The Power of Play

 I’ve been searching the Internet to learn how to build a horseshoe pit. Hell, there must be dozens of YouTube videos that will show me, step by step. We’ve got the acreage. Plenty of room for Piper and a horseshoe pit. I’ll need pressure-treated lumber, drill bits, a drill with a Phillips driver, sand, and a few other items.  Time to get out my virginal pink toolkit!

Maybe the tree can be the backstop.

Yes, it’s been interesting to see where 23 months of not working has taken me. The tomatoes and cucumbers are doing fine, thank you very much. The bell peppers, on the other hand, are scorched and shriveled. The weeds – no worries . They are thriving.

Lately, the lack of work – spring semester over, lighter client workload, oh, and not a major election year – and the summer weather has sparked my sense of play, like tossing 2½ pound horseshoes at a stake in the ground or lofting corn-feed-filled bags to a distant hole.

I love games, but I’m not ready for bingo and mahjong, the stereotypical retirement-home games. I don’t like to be seated and indoors that long. After 40 years of work, and with the ability to still toss shoes, balls, and beanbags, I enjoy the sheer fun of playing games, both real ones and made-up ones. My favorite made-up game:  Hiding Spike the dragon.

Yet, I do remain stationary for those addicting Smart-Phone games, notably Words With Friends and Word Streak With Friends, produced by Zynga, which says its mission is “to connect the world through games.” Thank you, Zynga, for keeping me connected with distant friends in Florida, Maryland, and Virginia, and with my daughter when she may be only steps away.

Play is more than fun. There are benefits. Parents are encouraged to let their children play. Child play can foster creativity and learning, promote language development, release energy, help build social relationships, and so much more. Play is also good for adults. It can relieve stress, lighten the mood, get you moving, foster relationships, and also make you smile.

Look at the benefits of smiling. I remember being especially miserable at work and a fellow unhappy colleague telling me that smiling creates positive feelings. She’d come by my gloom-filled office and we’d smile forced smiles at each other. Then,

we’d check the Magic 8 Ball to see if new jobs were on the horizon. We’d part, smiles fixed in place.

There’s science to back up those fixed-in-place smiles. I like how blogger Sarah Stevenson explains it:  “Each time you smile you throw a little feel-good party in your brain.”

Every time I play – oh, and of course, it’s even better when this competitive gal wins – it’s a feel-good party in my brain.

I still like to work, and to contribute, but play is good fun. 

After all, shouldn’t retirement be a feel-good party?