When you’re young, you do it because you love it. Never grow up, my friend.
A s much as that sounds like a line from Peter Pan , it’s not. It’s actually from a Nike soccer commercial that aired during their “Joga Bonito” (play pretty) campaign featuring Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho circa 2008-2010.
That video resonated with me then and has never been very far from my mind in the years since. The goal of the narrator in the commercial was to “remind us how it should be,” as it spliced a video of the soccer superstar in his present form with a video of him as a child phenom – always smiling and playing for fun, not the stress of winning and pleasing the critics as many athletes do as their careers advance.
There is something infectious about a person at play and the genuine smile that accompanies it. One of the most blissful, light-hearted states that I have enjoyed in recent memory occurred last June at my in-laws.
As we took my wife’s father to get his weekly haircut and shave at my sister-in-law’s, we walked past a basketball goal lowered to eight feet, and a basketball was just sitting there, almost teasingly. It was begging me to pick up the ball and dunk it.
So I did.
Then I did it again.
And again.
Then I started adding reverse dunks, self-alley-oops, and tossing the ball off the backboard.
What seemed like two minutes went by and, all of a sudden, they were done inside, and it was time to go. I hadn’t even noticed the sweat, the heavy breathing, or the passage of time until it was over. But I sure as shit noticed the smile on my face and how much fun I was having.
I was transformed.
I’ll admit it, I’m a hard-charging, type A, “discipline equals freedom” type of person. While that serves me well more often than not, it has the obvious downside of not playing enough. Getting enough spontaneous play in my life is something I am (and will continue to) work on.
Having that light-bulb, a-ha moment on the eight-foot basketball goal at my in-laws was a powerful shift for me. That moment stands out because it was the first a-ha moment in regards to play and having fun. There have been many such moments since then, but only because I have been aware of the need to play and actively seek those opportunities.
Perhaps more crucial is the fact that I now allow myself to let loose, play, and lose myself in those moments. I no longer feel guilty about taking a half day off from work on a weekday to go surfing.
If you’re not able to let go of the feelings of guilt, you’re not being fully present. And you’re also not allowing the vagus nerve to feel safe – both of which defeat the point.
Let’s talk about why play, safety, and something called the vagus nerve are crucial for our well-being and performance.