That is the definition of Zest. Gusto, relish, liveliness, or vitality by another name.
Imagine when you were a young’n back in Grade School. When you couldn’t wait to be free of the perceived or real confines of the classroom. The bell would ring and your young feet would fly you outside; feet hardly even touching the ground in display of flight that’d make even Mercury envious. Springing forth like some halcyon Jack-in-the-box. Where previously time was measured in an interminable geological period; now it’s a seemingly short sneeze of a moment. You were in the flow. There was a lightness; a liberty.
That day is has long since taken wing. Thoughts about it are tinged with nostalgia. Or perhaps your childhood was bereft of those moments; filled only with sober pragmatism.
Either way you feel something of a loss; some niggling little deficiency. An absence that a responsible adult forgoes. There is I might say less zest; fewer moments of lightheartedness. A heaviness seeping slowly in.
I’m here to say that doesn’t need to be the case. One of the strongest traits that Proyer and Ruch showed in their study The virtuousness of adult playfulness: et.all was Zest. Playful people have a propensity for liveliness.
Adam Eason noted this in his article: How and Why You Need To Be More Playful and Childlike. He delineated in his piece 10 ways in which being playful is beneficial. #7 is Accelerated Energy Levels. Not only is being playful enjoyable it’s actually energizing.
It is now for all intents and purposes Spring. An age old time of renewal and vitality. Let’s become new in mind, body, and heart. Be young again. Be playful. Let your next step take you down a different path. Lead a playful life
best wishes, Steve
The Playful Life 