But she didn't stop there. Her enthusiasm turned up full throttle, she engaged me in this game created by the giver of the talk Jane McGonigal, called "SuperBetter". And I played.
She got me to do the physical resilience quest in the game by clenching my fists and raising them (not over my head, but) over the steering wheel. She got me to do the mental resilience quest by having me snap my fingers. (I was driving so I had to do it one handed). She got me to engage in the emotional resilience quest by looking out the window. (And I actually saw something other than the road in front of me). And she got me to engage in the activity for social resilience by shaking hands for 6 seconds. So every day we spent on our trip, we would do these simple activities in a very silly, engaged way. Without that game we played together, I would have gone absolutely mad from sitting 12-14 hours a day for 4 days in a row. Those simple game quests really helped.
So now it's a month later, and I was just thinking about looking this TED Talk up, when lo and behold, it found me--I love it when that happens! So I watched it, and it really is an amazing story. I just had to share it here. Mostly because I love the playing part of it. There is a huge part of me that loves to play and will never, Never grow up. Though my body continues to age (and I'll write about changing that story another time), the wisdom I have accumulated through my years tells me that I am really still a kid, and that it is super important to continue to play in order to save myself and the planet!
So I invite you to watch Jane's TED Talk if you haven't seen it before. And if you have I invite you to watch it again and be inspired to play along with her and the TED audience. And when you are done, you will have added 7 1/2 minutes to your life span. ;)