A life without
Limits
The value in taking time to play

by Jenny Ward

I was sitting on the beach the other day when I saw a little girl and her mom digging in the sand in front of me. They were giggling as they dug their purple shovels into the sand. The girl seemed to be about five and was full of life and joy. There was no right or wrong way to dig, and she didn’t care how messy she got. Moments later, the girl started skipping toward me. “You are pretty” she said innocently. Her words made me feel loved and appreciated. Instantly, I remembered the simplicity of this playground called life.

When do we lose this? At what age do we feel we need to stop telling others they are pretty? Smart? Awesome? Loved…you name it. Why do we mute ourselves into becoming adults? When we choose to play in this game of life, we are choosing to be in the moment of now. When we dig deeper into the sand, we can understand that the castles we build are created by the beliefs we hold.

Watching children play is like watching masters at work. They get it.

For years, I lived according to my belief that life was meant to be hard. I got the degrees, won the awards, got married, had the perfect home and still, something was missing. Becoming an adult has many requirements: responsibility, success, marriage, stability and security. I checked off each box every day, yet found myself still feeling heavy and lost. Years of dieting to be perfect and working to be successful led me nowhere. One day I stopped, looked at the sandcastles I had built, and asked myself: Who said life is meant to be like this? From that moment on, everything changed.

Play is all about believing. Believing that life is meant to be enjoyed, not survived, embraced not memorized, loved not loathed. Watch a child build a sand castle or paint a picture and notice their willingness to create without rules, design without limitations and build without expectations. Choosing to add playtime into your life is a key ingredient in creating a life of your own.

Deep down inside, we are all craving to color outside the lines or “mess up” without labeling ourselves failures. Perfectionism bruises the soul. Play allows your heart and soul to come out and dance.

Remember when we were kids how important it was to have playtime? Everyday I was outside, playing tag or building forts. I was using my mind, body and spirit every moment I could without labeling it or fitting it into my schedule. We played with all the kids on the block; race, religion, age or gender didn’t matter. What did matter was how many games of kickball we could squeeze in before dinnertime. Simple pleasures.

Each year, when we blow out the candles on our birthday cake, we should celebrate getting younger. Dance around and declare how you will spend the next play-full year of your life. How old you are begins with how young you are!

Most of us are looking at our lives and sensing a shift. Maybe we are noticing that we crave more quiet time, or we are feeling the urge to just be—without the rules or requirements we set upon ourselves.

Life is about going with the flow, exploring and being an adventurer. Life offers many experiences. It’s all on how we choose to perceive them. It can be an adventure or we can just go through the motions. Create your sandcastle with the intention to be play-full, and pass it on.