YK’s 365 Release: Day 21

I think we should all play more. My sister Kate and I had a list growing up, of potential play activities for the day. We should all have one of these in our heads even now.

I don’t remember them all because it was a cumulative list compiled over years. I do remember one activity was “Izod Day”, which meant we had to wear our Izod shirts all day long. One was “Don’t touch the door day”, which meant in order for us to go through a door, we could only slip through if someone had opened it before us. We also played “Cushion Cars”, which may have been our favorite activity of all. We would remove all of the sofa cushions and pile them on our living room table and sit on them, balancing, falling, laughing our faces off. My mother particularly disliked this latter one because she said we were always “making dust”.

As an adult, I try to embrace playing. I like to still say I play because I don’t see why it should ever be obliterated just because we have left our childhood. We are basically people who, throughout our lives, just want to find happiness. And I love laughing anytime, all the time.

When I walk down the street, I still play games. Sometimes I give a running start and bound off a lamp post with one foot. Sometimes I make car racing noises in my head when I’m biking fast. Sometimes I run down hills and throw my hands in the air just to feel freedom.

Playing expands the mind, it nurtures creativity, it salvages the kid in us. It provokes curiosity and makes us ask questions. It challenges us to find solutions, and equips us with possibility. It also instills innocence and hope, traits that are worn away from us, that deteriorate when we do not maintain them.

Of course, as adults there are many more play activities available to us, such as traveling. Traveling, to me, is a fundamental key to living a happy life. My parents have been everywhere, literally. They still travel all over the world on a regular basis, even to the most esoteric destinations. They took us everywhere while we grew up, and because this was embedded in us, we all have traveled frequently throughout our adult lives.

When you travel often, you grow to understand the importance of the perfect piece of luggage. You also learn to pack efficiently, astutely, wisely. You learn tricks to keep your clothes wrinkle free, to maximize the space you have, and to minimize the amount you carry. At all times, I have a travel toiletry bag prepared, with travel duplicates of everything I use daily.

I feel it’s time again for me to travel more. I have friends living everywhere in the world, offering standing invitations to their homes. My mind wants expansion, it wants to be exposed to different lands so that it can reset itself. I of course love to travel alone sometimes, but also with friends, and welcome anyone to make a proposition, we will plan it, and we will go.

On day 21 of my 365 Release, I will be giving away a piece of luggage I bought back before I became a professional traveler. It’s perfect for a business person as it is an extremely well-made garment bag. It is not ideal for me anymore because now I carry one bag with everything I could possibly need. I have held onto it because luggage is extremely expensive, and I kept believing I would use it one day because of this. I was attached to it because of the value assigned to it when I spent the money on it. Attachment to cost, an easy thing to let go once I understand why.

Play freely, no baggage.