The Power of Play: How Leisure Activities Can Transform Your Adult Life
Explore the Unexpected Benefits of Play for Personal and Professional Growth
“I wish I had the time to get back into baseball. I haven’t played in so many years.” — friend on social media when they see one of my posts about sports.
According to Stats Canada, the number of adults spending four or more hours in front of a screen on a day off increased to 37% recently. As you get older, it’s easy to dismiss the idea of playing sports or doing anything for fun. You’re a busy adult with responsibilities and can’t spend time on activities that don’t add value.
There’s just one problem with that logic. Play is necessary, and not everything you do in your life must be about moving your career forward. Stress isn’t the badge of honour that you think it is.
This is why we will look at how you can add more play to your life.
“Play is an antidote to stress, and this is key because stress, in addition to being an enemy of productivity, can actually shut down the creative, inquisitive, exploratory parts of our brain.” — Greg Mckeown, “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less.”
Why should you play more as an adult?
If you’re still not convinced that play makes sense or that you should drop your productive habits to go kick a ball around or throw a frisbee with your friends, here are a few reasons that you should play more as an adult:
Play is productive.
Your social life doesn’t have to involve booze and food.
It’s an easy way to stay in touch with friends.
Playing sports or trying new activities is the best way to make new friends as you get older.
The modern world is making us anxious.
You’re not that busy and you won’t fall behind if you play basketball on Thursdays.
You’ll get into shape.
You can make new friends with similar interests so that you don’t just hang out with co-workers.
You’ll always have something to look forward to.
You can forget about all of your problems for that hour.
It will force you to improve in other areas of your life so that you can get better.
You can “network” and meet interesting people.
Only good things have come from adding more play to my life. Almost every single friend that I have right now is someone I met through training BJJ or playing soccer. These activities have also boosted my productivity because I have more energy.
How to get play in…
“Play stimulates the parts of the brain involved in both careful, logical reasoning and carefree, unbound exploration. Given that, it should hardly be surprising that key breakthroughs in thinking have taken place in times of play. “ — Greg Mckeown, in“Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less”
Here’s how you can get more play in:
Take any chance to go outside.
Meet friends for activities instead of drinks.
Don’t turn down offers to try something new.
Bike somewhere instead of driving everywhere.
Ask a friend on social media if you can join them the next time they go to [insert whatever activity they post about] normally.
Join in on an activity that you see in person (it’s how I got into disc golf).
Find a pickup game in the park (I did this with soccer).
Look out for people doing unique things in real life. This is how I learned about cold dips by the lake and made friends with a new group.
Activities and hobbies that will fight boredom.
“The pleasure of excess is always fleeting. Which is why self-discipline is not a rejection of pleasure but a way to embrace it. Treating our body well, moderating our desires, working hard, exercising, hustling—this is not a punishment. This is simply the work for which pleasure is the reward.” — Ryan Holiday, “Discipline Is Destiny.”
What are activities that you can try?
Join a gym with group classes. The best place to start is to find a gym that offers group classes; this could include CrossFit, kettlebell training, cycling, any kind of MMA training, or just general fitness group sessions.
Try team sports. Join a recreational league in your community as a free agent and take it from there. If you meet enough people, you can eventually start your own team.
Find a unique hobby. There are so many niche activities these days, from pickleball to salsa lessons, that you can never run out of ideas for things to try.
What if you’re not good at anything?
“I would love to join a team, but I never played any sports growing up.”
This is a common concern that I hear. Guess what? Nobody’s expecting a Jordan-level performance on the court. Most of the time, they’ll be happy to have even numbers for the game. The reality is that most teams or leagues are looking for enthusiastic people who will show up. As someone who organizes teams, the biggest issue is finding team players who will show up with a good attitude and give their best. If you put in effort and genuinely try to improve, others will take notice.
Remember this: you’re a 35-year-old trying to get off the couch, not an elite-level Olympic athlete. You’ll eventually get better and your new friends will applaud your improvements.
If you don’t think that you’re good enough at any sports or activities, here’s what you should know:
You can always improve with time. My buddy Omar joined my soccer team and has been learning on the job. People will enjoy having you on the team if you’re open to feedback and willing to improve.
You can organize the team. I organize a few soccer teams, but I’m definitely not the best player on either of them. However, since I organize them, I can’t kick myself off.
The goal is to find something that gets you excited because most of us are just bored. Your job can’t be your only social outlet, and your co-workers can’t be your friends.