Playlenz started as a personal experiment.

My the joy in my life was colored with a mish-mash of seemingly eccentric interests. I love video games, and how experiencing great storytelling makes you cry and want to call your mom, or a friend.

I love volleyball, and especially coaching. There’s something powerful about a coach and an athlete working together, expanding each other’s capacity. Sometimes far beyond what either of them thought was possible.

As I got older, I became quietly obsessed with the idea of play.
What is it, really?
Where did it go in my life?
Why do so many of us move through adulthood without it?

But at that same time, I felt stuck.

I finally achieved a career goal I had been chasing for years. Something I was sure would make me happy. And it did!

Briefly.

Then the feeling faded. I felt numb. Let down. Defeated. Lost. I kept looking outward for the next thing, and it always felt just out of reach.

At some point, a different question surfaced:

What if joy isn’t something you find, but something you make?

Something you choose?

So I started experimenting. Small ways of bringing play back into my life. What I found surprised me. In almost every moment, joy is already there. In the job you hate, in the stranger that bothered you, in the boredness and stuckness you may feel right now.

I’m still on a journey of exploring a playful life. I don’t have all the answers, and in fact the more answers I find, the less I feel I understand. But I’ve started my practice of play and my experience of existing has changed so drastically. I hope to share with others what has helped me embrace this playground of life we’ve been gifted.

If you also feel stuck, or if you’ve been where I’ve been, or if you have no idea what the heck this random guy on the internet is saying: I’m honored you took the time, and I’m happy you are here.