“[…] work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do” [“The adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain]
I believe there’s great truth in this statement — at least, it often feels like that to me.
Play, or fun, particularly shared fun/play, is something I really miss. Some shared, fun, playful, mindless recklessness or wildness with somebody, possibly someone close…
I’ve been missing it especially here in California: I think it’s been partly due to the fact that I was occupied trying to build my career (as well as rebuild almost my whole life in general), but also partly to the culture here, to a different attitude towards fun or life in general, to different values and/or different ways of people connecting. And the pandemic has only made matters worse: it has effectively eliminated the only few sources of genuine fun or shared play I had found and was slowly reintegrating into my life.
I find this extremely sad, and it hurts. I often find myself wondering whether I’ll ever have any truly shared fun or genuine play with others again…
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P.S.: As idle as this issue might sound, I actually believe it to be important. When I talk about genuine play and/or shared fun, I mean a way — or a cause — of feeling alive, of liveliness. Therefore, the lack/loss of genuine play or shared fun is a cause of depression (at least for me, for sure). So it’s actually a health — even healthcare and/or social — issue…
The Little Prince and the Fox 