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💆‍♀️Self-Care Series: Play More, Stress Less 🥳 · ✨️Aligned and Thriving: For Teachers🌿

• 0:05
  Hey guys, and welcome back to another episode of Aligned and
• 0:09
  Thriving. Now I have a bit of a question
• 0:11
  for you and I want you to actually answer it.
• 0:14
  Maybe out loud, maybe in your head, depends on where you are,
• 0:18
  but when was the last time that you had fun?
• 0:22
  I mean like just any type of fun, like the proper belly laugh
• 0:27
  fun. The kind where you are so caught
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  up in the moment that you forget about your To Do List your
• 0:33
  worries, your responsibilities, and for a few minutes, you are
• 0:37
  just you. Now, if you're struggling to
• 0:41
  remember, don't worry, you're not alone.
• 0:44
  Today we're diving into something that I've been nudged
• 0:47
  about over and over. Play more, stress less.
• 0:53
  Why reconnecting with your inner child is the secret to thriving
• 0:56
  as a teacher and a mum. So grab yourself a cup of tea or
• 1:01
  a coffee, take a deep breath and let's chat.
• 1:05
  So I am a bit of a woo woo person sometimes and I sort of
• 1:10
  have like a system of affirmations and cards and
• 1:12
  things like that. But I kept pulling this one
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  affirmation. It just kept coming up over and
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  over and over again for me. And it was heal your inner
• 1:21
  child. And honestly, my first reaction
• 1:25
  was like, oh come on, what does that even mean?
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  And I would honestly just roll my eyes and Chuck it to the
• 1:30
  side. Like, whatever, I'm an adult.
• 1:34
  I've got kids, I've got bills, I've got lesson plans.
• 1:37
  I've got 100 things on my mind healing my inner child.
• 1:40
  Like, I don't have time for that, but I don't even know what
• 1:43
  it is. But the message wouldn't go
• 1:44
  away. And you know how sometimes life
• 1:47
  just keeps throwing the same signs at you until you finally
• 1:51
  just pay attention? Well, yeah, that was me.
• 1:54
  So I started digging, and I asked, OK, well, what does this
• 1:59
  even mean? What I like, I had no idea.
• 2:03
  What I discovered was something really surprisingly simple and
• 2:08
  maybe a little bit confronting. But healing your inner child
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  isn't about reliving your whole childhood.
• 2:16
  It's about rediscovering the part of you that used to find
• 2:19
  joy in the smallest things, who played without fear, who laughed
• 2:25
  without holding back, just didn't have that sense that
• 2:28
  everyone was just judging you. Somewhere along the way, I think
• 2:33
  we've all sort of lost that. I mean, is it just me or like,
• 2:36
  or do you feel that way too? So now, as I said, I'm a little
• 2:42
  bit woo woo, and I believe there's something out there,
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  whether you believe it too, whether there's a God, the
• 2:48
  universe, karma, whatever name you want to give it, I think
• 2:51
  there's got to be something else.
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  And if you have ever been out in the playground and on duty as a
• 2:57
  teacher, you would have seen at least karma in action.
• 3:00
  Come on, you warn that kid, if you keep doing that, you're
• 3:04
  going to hurt yourself. And two minutes later, bam, it
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  happens Literally just yesterday, depending on when I
• 3:14
  record this and when you listen, but this was yesterday in this
• 3:16
  context. I was out on duty and I told a
• 3:19
  student, kick that ball again like that and you are going to
• 3:24
  get hurt. Like he was repetitively kicking
• 3:26
  it in a direction where he was going to hit something and it
• 3:29
  was going to bounce off and the result was going to be child
• 3:32
  injured. Well, he stomped off, kicked the
• 3:35
  ball again, it ricocheted off the wall and hit him.
• 3:39
  Well, somewhere in a male area where it really hurts.
• 3:44
  Of course I stopped and made sure he was OK, but tell me
• 3:49
  that's not the universe having a little cheeky laugh, OK, It's
• 3:53
  karma in its best form, the easy way.
• 3:57
  So if you remember the song or if you haven't heard it before,
• 4:00
  there's a song, it's called Learning to Fly and it's written
• 4:04
  by Shepherd. They're an Australian band and
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  if you haven't heard of them, please go look them up because
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  they're actually really good. I've actually met one of the
• 4:12
  singers, one of the sisters, Amy.
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  She is lovely. Please excuse Nyla again
• 4:17
  starring in the show, but I can't edit that out.
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  And this is the only time that I have free to do this recording.
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  So enjoy her in the background. But as I was saying about this
• 4:28
  song called Learning to Fly by Shepherd, there are some lyrics
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  in there and I'm just going to read them out to you and I'm
• 4:34
  going to try really hard not to sing them in my head because I
• 4:36
  really don't think you need my singing voice right about now.
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  But the lyrics are this. We used to be able to dance on
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  the tables with nothing but stars in our eyes.
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  We'd make believe with all of our dreams.
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  We'd colour outside of the lines.
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  But it's, it's a whole like it keeps going to say, don't you
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  ever wonder how did fear? Like how did fun turn into fear?
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  It's it's that whole story of when, when did that change?
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  When did fun turn into fear? When did we stop playing just
• 5:08
  for the sake of it? For me, I can pinpoint it, that
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  shift hit hardest when I became a mum.
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  OK, I used to ride dirt bikes. Not very well, just ask my
• 5:19
  husband. But I did love it.
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  I still can ride now, but these days we go buggy riding instead.
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  Honestly, that's another story because my husband is a big
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  child again, love him dearly. He has a few in the in the past
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  he's had a few too many motorbike accidents.
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  So we now go in a buggy because it has a roll cage and it's
• 5:41
  safer and it's still fun and we can all go together and we still
• 5:45
  have those moments. So we we go down that path, but
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  I'll never forget this moment. Like I was 5 months pregnant
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  with the twins and I was literally looking at my husband
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  in a hospital bed, unable to move.
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  When I'm looking at him, my mind is racing and I'm just like,
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  right, that's it. We're getting a buggy with a
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  roll cage because I'm not raising these twins alone.
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  I'm not doing it. And I put the foot down.
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  I was a little bit mean, but I said, look, you can sell your
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  bike. You can do it all from your
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  hospital bed. I don't care, I am done.
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  And it was from that point that I know that was when my fun
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  turned into this fear. It was this deep seated fear
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  that Oh my gosh, I can't do this.
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  I can't be a mum on my own. And hats off to all of you mums
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  that do go it alone because that is such hard work and I was
• 6:34
  panicking. So this was my way of trying to
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  protect me from that type of situation and protect everyone
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  else from that as well. But this was this was it.
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  So that was that point. And now every time before we go
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  on a buggy ride, I have to sort of psych myself up and tell
• 6:52
  myself these things I have to repeat to myself, You are safe,
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  it's fine, just enjoy it. It's that carefree, let's go
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  version of me that takes effort to actually access.
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  Now, does that sound familiar? Because to me it's, it's just,
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  it really hits home. So here's the truth.
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  As adults, fun doesn't necessarily happen by accident.
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  Between teaching, parenting, your laundry and trying to keep
• 7:26
  everyone alive, play has to be intentional.
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  And I'm sorry, I'm an organised human.
• 7:31
  I have to plan for this stuff. When, but when do you make time
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  for it? That's that's the hard part.
• 7:38
  You've got to factor it in. But when you do, everything
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  feels just that little bit lighter and stress doesn't seem
• 7:45
  to stick as much. We have more patience.
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  And maybe the best part is that the people around us feel it
• 7:51
  too, like they they tend to get that sense of joy.
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  So have you ever noticed how your mood sets a tone for
• 7:57
  everyone else's? I know I have my students, my
• 8:00
  kids, even my partner. If my mood is off and I wake up
• 8:04
  hangry or just overtired or whatever it might be, it rubs
• 8:08
  off on everyone else and you tend to have those really hard,
• 8:11
  horrible mornings. That's why mindset work pays
• 8:15
  off. You got to change your mindset.
• 8:17
  But when you bring that playful, light energy into a room, people
• 8:22
  just respond differently. And just that there's that
• 8:25
  little bit of magic. And then the more joy that you
• 8:28
  create, the more good things seem to flow and come your way.
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  So why not go and have a little bit of fun if you're going to
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  make everyone else's day, including your own, that little
• 8:40
  bit better? But how do we do this when our
• 8:43
  schedule is already packed? So take a mini play break, Have
• 8:48
  5 minutes of just silly craziness.
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  Chase your kids around the house, Belt out a song in the
• 8:54
  car kitchen. Karaoke is all the rage.
• 8:57
  Do the Macarena, do the nut Bush, do 5 minutes of whatever
• 9:01
  mate. Chuck on Danny Go.
• 9:03
  If you haven't seen Danny Go, and this is coming from someone
• 9:07
  who has to teach music, Danny go is great.
• 9:10
  He does great dances. So Chuck on the wiggle dance and
• 9:13
  have a have some fun just for a few minutes.
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  Schedule it, yes, put it into your calendar.
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  Put in a day of fun for yourself, for your family,
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  whatever it might look like. Reconnect with your younger
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  self. What did you love to do as a
• 9:26
  kid? Could you try going to do that
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  again? Another good one, and one that
• 9:32
  I've actually done is write a letter to your 6 year old self
• 9:35
  or whatever age you'd like to. What do they need to hear?
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  What wisdom would you give them? Just to think back to that
• 9:42
  moment, there might be a really amazing memory that you just
• 9:46
  want to go back to. I mean, my memory was when I was
• 9:49
  5 and when I had the most fun and joy.
• 9:53
  It was actually not even considered.
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  Like nowadays I look at it and go, that should be a really sad
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  memory, but it's not. It's actually one of the
• 10:00
  happiest moments I had in my life.
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  It was the most fun and most joy.
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  And what it is, is my poppy. So I had a nanny and a poppy.
• 10:09
  I had a normal and an oppa because I'm again half Dutch,
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  but my puppy was in the hospital and it was my 5th birthday so I
• 10:16
  had some of my birthday presents given to me in hospital while
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  pop was in there in the hospital bed.
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  I got the most amazing puppy surprise.
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  It is all I wanted. I got absolutely spoiled rotten.
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  My mom had actually been sent by my pop to go and find the one
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  with the most puppies and she did and it was the best present
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  ever. I actually still have my puppy
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  surprise and my daughter actually has her now so hand me
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  down. But she's beautiful.
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  But I had her and I just remember how happy I was because
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  I got something that I had waited so long for and I had the
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  most puppies and I just played with her on on puppy like he was
• 10:56
  in the hospital bed and I can remember I can see it, I can
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  picture it, and I was playing with the puppies and he was
• 11:02
  playing with the puppies. Even my brother who got me one
• 11:05
  as well, like he got a little puppy that like you had to
• 11:09
  toilet train I think, and I played with that as well.
• 11:12
  So everyone in my family was literally playing with my puppy
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  surprise on Poppy's hospital bed.
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  But they were all having fun, everyone was happy, we were all
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  smiling, we were all laughing. And that's all I can remember.
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  And I'm sure for some of the adults in the room, that
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  probably was not a happy moment because sadly, 2 days after my
• 11:32
  birthday, my puppy passed away. But I still have that
• 11:36
  ridiculously joyous memory embedded into my brain and I
• 11:42
  will forever remember that moment because we were having
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  fun. So why not give yourself a
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  little bit of fun? Say yes to something silly,
• 11:50
  spontaneous dance parties, whatever it might be.
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  You might even make it competitive if that's your
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  thing. Have a family swimming race,
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  have a trivia night, or just have a quick card game.
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  You know, goes off in our household and we have like every
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  version. So just make yourself a little
• 12:08
  time to have some fun. Which one of these could you try
• 12:11
  this week? Just pick one, don't overthink
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  it, Google it, 10 fun things to do on a weeknight and try and
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  find something. Now I want you to think back
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  like I just did. I thought back with you about
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  when I was 5. I want you to think back about
• 12:27
  your childhood and think about something that lit you up back
• 12:30
  then. Was it that you loved riding
• 12:32
  bikes? Was it that you were painting,
• 12:34
  building forts, dancing in your bedroom into your hair brush?
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  Not talking from experience at all.
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  Now ask yourself this question, When was the last time you did
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  something just because it made you happy?
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  Now if you're realising that, it's been a while.
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  Hey, same. That's why I wanted to have this
• 12:59
  conversation today, to remind us both.
• 13:03
  Healing your inner child isn't about ignoring your
• 13:05
  responsibilities. It's about weaving that joy back
• 13:09
  into your day so you can show up as the best version of yourself
• 13:14
  for your students, for your kids if you have them, and for
• 13:18
  yourself. So here is my gentle challenge
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  to you this week. Do 1 playful thing just for you.
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  Not for your kids, not for your family, not because it's
• 13:32
  productive. I want you to do something just
• 13:34
  because it makes you smile. And if you do, I'd love to hear
• 13:38
  about it. Please share your joy with me,
• 13:41
  DM me or tag me in your stories. I want to celebrate the fun
• 13:45
  moments that you have too. Because remember, this is about
• 13:49
  you and having a little bit of fun, but why not celebrate it?
• 13:54
  There's another song that I just wanna bring your attention to as
• 13:57
  well. Just 'cause I'm a, I'm a song
• 13:59
  person. Lyrics mean the world to me.
• 14:02
  There's a song by Alex Warren, I think it's called You'll Be All
• 14:05
  Right, Kid. If you haven't listened to that
• 14:07
  song, that's a really good listen to.
• 14:10
  It's a little bit of a sad song 'cause it's about him and his
• 14:13
  life growing up and basically a letter to his younger self.
• 14:17
  But it is a great reminder that things get better.
• 14:22
  So laugh a little bit louder, play a little bit harder and in
• 14:27
  the words of my husband, stress less.
• 14:30
  Because thriving is not about doing more.
• 14:35
  It is about bringing back the part of you that once believed
• 14:38
  that life was meant to be enjoyed and you had no sense of
• 14:42
  fear, no sense of real responsibility or anything like
• 14:47
  that. You were just there to have fun
• 14:51
  and to make the most of every single minute of your life.
• 14:55
  So guys, thank you for hanging out with me today.
• 14:59
  And if this episode resonated with you, please make sure you
• 15:02
  hit the follow button on whatever platform you're
• 15:04
  listening. Share it with a friend if you
• 15:07
  think they might need to hear this message as well.
• 15:09
  Because clearly the universe was trying to dunk me over the head
• 15:13
  with it saying that I continually got that message.
• 15:16
  So now is your chance and my chance to to go and set yourself
• 15:22
  a challenge for this week. What is the fun thing that you
• 15:25
  are going to go and do? Whether it's with someone else
• 15:27
  or on your own, find something that brings you joy.
• 15:31
  This week we can all use a little more play in our lives.
• 15:36
  So I will talk to you guys again soon.
• 15:38
  But until I do, make sure you go and find yourself some joy.
• 15:44
  Talk to you soon.