Jennifer Wayne

We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.  ~George Bernard Shaw

The older we get, the more consumed we are by work.  We want to do more, have more, accomplish more.  We think that all these things will make us happy.  Someday.  We think that by doing things that don’t make us happy, by suffering for our duties and obligations, we will earn our happiness.  But, intuitively, we know better.  We know that happiness follows joy, not suffering.

Why this preoccupation with how diligent we are, how focused, how much we suffer for duty?  Why not, instead, pride yourself on how much fun you are having?  Or, better still, on how much fun you can make your work?

When I worked in the corporate world, the days that flowed the best were the ones in which I embraced my job and treated it like a game, rather than resenting and struggling against it.  Dressed in my suit, briefcase in one hand and a coffee in the other, on my way to another oh-so-important meeting…  I was playing at being a lawyer.  Some might say that this isn’t a serious way to approach a career, yet those were the days that I was at my brightest, quickest, most capable and most hard-working.  I was not succumbing to stress and fear.  I embraced the game, and I played it well.  The most successful lawyers I know are the ones who enjoy practicing law, who see the fun in it.  Is that so surprising?  Those who enjoy what they do always do it best.

Is it so different from what we learned as children?  We dressed up and pretended to be teachers, soldiers, hairdressers.  Even the most ordinary and mundane professions seemed glamorous and exciting.  We couldn’t wait for the day when it was real.  Yet when that day came, we started to take our lives seriously, and lost the fun of the game.

What we really desire is to keep playing.  To make the difficult, challenging and boring moments of our lives interesting, exhilarating, an adventure.  And why not?  Why not change your point of view, and embrace the game rather than the fear?  Whatever you do with your day–work in an office, care for children, serve drinks, cook dinner–make it a game.  Use your creativity, your sense of wonder.  Life can be as much fun as you let it be.