In his 2008 TedX Talk, Dr. Stuart Brown astutely pointed out that The New York Times Magazine’s cover story from earlier that year, titled ‘Why Do We Play?’, portrayed several kids engaging in different types of play. Conspicuously missing from the cover were adults.
Being playful and being an adult are often portrayed as either-or.
To be an adult is to be serious, not playful.
To be a kid is to be playful, not serious.
Maybe this seems obvious. Maybe you’re thinking: “well yeah, adults have to work!”
Except the opposite of play isn’t work, according to Dr. Brown. Instead, “it’s depression…think about life without play — no humor, no flirtation, no movies, no games, no fantasy and, and, and. Try and imagine a culture or a life, adult or otherwise without play.”
Instead of seeing your activities as a choice between work or play, imagine what it would mean to get work done while playing.
There’s absolutely nothing written in stone that says you can’t have fun while you’re doing important work.
So why not have fun?