Retiring Baby Boomers Need to Learn How to Play Again

As baby boomers approach retirement, there is the realization they have forgotten how to play. Not to be confused with self-indulgence, play is an activity that needs to be cultivated in a whole new way.

What is play? Believe it or not, baby boomers have forgotten how to play. Learning how to play again is an important part of building a meaningful retirement.

For people who came of age during the summer of love and are referred to as the ‘me’ generation, it’s hard to admit they’ve forgotten how to play.

Somewhere after college keggers and the quest to stay young, the boomer generation became their parents and more; working sixty hours a week, commuting an average of thirty miles one way, taking on mortgages, and family responsibilities. They know how to indulge themselves. “I work hard; therefore I deserve to buy what I want.” However, they don’t remember how to play.

What is play? More specifically, what is adult play? Is there something we all engage that could be considered play to everyone all the time? Please forgive me, but my first response to that question was making love. But, I’m pretty sure we couldn’t make a universal statement that making love is always play.

So, what is play? Brainstorming, the participants in a workshop came up with the following answers. Play is fun. Play allows you to be childlike. There is a sense of timelessness, with no agendas. Play is a state of being as much as an activity you engage where there is a lack of judgments and resistance.

Play is important because it reduces stress, promotes better sleep, and improves the mind, body and spirit.

There seems to be a level of spontaneity with play. Engaging in the activity is more important than the result. While there may be rules or structure, the actual activity allows for a sense of unfolding. Play is active, not passive. Play is a hands-on. Play is fun and experiential. There is an element of creativity in play. It doesn’t require a creative outcome, as much as creativity in the process or creative expression.

Over seventy-five percent of retiring baby boomers report a desire to be engaged in retirement work. Obviously, that means we’re going to have to redefine retirement. People report a desire to redirect their life, to chose meaningful work and activities, reconnect to family and friends. They also want to slow down the pace, live in the moment and find balance. Play is an important component to the overall package.

As this new generation of retirees explores the senior experience, I pose the following question. Is all play all the time a valid and reasonable goal or should it be balanced against other activities? Can you create a retirement that is active, vital and contributing as well as playful? In other words, can you have it all? Most important, when was the last time you cast your cares to the wind and played?