Grow Up and Play!

"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."
- George Bernard Shaw (Irish playwright)

There couldn't be a more fitting line. There is much controversy right now regarding adults and play. For generations play has been considered the child's domain. Adults don't have time to play. We're too busy trying to complete our never-ending to-do list. We don't even have time to stop and smell the roses (which is actually quite the pleasant experience)Imagination is supposed to be taken over by maturity, and when it isn't, its possessors are considered infirm or delusional. Everything has rules, and competition is the only valid form of play. While competitive play (read: sports) has its merits, it is a little beyond the scope of this article. I'll have to dedicate an article to it in the future. For now, we will focus on free-form play.

What is free-form play? It's anything, really. It's chasing your dog or little one around the yard. It's a game of leapfrog. It's seeing who can climb that huge tree the fastest. It's anything spontaneous and active. It's simple (because we have to make everything complicated nowadays). It's also a huge stress reliever. Most importantly, it's FUN.

What is it not? Free-form play is not bound by rules. It isn't bound to certain age groups. It isn't time-bound. And it most certainly is not bound to a video game system. This may also be called "play" but is not. There is no imagination involved (the game designers did the imagining for you), and there is no activity beyond that of the thumbs. (Not saying occasional video game playing is a bad thing...it's just not healthy to play for hours upon hours every week)

What are the benefits? Play is not only a great physical activity, but it can also have incredible mental benefits as well. It can stir up some creativity. As already mentioned, it can relieve stress. It can rekindle a connection with the outdoors (I recently experienced this on a long bike ride to clear my head. I was incredibly stressed from work and school). Being in the sun provides a vitamin D boost (more on vitamin D in a future article). It improves mood, not only from stress relief and extra vitamin D, but also from connecting with play partners and completely freeing the mind of stress and other thoughts that clutter our conscious and subconscious all day long.

How does one play? Free-form play is called such because there are no rules, there is no structure, no boundaries. Get outside, find something you like doing (for me, it's biking, hiking, and climbing), and do it! And most importantly: HAVE FUN! It really couldn't get any simpler.