The Importance of Play

As most college students will tell you, there are times when things get really hard. Everything feels like a catastrophe, like the end of the world. My junior year was no different. It seemed like every time something worked out, something else would go wrong. I spent a better part of this year hoping the semester would end, that summer would start, and that I would finally be on this trip.

The days leading up to taking off were spent talking with friends about how we were in vacation mindset. The idea of lectures, tours and history lessons gave me a lot of dread. I came to Ireland with the hope that I could somehow slip through without having to invest very much: because I felt like I had been creating a debt for myself over the year.

The trip has, admittedly, been full of lectures and discussions, museum tours and day trips across the coubtryside; but it has also been full of play and joy and laughter.
I have felt myself growing here in Ireland, and because I feel renewed there is a sense of being able to be present and invested in this trip more than I have before.

Tonight, the team gathered together and went through a series of improv and performance games. What started as a lighthearted workshop quickly became a space of depth and meaning to many of us. The Spirit was present in the room as we laughed and shouted and ran about. And I welcomed it with great joy.

I know as I leave Ireland, I will remember the stories, the faces, and the beauty: but I also know the important lesson of play will stick with me every day, as I begin to search for the playful serendipity of the moment.