October Intention: PLAY!

I am terrible at play. There, I said it. I have four kids and my house is covered in toys, games, books, Legos and art supplies. Every room is littered with evidence of fun and color. But it's hard when you're the one who is picking up the mess after the play happens. I started to develop this Pavlovian response to the sound of laughter and joy and think about how much time I would have to spend mopping up the product of the laughter and joy. 

We ended our first teacher training this month and I've been doing research on what resources to include on our next training. Reading different books, watching TED talks, exploring different avenues of information... and then I'm reading this book and it starts to talk about the value of play. Play is a critical part of developing creativity, cultivating rest and even forging a connection with others. It sounds serious but it's not - just have FUN! Fun and play are not my forte - I am much more comfortable with tasks and to-do lists. And now this brilliant researcher has told me that play is critical to make all these things in my life happen that I want to happen: I want to be creative! I want to have quality rest! I want to be connected with the people in my life! 

So how on earth do I do this? I've been thinking about all the things I enjoy doing and I've been warming up to some ideas of play. 

Now remember, it doesn't come naturally to me, so these are things I've been playing with: 

Baking! I love baking and I've been using different ingredients to make cookies and muffins. I have even gotten brave enough to have the kids help with mixing ingredients. It stressed me out at first but now we all clean up together and it makes it easier on me! 

Running! Training season is officially here but now I try to take myself less seriously. Jason and the kids have joined me for a strength training session and I've taken some of the kids on a short run with me. We skip and laugh and talk about the things that we see - sometimes we stop at the park on the way back and have Ninja Warrior Races on the playground. 

Reading! I'm working on books and resources for our next teacher training, but I'm also adding back in reading for pleasure. Books that are fun for no reason at all - stuff I used to read like Stephen King and Michael Crichton. I haven't read Jurassic Park in like twenty-something years but I'm going to pick it up again because... hello: DINOSAURS!! 

Even if it feels like pulling teeth to have fun (wow - I'm really selling myself here), I'm going to try to bring it back into my life. Help me! Hold me accountable for having fun!