Don’t forget to have fun.
Life is serious enough.
Whether you like it or not, tragedy and hardship will find you.
There is no need to make your life unnecessarily difficult.
Smile more, laugh more, and play more.
Relax and enjoy the moment.
Make the decision to be happy.
Look for opportunities to take yourself less seriously.
Damn your insecurities, self doubt, and self image.
Let go, have fun, and be spontaneous.
Become a child again, even if just for a moment.
Rediscover your youth.
Rediscover your true self.
Allow the moment to carry you away.
Let it energize you.
Give yourself permission to be free from worry and seriousness.
Enjoy yourself.
Be a leader when you need to be, but also be playful when you are able to be.
The world needs leaders.
It needs people who are accountable, responsible, and who are willing and able to help and guide others into becoming better versions of themselves.
If it is in you to do so, lead the charge, push forward bravely into the future, and take others with you as you go.
Just do not forget to have fun.
Life’s seriousness will find you and there is more than enough to go around, which is why play is so important.
Without play, leadership’s burdens can become unbearable.
Lead fearlessly and relentlessly, and play in exactly the same way.
“If we can play together, then we can live together.“
—Cas Holman, ‘Abstract: The Art of Design’
As children, play is our primary learning mechanism, both as a solo and a group activity. Play is how we learn to move, to experiment, and to socialize. As we get older, many of us seem to forget the importance of play as a gateway to personal and creative growth, stress relief, and interpersonal connectivity, but, in reality, we never stop needing it.
As the years go on, we take on, or are given, more and more responsibilities. The pressure of these responsibilities often takes precedence over our desire or our ability to simply let go, to have fun, to enjoy ourselves in the innocence, purity, and joyfulness that is play. On top of this, we get distracted and drawn in by outside forces telling us what play should look like as adults, that it should be organized, materialistic, or even chemically aided, but the reality is that play is whatever we want it to be as long as it is both fun and physical.
Play is a physically, emotionally, and psychologically, immersive, expressive, and freeing experience unlike anything else available to us as humans. It is an outlet for our bodies and our minds to express themselves without fear, preconception, or expectation, and it is also a source of input through which we learn and grow as individuals and as members of a tribe. Regardless of our age, gender, or social status, play is an essential and necessary aspect of human existence that taps into our primal natures as physical, creative beings and also as social animals.
Holistic Budo: As it is in budo, so too it is in life. As it is in life, so too it is in budo.
Robert Van Valkenburgh is co-founder of Taikyoku Mind & Body and Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
All photos by Robert Van Valkenburgh unless otherwise noted.
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“I think the most important thing is to have fun. Everyone wants to progress, to get better, but, if you have fun, you will never quit… you will always do it. Eventually, everyone gets better. If you have fun, you will keep showing up.“
— Caio Terra, 12x Jiu-Jitsu World Champion
In whatever we do, we must find a way to do it that is sustainable over a long period of time. We all know the person, or have been the person, who tries something new, whether it is a hobby, a type of exercise, a diet, or whatever, and becomes obsessed with it, can not stop talking about it, and then quits. Passion, it turns out, is not sustainable, but enjoyment is.
Most often, manic, fanatical obsession with anything burns out as quickly and as intensely as it arrives. This is why New Year’s resolutions, for most people, do not last past January. The goal of any new practice should be to do it just slightly above our level of ability, to the point where it is difficult, but not so far beyond that point that it feels impossible, frustrating, or overwhelming to think about doing it forever.
Enjoyment alone is not sufficient and we should not settle for doing that which is easy simply because it is more fun. Anything worth doing is going to be difficult and it is in the difficulty that progress, growth, and change are to be found, but anything worth doing should also bring us joy, perhaps as the direct result of the difficulty. In order for us to sustain a worthwhile practice over a long period of time, we must find that sweet spot where difficulty and enjoyment overlap and then show up every day.
Holistic Budo: As it is in budo, so too it is in life. As it is in life, so too it is in budo.
Robert Van Valkenburgh is co-founder of Taikyoku Mind & Body and Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
All photos by Robert Van Valkenburgh unless otherwise noted.
If you found this post helpful or meaningful in some way, please feel free to Share, Comment, and Subscribe below.
Meditations on God 