Is this a play-day?

Making Time to Play

“I pray you...your play needs no excuse. Never excuse.”

William Shakespeare

Have you noticed that men have a much easier time playing than women? One of my sons has a man-cave full of video games—he's rapidly approaching 29. I have a man-friend older than I, who has a train room for his toy trains. Men can amuse themselves all weekend watching sports of one kind of another—games played by other grown men.

Women, on the other hand, have a much harder time playing—at least playing for ourselves alone. We play with our children and grandchildren under the guise of “child care.” We give ourselves permission to play when it entertains someone else, but just to play because we want to play is another thing all together. We are typically more comfortable if what we do for pleasure is useful—like baking, or sewing, or scrap-booking. For me, quilting, and really any kind of art, is play.

Play should never be something for which we apologize. Sarah Ban Breathnach, in her book, Simple Abundance, suggests that we make a toy chest for ourselves; a perfect box into which we put all the things we like to play with. We can put it on the high shelf in our closet and only bring it out when we want to play. We can choose to share, or not.

What were the toys you yearned for as a child? I loved books, and went to the library as often as possible. Nowadays, I don't let myself sit down during the day to read lest I appear to be lazy. I have trouble not judging people who tell me, “I read for thirty-six hours straight to finish this book!” So, for me, putting play into my life will mean giving myself permission to sit down in the middle of the day to read just for the fun of it. I also loved roller-skating, but we won't even go there at this point!

So, I pass this suggestion on to you. If you have a hard time playing, make a toy box for yourself. Put into it something that you really loved playing with as a child. Start small—a box of crayons and a coloring book, maybe. As you get more comfortable playing, add to it. Allow the child in you to have fun. Play is an essential part of staying young at heart.

                                            In the spirit,

                                               Jane