Don’t distinguish between work and play. Do everything in the spirit of play.

– Alan Watts

We are trained to place work and play in separate compartments: one noble and gruelling, the other frivolous and fleeting.

Instead of marching grimly through tasks in pursuit of a future reward, we could approach life as if it were something to be enjoyed in the moment, not endured until it ends.

The spirit of play doesn’t trivialise effort; it brings lightness to difficulty, curiosity to repetition and creativity to constraint. It allows us to engage fully without being crushed by the weight of proving our worth.

P.S. The man had his flaws (monogamy and restraint), I know, but philosophical clarity wasn’t one of them.