Play – Defiance Training Corp

I saw a meme on Reddit the other day that had a guy looking at his watch for the data on if he had fun. Of course, the thread that followed was definitely hating, Regardless, it got me thinking. “Am I having fun?” I mean sure, the work has to be put in. There is a time for hard work and the often talked about “grind.” But shouldn’t we also have fun? There should be a balance, right? I remember how fun it was to absolutely kill it on the court or the field, games where we were just crushing the other team and it was obvious that our conditioning was far better than theirs. Those practices leading up to those games sucked, but damn, those kinds of games were awesome! I can say the same now. I don’t compete in those games anymore, but I race for fun, I kickbox and I hit the BJJ mats. I have way more fun when I feel good and can just flow. That definitely takes putting in the work. But I’ve noticed lately that the work is always work. I was running shortly after seeing that meme and it hit…..I was on the struggle bus and had been for days, weeks, maybe months. What I normally do for stress relief was a very difficult chore and I was struggling to run even a slow pace early in the run. That is most definitely NOT fun! It made me realize that the way I’ve been living lately is NOT fun. Constant grind. I don’t think I’m the only one living like this either. Life ebbs and flows, for sure, but it seems that we’ve made it some sort of mark of achievement to run ourselves into the ground, or bottomless pit of stress, anxiety, and despair rather.

Mental Health has taken a back seat to success, and it shows. Exercise is supposed to be a stress reliever, a mental health aide but for many, it is just on the list of things to do that isn’t getting done. Exercise is supposed to be a tool used for good physical, mental and emotional health. As a kid, we couldn’t wait to bust through those doors, running full tilt to the swings, the see saw or the playing field. It was our release, and it was fun. Do we even know what that is now, without a drug of some sort anyway? Can we even find that feeling inside without assistance? Forget the feeling of joy from fun, what about peace? Is that around anymore? Everything we do is on some gadget of sort compared, criticized, photographed and shared for more comparisons and critiques. It’s not required, ya know. Comparison is the thief of joy. You don’t have to participate in that game. Do you. Yes, the work has to be put in for the most fun to happen, but balance. Go have fun! Don’t turn your watch on for the next run. Just go run. Hop on the logs and soar over the puddles. Here’s a thought….don’t pace yourself. Run full tilt as far as you can and then stop, huff and puff and do it again. Or run full tilt to the swings and play. Lace up some skates, ride your bike and go jump some stuff. Whatever. Do the work, but then also, play, have fun, smile….for real. And if the work needs to pause a second, then maybe it should. Live for you!

I say it all the time, “It’s not years going by making you old. It’s that you stopped moving making you old.” I hate when people blame getting old for some ache or pain. Yes, age happens and with that certain physiological changes. It’s nature. It has to. I mean look at the trees and the grass and the flowers and the…..look outside. Things change, life happens. But it doesn’t have to be to complete pain and immobilization. That’s a broken bone, not the aging process. How we live now is so often the reason for those, “getting old sucks,” comments. We sit. all. the. time. In traffic, at a desk, on the couch, then straight to bed to do it all over again the next day. Think about it….as a kid we played all the time. At least I did, and with the benefit of country kid life, I had lots of space. School years rolled around and I learned to sit my butt at a desk or I would get a whipping. At least recess happened though, where we played until the very last second when that whistle was blowing for the 3rd and final time sending us running hard so we wouldn’t get in trouble and have to sit out of next recess. Moving was life! Let me rephrase….Playing was life! You know, tackle the man with the football, freeze tag, seesaw….or trying to stay on anyway, climbing ladders to slide down fast, hit the ground to do it all again as fast as we could. And there’s always the “who can run down the big slide without falling” thing. I fell….hard! My first experience with having all wind knocked out me. I was dying! But I didn’t die and I got up for more recess eventually. It hurt! The “I still remember it to this day” kind of hurt. But you know what, I got up and moved. I’m quite certain that the way I fell caused some serious bruises, to lots of parts. And I’m sure that I had to have been pretty sore for days after, but I don’t remember that. I played. Playing is moving so that made the hurts not hurt so much. Now I know from experience that when I’m sore and I have to sit, I feel so much worse later. Being stuck in a car or plane for hours leaves me feeling like crap for days. As a kid, we paid little attention to hurts because we were too busy getting to base before getting pegged or getting to the court to call dibs on first game. Now, our minds are on other things, we sit for hours, we stress, tense up and hold our bodies in one position for long periods of time. Of course we hurt. Of course we lose muscle. Of course we lose mobility. Of course that sucks.

I know life happens and we can’t spend our lives on the playground. We get older, seasons change. As those seasons change we notice different things, we get made fun of for something so we get embarrassed and don’t want to do it again. We care what others think more. We have to make certain grades so we have to be in class. We have to study so we can get into the school that we have to go to. We have to get a certain job so we can have the house the we have to have and the car that we have to have so we can look a certain way. With all the have to haves comes more responsibility, more bills, more work. I’m being a bit smart ass, I know. Some of us just live just to live and get by with what we can. And some of us have crap happen that puts us in a hole to climb out of. As I said, life happens. The point is, whatever the reason, we forget to play. We forget how good it felt to run screaming from the building to be the first one to the best swing or the first one to the tether ball pole. We forget the stress relief that it was and that it made the hurts from falling off the slide not hurt. I say “forget” to play. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe we don’t forget. Maybe we feel like we can’t do that anymore because we’re not kids anymore so it’s not the responsible thing to do. Maybe we’re afraid of how we would look. Playing chase wouldn’t look like responsible adults…..or it’s not the right look for whatever your role is. I get it. There is so much that can come about to make a person take on seriousness. Well, I’m here to tell ya, playing is life. It’s necessary! Whatever your reason for seriousness, playing will make you better at it. I’ll say that better. Whatever your role, moving will make you better at it. It’s a proven fact that moving does wonders for depression, anxiety, mental and emotional health. It really does make you happy. You have to live under a rock to not know that moving is crucial for a healthy body, but it also makes you smarter, sharper and more creative. It gives that brain a little kick. Moving helps you heal and it slows the aging process. It does all these amazing things, yet we don’t do it. Why? We put it in a box, mark that box “exercise” and then we file that under “I don’t want to.” Well, don’t go exercise. Go play. Yes, going to the gym for a workout is a good thing but it doesn’t have to be that ho-hum ride on the treadmill to be exercise. Find a class that you have fun in, that you really enjoy. Go to a boxing class where you can hit things. Go try something completely new and don’t worry about what you look like. Every expert had to be new at some point. Let that newbie status be your excuse to look like a goofball and enjoy it! Go outside. Nature is pure therapy whether you’re in water or on a trail. Play chase with your kids. Whatever. Just be open to the idea of play, have fun and get lost in it. You are never too old for that. And I absolutely promise if you play, you’ll never be old.

Tag: Play

We Having Fun Yet?

Let’s Play