Passion Struck with John R. Miles - The Importance of Play as an Adult EP 74

Episode Date: October 22, 2021

When we think of playing, we hark back to our childhood days of messing around on the beach, playing tag at recess, or spending hours with dolls or toys. However, we often fail to realize the importance of play as an adult and that is what John unpacks in this episode. Like this? Please subscribe, and join me on my new platform for peak performance, life coaching, and personal growth: https://passionstruck.com/. Thank you for listening to the Passion Struck podcast. In this powerful Momentum Friday Episode, John R. Miles discusses why adult play is vital to mental, physical, and spiritual health. New Interviews with the World's GREATEST high achievers will be posted every Tuesday with a Momentum Friday inspirational message! Show Notes 0:00 Show Intro 2:53 What We Learn from play as a child 4:05 Why lack of play as an adult is detrimental 5:00 The difference between Play as an adult, versus play as a child 6:14 Benefits of adult play 10:47 What does play look like as an adult? 12:01 Examples of well-known adults playing 13:13 How you apply this to your life ENGAGE WITH JOHN R. MILES * Subscribe to my channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/JohnRMiles * Leave a comment, 5-star rating (please!) * Support me: https://johnrmiles.com * Twitter: https://twitter.com/Milesjohnr * Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Johnrmiles.c0m. * Medium: https://medium.com/@JohnRMiles​ * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/john_r_miles ABOUT JOHN R. MILES * https://johnrmiles.com/my-story/ * Guides: https://johnrmiles.com/blog/ * Coaching: https://passionstruck.com/coaching/ * Speaking: https://johnrmiles.com/speaking-business-transformation/ * Gear: https://www.zazzle.com/store/passion_struck PASSION STRUCK *Subscribe to Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-passion-struck-podcast/id1553279283 *Website: https://passionstruck.com/ *About: https://passionstruck.com/about-passionstruck-johnrmiles/ *Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/passion_struck_podcast *LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/passionstruck *Blog: https://passionstruck.com/blog/

Welcome back to the Passion Struck Podcast, and thank you so much for being here. I am so excited to channel and transfer my positive energy to each and every one of you, as you are on your daily commute, doing chores around the house, making dinner, doing yard work, or whatever activity you may be doing.

Thank you for choosing the Passion Struck Podcast, and choosing me as your guide and host on your passion journey. Many of the topics I am doing in these upcoming solo episodes are ones that you the audience are requesting of me. If there's a topic that you would like to hear me discuss or a guest you would like to see me interview, please DM me at Instagram at JohnRMiles. I wanted to take a moment to highlight our fan of the week, Normal Linde in the United Kingdom,

who wrote incredible podcast. I like the beginning already. I absolutely adore this podcast. I just discovered it and now it's genuinely my favorite podcast to listen to. It's super chill and chatty and it's so fun and relaxing to listen to. I highly recommend it. Norma, thank you so much for your review. We are so appreciative that you are part of our growing worldwide audience.

Now, let's talk about today's episode. I picked today's episode because over the past four months, this topic has been the most downloaded article I have on medium. When we think about playing, we hark back to our childhood days of messing around on the beach, playing tag or spending hours with dolls or toys, walking them through entirely fictional scenarios. However, we often fail to realize the positive effect that play can have as we grow older.

Today, I'm going to talk to you about why it is so vital that you still make time for play as an adult, why it is so beneficial to you and ways and examples of how you can do it. Welcome visionaries, creators, innovators, entrepreneurs, leaders and growth seekers of all types to the PassionStruck podcast. Hi, I'm John Miles, a peak performance coach, multi industry CEO, Navy veteran and entrepreneur on a mission to make passion go viral for millions worldwide. In each week, I do so by sharing with you an inspirational message in interviewing high achievers from all walks of life who unlock their secrets and lessons to be coming passion struck. The purpose of our show is to serve you the listener.

By giving you tips, tasks, and activities, you can use to achieve the performance and for too a passion-driven life you have always wanted to have. Now, let's become passion stuff. I remember as my kids were growing up, I would love to hear their giggling and unhibited screams of joy. As they and their friends played around our neighborhood and went about having so much fun together. In fact, I love chasing my son and daughter around the playground and watching their emotions

and laughter that they would display as I played with them. Seeing children play is a joyous moment in itself. Through that, we are often brought back to a simpler time when life was about having fun and enjoying ourselves. Play is so critical for children because it teaches them how to be creative and helps nature, critical thinking, personal development, and adaptive pathways. The benefits of play

are far reaching. But as we grow older, we seem to lose that willingness to play. We often give up play as adults for more serious pursuits, such as our careers, our relationships, and our families, all of which are valid pursuits. However, the lack of play can actually be detrimental to our ability to lead others, maintain positive relationships, and parent our children. This is becoming even more apparent in this all-digital, brave new world we are entering into, and it's consuming us more each and every day. Which begs the question, when was the last time that you played? If you're scratching your head and trying to answer that question then it may be the

case then you are in desperate need of a play session yourself. I'll get into what play looks like as an adult shortly. But let's first discuss why play is so beneficial for adults, specifically as opposed to children, with whom we most associate the concept. So what is the difference between play as an adult versus play as a child? When children engage in play, they are actively developing their cognitive, physical, social, moral, and emotional skills. All things that are vitally important to us as we grow older.

And they do it without even realizing it. Once we reach a certain age, however, those skills develop to the extent that playing in a sandbox or throwing the ball around no longer seems appropriate. But when we lose play through that transition into adulthood, we miss out entirely on some incredible benefits. When we reach adulthood, we no longer need to indulge in play to develop

specific social and emotional skills, although I'm sure many of you would argue that you know some adults who are in desperate need of further development in those areas. Instead, as adults, the act of playing transforms into a therapeutic and restorative exercise. By engaging in play as an adult, you can reap the associated benefits. So let's take a closer look now at what those benefits are. First off, it's natural evolution. Peter Gray, a research professor of psychology at Boston College says, play evolved primarily to teach children all kinds of skills. And its extension into adulthood may have helped to build cooperation and sharing among hunter-gatherers beyond the level that would naturally

exist in a dominant seeking species. In other words, from our earliest ancestors, play wasn't just about adding fun to their lives. It may have been a way of keeping the peace, which was absolutely critical for their survival. And researchers are finding out that play isn't just about goofing off. It can also be a vital means of reducing stress and contributing to our overall wellbeing. There are so many advantages to letting loose and playing even if it's only once in a while.

Indeed, too many to cover in this podcast alone. However, let's take a quick look at some of the most prominent benefits. First and foremost, taking a break from it all to merely engage in play is beneficial to your mental health above all else. I've already spoken in a past episode about how COVID has developed your character, and mental health is of utmost importance to all of us given the events that have unfolded around us over the past couple of years. The stress inducing world events and the isolation of working from home is enough to test anybody.

But by saying yes to play, you can alleviate stress and hit the recess button. You see, the mere act of enjoying your playtime releases endorphins, giving us that natural high feeling that we all love so much. And that natural high feeling is perfect for getting yourself out of a rut and boosting your overall well-being. Lynn Barnett, a professor of tourism, recreation, and sports at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign said, highly playful adults feel the same stressors as everyone else, but they appear to experience and react to them differently, allowing stressors to roll off more easily than those who are less playful. Secondly, the benefits of play can be physical as well.

By physically moving around while you are playing, you can elevate your heart rate, strengthen your muscles and reap the physical rewards of being more active. With 81% of all Americans and most of Western culture sitting at their desk all day, there's never been a more critical time than now to focus on your physical health. Because if you don't have physical health, it's going to impact your mental health, spiritual health, moral health. It's all aligned together.

Third, when we play, it actually has been found to attract the opposite sex. According to the Penn State University, being playful as an adult does indeed make us more attractive to the opposite sex. Researchers there asked 250 students to rate 16 different characteristics that they might look for in a long-term mate. Sense of humor came in first among the males and second among the females.

Fun loving came in third for both and being playful placed fourth for women and fifth for men. But perhaps equally important is the way that we play can spark our creativity and passion. When we engage in playful activities, we stimulate our creative minds and increase our imagination, which helps us spark new ideas, learn how to complete new tasks, and solve problems faster. These are all such crucial skills for you to have on your journey to becoming passion struck. Without play as an adult, you missed the opportunity to refresh, rejuvenate, and revitalize yourself. Instead, just like I covered a couple episodes without it and the hustle culture that's all around us, you're going to likely end up burning out and falling well short of your goals and objectives.

So now let's get into what exactly does play look like as an adult? What's so fantastic about playing as an adult is that it's very much a case of each to their own. What works for you may infuriate someone else. It's all about doing what you enjoy for an extended period so that you can briefly forget about this crazy world that's all around us. In a 2017 study that was published in the Journal of Personality and Individual Differences, researchers examined the complexities of adulthood playfulness in an effort to tease out patterns of behavior. The researchers actually found

that there are four different types of playful adults. Those who enjoy actively fooling around with friends, colleagues, relatives, and acquaintances, those who are generally lighthearted and not preoccupied by the future consequences of their behaviors, those who play with thoughts and ideas, and those who are whimsical, exhibiting interest in strange and unusual things,

and amused by small, everyday observations. So with that as a backdrop, let me give you some real examples of what this may look like from well-known people that you're likely to recognize. For international soccer star David Beckham, it's playing with logos. For tonight's show host Jimmy Fallon, it's utilizing his creative mind to develop fun games for the guests that he has on the show.

For actor Samuel L. Jackson and Daniel Craig, it's playing video games, and especially Grand Theft Auto. But for others, it could be going on a five-hour hike, going sailing, riding your bike, whatever it may be. The most important element is that it's a personal choice that you get to make. Personally, I have many go-to activities that give me the rejuvenating boost and balance that I need to perform. I love music and in particular live music, which when I get to go to a concert makes me feel

alive and that I'm young again. But a lot of my play is physical too, such as paddle boarding, sweating my way through a spin class like I did earlier this morning or going on a long bike ride with my girlfriend by myself or with a group of friends hiking to a waterfall or sailing to my heart's content. The point is that you find a playful activity that works for you. In many instances, you may be surprised by which activity gives you the most in terms of mental and physical boost. At first, it might not always be obvious, so don't be afraid to try something new in your pursuit of play.

And I hope this episode brought you some inspiration and helped you think about things differently as you approach your daily activities and the stress that accompanies them. And I wanted to take the ending of this episode to tell you about some incredible episodes that we've got coming up. The first is with Dr. Jay Lombard, a personal friend of mine, who is a neurologist and a pioneer in the treatment of traumatic brain injury, reversing Alzheimer's, ALS, and Parkinson's disease. Gail Swift, who is an expert in using the Colby Index to coach her clients, Amy Malin, who was once a sex slave

and talks to us about how she broke free from that life and is now dedicating her life to doing social good for others. Dr. Ruben Cotum, who talked to us about advanced treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder and post-traumatic growth and entrepreneur John Lewis, who will discuss his secrets to building a personal brand and launching an eight-figure business. Thank you as always for joining us here today. Now, go out there and apply these learnings so that you too can become passion struck.

Thank you so much for joining us. The purpose of our show is to make passion go viral. And we do that by sharing with you the knowledge and skills that you need to unlock your hidden potential. If you want to hear more, please subscribe to the Passion Start podcast on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to your podcast ad. And if you absolutely love this episode, we'd appreciate a five-star rating on iTunes. And you're sharing it

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