Find your Play

I remember a saying from my kindergarten days that says ” All work & no play makes Jack a dull boy”

This is really true in our world today, a lot of people are leading very dull lives simply because they are all about work,work,work & nothing about playing & relaxing. I recently started a Bible Study Plan on Life-Work Balance ( notice I say “Life-Work” & not the usually expression “Work-Life“).  This is because in my opinion your life is much more important than your work. You had the life before your work came by & life will still be there after you cease from work.

On one of the days in the Bible Plan, the topic “Find Your Play” came up and I realized that I needed a break.

Because of my new role at the office, the work load &  the need to show my superiors that it wasn’t a mistake choosing me, I threw myself totally into work 100% with a little extra.

This has been the case since 1st of April, but in recent days I started seeing the signs that my mind & body need to rest.

I wasn’t eating well and it took a colleague of mine to highlight that I’ve lost some weight. Later that night I discovered I have actually lost 4kg from my standard 70kg which I have kept for years now. I also noticed that I was forgetting things, my mind wasn’t as sharp as before, it got so bad that in a recent conversation with some friends over the weekend, I totally forgot the word “Birth” while constructing a sentence. Alarm bells started ringing loud and clear.

So I pressed on the breaks and dedicated some time to play, just to have fun & get my groove back.

I had promised my kids that I will take them out to a park or sport center to play, that I did, it was on a Sunday evening just for 2 hours but it was rewarding.

Just sitting with my wife and watching my son roller-blade and use his skateboard while my daughter was on her scooter was delightful. After a while my wife & I just had a tennis session for about 30 mins or so. We’ve not played together for about 3-4 yrs, it wasn’t about the technicality of the game, but just the running around, laughing & having fun.

Now I’ve set my focus on gaining 9kg,so new weight target is now 75kg, I’ve also decided to play tennis more regularly just to get my system back to shape. Below is an extract from my Bible study:

“Play is not just for kids. If you are under pressure at work, a playful spirit can lead to balance, creativity and good health. Play relieves stress, increases physical and mental fitness, and introduces new ways of learning.

Play reminds us how it feels to be a child—innocent, everything new. God is inviting us to play each time he points our hearts to beauty.

An article entitled “The Importance of Play for Adults” turns to psychiatrist Dr. Stuart Brown for a definition of play. The focus of play, Dr. Brown observes, is “on the actual experience, not on accomplishing a goal” and the activity “is needless.” You do it for fun, he says.

In our hyper-productive world, we need to learn how to play again. Play is not a one-size-fits-all pursuit. If we’ve been “all work and no play” for months on end, we’ll need to experiment to find what fits us.

Are you the type to belt out ‘90s tunes, take your dogs for a walk, or meet up with a friend for coffee or swim for 10 mins?

Though we mature in our faith, in some ways we must remember to become like little children. After all, “the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Find your play. Let it work in you to remind you how to be like a little child again.

This is my snippet , I am SHALOMESQ!!!