Time to Play

There are more frustrations and aggravations than there are good times it seems.  When I was younger the opposite was true.  As I've aged it seems that the good times faded to more and more frustration.  Now it is up to me to find the time to play in an already too full of a day.  I'm missing the days of my youth when all I did was play and have fun.  It seems that now I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to turn aggravation and frustration into something less stressful.

Although it took me a while I finally grew up and quit playing all the time.  I started taking my job and my life more seriously.  I buckled down and became more engaged in what I was doing.  In other words I stopped looking for the fun in my job and started to become more serious about working and living.  It is at this point that I started to become more frustrated and aggravated all the time.  My mood was somber and I no longer was the happy go lucky guy I had been.  People walked on egg shells around me because  I was more likely to withdraw and become angry than I was to smile and laugh.

Then I found BBQ contests and life was fun again.  People started to like me again.  I really enjoyed the play time on the weekends and the concentration on something other than work.  I was meeting new people with a like interest.  It was the ultimate weekend full of fun.  The weekly stress was erased.  I was having fun because I was playing.  There was stress involved with my hobby but it was mitigated by the rewards and friendships.  Life was really good and I was having fun.  Alas it came to an end when we aged and I was laid off from my job and had to retire from the BBQ circuit.

I became engrossed in trying to find a job.  This became my job and there is no time for fun or, so I thought.  I started to become moody and agitated again.  Then I found that I could literally blow off steam by going to the shooting range.  This has become my hobby and where I go to have fun.  I found that the balance between my serious life and my play life.  I still to this day do not keep ammunition in the house which is for safety reasons.  I do not keep my firearm in the house for protection I keep it here because I have nowhere to keep it.  I have a young curious daughter at home and I don't want anything bad to happen to her.  I am once again the happy person I once was.  A balance achieved.

My thought is this:  We all need to be serious about our lives and jobs but, we also need to find an outlet for our frustrations and aggravations.  It doesn't matter what it is that you find relaxing as long as it requires some concentration and there are rewards and companionship involved.