Making a *play* list

Play: activities that are done for enjoyment and recreation rather than for a serious or practical purpose.

For children, play just seems to come naturally but as we get older the more serious and practical parts of life can easily take over. And because our default as adults is often to deal with the more serious and practical tasks of life, it’s easy to get out of touch with how to play. And before we know it our default is engaging in more passive activities (e.g., watching television, checking social media, etc.) that don’t necessarily give us the same feelings that come with play. Now don’t get me wrong, watching television and checking social media can certainly be entertaining (there are some pretty funny posts and shares on social media!) but it’s easy for those things to become our default.

One thing that my husband and I do every so often (perhaps not nearly often enough) is to come up with our “play list”. No, it’s not a play list of our favourite songs. It’s an actual *play* list - a list of activities that we’d like to do simply for enjoyment and recreation.

Over the past couple of months our play list has included going to places like the aviation museum, the indoor horticultural attraction at the zoo, the planetarium, and planning a themed dinner, playing a board game, etc. But, we haven’t had a “play list” for a while and, to be honest, I had forgotten how much fun they are. Even just the creation of the list is fun (how often as adults do we actually sit down and think about how/what we want to play?), not to mention the planning and anticipation of the upcoming event. (Hmmm, maybe my true calling was as an event planner?!)

Looking for even more excitement? Then the “play jar” is for you! The concept is the same, but instead of picking a specific activity, you put a bunch of activities into a jar and randomly pick one without looking. If that's not living on the edge, I don’t know what is!

So, if you’re looking for ways to bring more play into your serious, practical adult life, then the next time you have a few spare minutes instead of picking up your phone or remote control, pick up a pen and paper and get working on your own “play list”.