Play a Bigger Game

Chapter 1 Break out of the cotton wool society

Today we live in a cotton wool society and I am over it! There are so many rules, so many regulations and so many people telling us what we can and can't do. You go to the beach and there are signs telling you don't run, don't rollerblade, don't fish, don't skate, no bikes, no phones, no cars, no alcohol — essentially no fun! Don't swim, don't run, don't walk, don't talk, don't eat, don't drink. There are all these things you can't do. You go to work and you've got occupational health and safety rules, all these human resource regulations, risk management. Stop doing this, start doing that, don't go here, don't go there. All the things we can't do, but not much about what we can do. We get caught up in all the cant's and it stops us from stepping out and stepping up. We get so used to constantly being told where to be and what to do that we lose the ability to take charge of our own lives, to be responsible for our own behaviours, results and outcomes.

It seems to me the world has gone crazy! We create more rules to protect people from harm and try to influence their behaviour. Some of these things border on the ridiculous: schools ban kids from turning cartwheels; proposed laws require you to walk your dog; teeth cleaning is mandated in daycare centres; licences are required for just about everything from fishing to busking.