It’s the summer of 1976. I am almost 3 years old. The car is loaded for our summer vacation in Vermont. Pure joy on my face and the excited anticipation of a family road trip. Our trusty station wagon (that probably had no car seats) headed for fun, the lake, riding bikes and the love of my grandparents.

Do I look worried about what I am going to do that day or when I get there? Do I seem concerned about my to do list? Or that I won’t get enough done, or do it right or not know how to do it or be good enough at it? No I do not. I am just happiness on two feet ready for a great day and I am confidently making up as I go along.

Yes, I recognize the demands of our lives as adults are perhaps more than what they were as young children but when did we agree to dim our spirits, our willingness to play, our sense of freedom and our imagination as if being a high functioning grown up requires such self diminishment?

Why did we subscribe to play and productivity being in opposition? Allowing right and good enough to take up residency where curiosity and creativity lived in us as kids? What has it really gotten us? Are we really so sure that the approach of stifling parts of us to have a better life is even working as well as we think?

Allowing my perfectionism and over thinking to lead the way here in this blog, for example, did nothing but create the real results of only a single post since October…March is two days away folks. I could have chosen imperfect action. To hit publish when it felt mediocre, irrelevant, unpolished, too wordy etc. just a draft that felt not ready yet…but I didn’t. I kept true to my momentum of perfect or nothing, when it’s good enough I will…write delete, write delete, write delete. All to have nothing to show for any of the effort I made, courage I summoned, wisdom I’ve earned.

My hope is that together we all begin encouraging one another to choose less divided lives where we get plenty done in ways that feel playful, fun, enjoyable and change the world with their impact…every dang day.

Go. Be good. Try to play just for 5 minutes today> if nothing else you’ll find out really quickly what your relationship to play is. Find out who you are. You can handle it.