The Wonder Catalyst

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” — George Bernard Shaw

What if you are one out of many who have forgotten what it’s like to play? It’s easy to get focused on work demands, mental rumination, and bogged down with thoughts of worries. When you don’t realize how important fun is to your health, happiness, and your relationships, excluding fun only weakens your ability to bounce back healthily from everyday stressors. Adding play to adult daily routines can release the feel-good chemical, endorphins, into your blood system, and who doesn’t want to feel good as we age? Yes, please!

Play is considered a purposeless activity that brings about joy and pleasure. You’re simply immersed in the moment-to-moment experience of play with a childlike abandon. When you engage in cognitively challenging games like brain training game apps, puzzles, word games, memory games, or math games, you are enhancing your brain function. Play boosts your creativity and imagination, allowing you to feel young and excited about your day, which only enhances your livelihood. So what’s stopping you from adding play to your schedule? What is preventing you from creating playdates on your calendar? Let’s get this started by adding Play to your routine.

8 Ways to Ignite Your Playfulness – Are You Ready?

1. Set up playdates with your partner or with a friend. Find a friend who excels at play and learn from them.
2. Recall the types of play you enjoyed as a child. Try them out again and see if you enjoy them as an adult. Coloring in color books, finger paint, jump rope, Nerf football, blowing up balloons… You name it. Make a list and keep it in your fun journal.
3. Play with children in your neighborhood when they are playing tag at the end of your street or playground. You be the chaser.
4. Go to a dog park and see if an owner will allow you to play fetch with their Fido.
5. Go buy a new board game where you have to be silly/creative/imaginative. Learn the game instructions and then invite over a few friends/family to participate in a game night.
6. Google to see where a local indoor trampoline center is and go pay for an hour of jumping around on all the fun bouncy apparatuses. If there isn’t anything like this in your city, look for a bowling alley or a batting cage, or go-karting.
7. Drive to the nearest lake or river in your area. Pick up medium-sized flat rocks. Choose at least 10 rocks. The action goes fast. Try to skip the rocks in the water and see how far you can get in distance. Remember to laugh at yourself.
8. Search for your favorite cartoon you used to watch when you were a kid. Google the names of a few and see if there is a video platform that offers reruns of one of the cartoons you used to giggle at when watching; Bugs Bunny, The Jetsons, The Flintstones, whichever brought joy to you, watch an episode or two, and enjoy the moment! Add popcorn or your favorite snack to ensure pure pleasure.