Children in the snow

The snow has arrived. Shattered under the weight of nature’s icy caress, the comically delicate lattice of city infrastructure crumbles and I am called to play. I am called to be a child. Fuck yes.

Anyone who has endured me recently has heard my invocations of childhood. I am learning to listen to the inner child. I am learning to listen to the little boy inside. He cares not for the rigours of work, structure, orthodoxy, for what is prim and proper and expected. He wants to create, to play, to risk, to fall and simply to be free. Today is an opportunity to let him out and let him play.

Play is a theme that continues to rear its head in my consciousness no matter what I do or where I am. For those unfamiliar, I am a personal trainer, kinesiologist, movement nerd, or simply an exercise person. In the world of training, exercise and performance there is a plethora of orthodoxy, rules, metrics and parameters informing how and why we do the things we do. As adults we love this: “tell me what and how to do it dear trainer and I will pay you thusly.” There is however, a massive dearth in open-ended play, in creative movement and as I continue down this career path and up the competency ladder I find myself desiring more play and less structure. 

I am also an obsessed, or maybe even a possessed, cyclist. This is my chosen mode of recreation. With each passing year I need fewer excuses to reallocate time and resources to this pursuit. With each passing year I make it a bigger part of my life and am discovering the more I give to it the more it gives back. I realize now that this topic deserves it’s own focus but suffice it to say that I embrace basically every aspect of two-wheeled sport which, like my profession, is firmly ensconced in a world of rules, data, of should’s and shall's. Like my job there is certainly value to the mountain of abstractions I am encouraged to embrace as I ride my bike but at the same time… there’s something distinctly missing. Where’s the play? Where’s the creativity and fun that could be a cornerstone of work and, oh god this a little too on the nose, play? Would I as a professional deliver a better product by accessing my inner child a little more often? Would I as an athlete achieve greater heights if I placed greater emphasis on expression and joy?

The snow today is an invitation to explore these questions, an invitation to rethink being on and riding a bike. The snow is an invitation to be a child. An invitation embraced with others to venture outside of our comfort zones into the fun and chaos of the snow, into the fun and chaos of childhood. We slip and slide, hoot and holler, flail and falter together in the snow.

Today it is good to be a child. Today is a good day to play.

03/02/2025