I recently received a doctor’s prescription to have more fun.

I’m getting older, (I’m getting what!?) and I’m definitely feeling it more and more in my body. But I just have normal pain. Nothing specific happened. Normally the pain is in the left knee, which is my slide knee, which makes total sense. But lately I’ve been feeling a lot more pain in the right knee too, which is unusual. But even though I felt some more pain lately, I didn’t think it was that obvious. But when someone asked me if I was having knee pain by just noticing how I was walking… I thought maybe it was time to get it looked at.

I think that I’ve just overused my body my whole life, the same movement over and over and over. All that repetitive stress on the joints. Before I went on tour this year, I actually did get cortisone shots in my knees and it seemed to relieve some of the pain. Whenever you’re competing or doing something strenuous to your body, it’s important to take care of it. But when Dr. Jerry Weems (Dad of superstar, Jos) saw me limping(ish) around the Elite Youth Tour- he told me about his chiropractor. His son has been going through therapy the last year or so and they found Chicago’s best chiropractor, who works with professional athletes, even treating some Chicago Bears players. He said, I think my chiropractor could probably help you with that. I hadn’t ever really considered going to that kind of therapy for my knee pain but I thought it was worth a try.

Enter Dr. Michael Risher from The Rehab Lab. 

When I went, Dr. Risher recognized that I have a lot of inflammation in my knees, from overuse and a bit of arthritis. So he actually did cupping on my knees, which I’ve never done on my knees before. It just moves around the fluid and helps it to drain out. And then he did dry needling, which is similar to acupuncture. And all of this helps the inflammation go down and it’s definitely all working really well already. In fact, the week that I did really well in Cleveland was right after I started seeing him and I thought, wow, he really is a bit of a magician! (I did average 232 for 24 games that week!)  I continue to see him once a week and my knees are feeling really good.

He also gives me important homework exercises to help keep up the improvements between sessions. And at one appointment, he surprised me with a prescription to have more fun. He asked me, what do you do for fun? I stared at him blankly. What DO i do for fun, I thought to myself. I guess I don’t really do anything for fun. (What a sad, sad realization.)

Don’t get me wrong. I love my life. I’m very happy with everything. But I really stumbled to think of something that I do, just for the fun of it. He had given me specific homework exercises for my body before which was easy to follow. But this was just the general direction to “just find one hour a week and do something fun!” He said it will actually relieve some of the tensions building up in your body over time.

It really made me think. I feel like when we get older, we lose that childlike spirit to seek fun. We get so caught up with work and responsibilities that we lose that childlike spirit we once had. And I had a really strong one as a kid and I recognize that it’s gone. It’s so easy for it to become buried by adulting. I mean, I needed a doctor to literally prescribe fun to me! 

So, I thought, yeah, I really do need to have more fun! Just for the sake of it. I’ve always thought being really conscious of doing things that you really love to do is really, really important in life. But this is leveling that up even more. I am so here for seeking more fun!

So what have I been doing for my fun homework? 

My daughter Jersey and I decided we’re going to dance everyday! Although it WAS her idea, I thought that is JUST what I needed. I may be really busy as an adult, just taking care of things, but I am making time to dance. And, you should, too. 

We’ve started to dance around the living room at least once everyday. We put on some music and just let go and dance in joy for however long feels good. It’s connecting me with that childlike spirit that we all have deep inside, no matter the age. Let me tell you, dancing around with my daughter is so fun. So. Fun. It is also keeping me present and focused on really enjoying the moment. More of this, please!

I won’t have my kids home forever and they’re only going to be this age once. So these moments are also really precious.

And if all this fun helps my body, bonus!

The doctor’s fun prescription has also seeped over into how I approach my days. I am starting to ask myself, where can I escape my agenda for a second and sneak in a fun, unscheduled moment for myself today?  

So when was the last time you did something, just for the fun of it?