evolve naturally.

Think physical. Go for a walk, ride your bike, rent some skates, break out the croquet set from the basement, go for a swim or a run.

Pretend. Pretend you don’t have any cares or worries. Pretend you have all the time in the world to laugh and play and enjoy. Pretend there is no moment other than this.

Life is not just about work. You deserve to enjoy your life. Have fun and lots of it. Any time you have the choice of whether to work “just one more hour” or give yourself over to play, consider what Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.”

I invite you to share your thoughts and perspective on the article. What do you do for fun? How do you use fun to keep balance in your life? To join the discussion, simply leave a comment.