Well hello there wonderful people. I recently read a wonderful article that really got me thinking, my mind churning, trying to remember my childhood. The article in question is titled : "Playtime!" written by Mindfulness and Well-being writer Zoe Bowman. I found this beauty in the magazine Breathe and make time for yourself. Fantastic magazine by the way, some great stuff in it.
To sum up the article, it essentially encourages adults to get their fun on, and start mucking about like we once did as kids. Apparently there's a whole institute in America dedicated to studying Play, who knew. According to Bowman and The National Institute for Play, 'play is the gateway to vitality. By its nature it is uniquely and intrinsically rewarding. It generates optimism, seeks out novelty, makes perseverance fun, leads to mystery, gives the immune system a bounce, fosters empathy and promotes a sense of belonging and community.' In other words its pretty good for your health and well-being. Boom mind blown. I just got permission from researchers to go out and get my kid on. Winning.
Que thinking back on my childhood. Mmmm, I really was a moody cow of a teenager. My fun generally included Highland dancing, dancing around my room, listening to music, and reading the newest Nancy Drew or Harry Potter. Oh, not to mention fighting with my baby brother and sister for the TV so I could watch MTV and VH1. Yeah things were slightly limited living on a farm in South Africa. The dangers of playing outside when a parent wasn't watching, generally included getting bitten by a Cobra of some kind, praying some wild animal (lion or leopard) hadn't decided to come prowling by or getting shot or kidnapped by some twit. I kid you not, my brother was nearly stolen from the shopping trolley when he was a toddler. Anyway I'm getting off topic here.
It really had me wondering what I'd done as a child that I found fun. Word has it my favourite thing to do as a toddler was to pack the entire contents of my mother's house into plastic bags. Fast forward and I loved playing make believe. I generally tended to be a lawyer who left her kids at home with a private Nanny to go off and fight legal battles. Fast forward again and boom you have the moody cow who preferred her own company and making up dances in her bedroom. Are any of those things really considered play? I'd say it might be frowned upon to leave my kids at home with a pretend Nanny, whilst I go off and pretend to be a lawyer; and packing all the contents of my house into plastic bags would mean a hell of a lot of cleaning up at the end. Oh who am I kidding, I'd just turf the lot in the back of the ute and take it to the dump. So much easier than unpacking it all.
Any who where was I again? Oh that's right Play. Now as an adult well play can mean a whole lot of funky things. If you're like my husband it means chopping down things in the backyard with a chainsaw, or playing Call of Duty till all hours of the night, most of which is spent cursing at the TV. Now if you're one of the Erotica writers I follow on Twitter, here's looking at you @Carla69senora , cleaning the house can mean a whole lot of fun you never thought of. Let's just say watching your man clean the house, while you both reach an agreement on what his submission position should be when you enter the room sounds like a whole lot of fun. Que paddle stick.
Oh there are so many wondrous things adults can do to have fun, the difficulty is singling them out. Wait who am I kidding, let's just go give all of them a crack and see how it pans out.
I hope you all have a fun and wonderful weekend.