What a horrifying children's story taught me about play

Lessons from the ant and the grasshopper

Note: I originally published a version of this post in June 2023. As we usher in the unofficial start of summer here in the Northern Hemisphere, today felt like the right day to revisit it.

Do you know the fable about the ant and the grasshopper?

The one where the ant works hard all summer while the grasshopper sings and dances in the sun? Come winter, the industrious ant has plenty of food stored away, and the layabout grasshopper starves. The grasshopper begs the ant for help, but the ant refuses and leaves the grasshopper to die.

Ostensibly, it’s a morality tale about the virtues of hard work and the dangers of idleness. To an anxious kid like me, it was fucking horrifying — enjoy life too much, you could literally die a terrible death, no one would help you, and not only that, you would deserve it.

The message I grew up with — and that society constantly reinforced and rewarded — was to be the ant. Always, always be the ant. Work so hard it hurts but don’t ever complain about it. Delay gratification until some unknowable moment in time when you’ll finally deserve nice things. Live only for the sake of your future survival. Definitely don’t let yourself enjoy anything too much OR YOU WILL DIE AND IT WILL BE YOUR OWN DAMN FAULT! Ant = survival. Grasshopper = death.

That is one fucked up message for a kid to learn.

I bet a lot of you learned it, too.

It’s taken me a lot of inner work and therapy to accept — truly accept with my heart, not just my head — that there is another way. That the grasshopper is just as valid as the ant. They both have things to teach us.

Me channeling some serious grasshopper energy in the Bahamas

So this summer, I’m experimenting with ways to channel my grasshopper energy. To remind myself that I don’t have to be the ant all the time. I can be the grasshopper sometimes, too. I can — nay, I deserve to — sing and dance and create with abandon.

You do, too.

You don’t have to give up on the ant. The ant is important! But in a society like ours, I’m willing to bet that you spend a lot of time — maybe too much time — being the ant.

So what would it look like to channel your grasshopper energy?

What would it look like to invite more joy, pleasure, presence, and FUN into your summer days? What would it look like to write a poem, make some music, scribble a doodle, bake cookies, go to the park, or get up and dance just because it sounds fun?

Your ant will still be there when you’re finished.

Here’s to Big Grasshopper Energy. Go forth and dance.

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