Remember when you were a child? I sort of do, not as well as I’d like to but well enough to remember that all I wanted to do was go on adventures and play. Cindy Lauper had something similar to say about girls, minus the adventure part… Yeah I know the songs probably in your head now, you’re welcome.
Remember the awe and excitement back then at that age? How everything was an adventure? No? Take a look at some kids playing today, all smiles. Not much of a care in the world, they just seem to be completely enthralled by what they’re doing and completely engaged in that present moment. Envious? Miss that?
I know I can be at times when I think of how much fun they get to have…
Well guess what? We can too!
We can still have play and adventure in our every day lives.
Now I know there’s some version of the inner dialogue going “Yeah but they’re kids, they don’t have the responsibilities adults do, it’s easy for them. They have the freedom”.
Perhaps the rhetoric of “I don’t have the time to mess around, I have important things to do” is playing in that mind of yours. The truth is that as we get older, life gets more serious. The layers of life get piled onto our psyche and we start telling ourselves these stories. To a certain degree you’d be correct, but all is not lost! We can still capture some of this essence as adults, and we should.
When was the last time you truly played? When last did you do something that was active and put a smile on your face effortlessly? When was it that you had a moment where you lost track of time, even if just for a handful of seconds? What was your last adventure?
We all hear and know how important a healthy diet, exercise, adequate sleep, mental stillness is blah blah blah…
What I’m proposing is that PLAY and ADVENTURE is just as important. Go do something fun, get that face smiling. Get those feel good neurotransmitters flowing. Science is showing more and more these days that happiness leads to improved health and longevity. Go try something new, fun and adventurous.
Step out of your comfort zone and let some magic happen. It could, but doesn’t have to be a day at the ski hill , an amusement park or climbing Mount Everest. Find something simple even if it’s just for 10 minutes of your day. Have a pillow fight, go kick a pile of leaves, run up a snow bank, dance in the kitchen, heck find an EMPTY parking lot and do some donuts in the family minivan (just be safe, please).
Get in touch with that inner child again, you’ve probably missed each other, don’t worry they’re still there.
You’ll be happy you did.