The opening keynote at the Blissdom conference was given by Kevin Carroll. Before entering the room I had never heard his name. By the time I left I was hugging his neck with tears of joy and appreciation running down my cheeks. I’m not a crier. Honest. But, Kevin’s words struck enough heart strings to form a chord, which has turned into a song that I will remember for the rest of my life.
Perhaps some day I will share with you the personal connection I felt, and the reason for my tears. But for now, let me just tell you that his life-story is powerful. Even if you can’t connect on a personal level with the journey he’s taken to get where he is now, you’ll be incredibly touched by his story.
Part 1.
Got Play?
According to Kevin, the three most important aspects of a person’s life are: Eating, Sleeping, and Playing. We all know we die if we don’t eat or sleep, but play? How’d that one get there? The reality is, we die as a person when we exclude play from our lives. The spark we had as a child disappears. We hop on a treadmill and run like heck, but we get nowhere. Knowing what makes us tick is essential. Doing that thing is can save us.
The trick is to find what it is we love, and do lots of it. In the next few posts I’ll be sharing what it means to “discover your inspiration and chase it for a lifetime.” (Kevin Carrol)
You Can Play With Us
Play is a common denominator. It fuels the life of every human being across the globe. As a child, Kevin felt alone. Raised by his grandparents in an unfamiliar town, Kevin didn’t have friends to play with. One day, out of boredom, he wondered down to a park. There he found an abandoned red rubber ball. At first, he played alone, kicking it high in the air, creating his own little game. For the first time since the move, he was having fun. Soon, neighborhood kids gathered around him and he feared one of them would claim the ball and spoil his fun. Quite the opposite. Instead of mocking him for playing alone, demanding the ball, or flat-out bullying, they said “You can play with us.”
When I started this blogging journey I felt quite alone. I hadn’t yet discovered Facebook, Twitter, or any of the other fun things that keep us connected. I was just a girl, throwing my thoughts out into what I thought was an empty void, but having fun doing it. Then came Twitter. I started meeting, and felt surrounded by, those who already knew how to play. They knew each other and I felt like Kevin, alone on a playground, holding desperately to my ball, and hoping it wouldn’t be taken from me. What I didn’t expect was to feel welcomed; to hear “You can play with us.”
Have you Played lately?
When was the last time you really had a good time?
What did you do?
More posts will be added to this series very soon! Be sure you’re subscribed to the RSS Feed so you don’t miss them!
You are reading Working, Playing, or Both? Read more from this series of articles.
- Playing, Working, or Both? Part 1
- Playing, Working, or Both? Parts 2 and 3
- Playing, Working, or Both? Part 4
Right you are. Play can part of our attitudes and it sounds like you have a playful one, which I am sure rubs off on your coworkers. Like you, I try to find the fun in everything I do. It's just easier to have fun doing the things I love, than say, computer aided drafting… Which I can do, but do not enjoy naturally.
– Sent from my Palm Pre
Mike, your comment is one of my favorites because I think you are absolutely right! We've become tied to our computers, for both work and 'fun' till the lines become blurred. And, we have no idea how much fun we're missing OFF the computer!!
I planted some of my flower beds last night, hung the hummingbird feeder, and watered my veggie garden. To me, these things are FUN!
Too much work and no play. The trick is to make work your playground, if you can do that then you're set.
Too many people have got the work, live, play equation back to front.
Playing is so essential for happy living
I last played this past weekend at a spectacular Birthday party for a long-time friend. Saw many folks that I had not seen in some time. We all had a blast. Myself and four others even performed one of his favorite songs (Don't look Back by the Temptations) in front of a crowded ballroom. it was great to be loose and silly for a few hours.
Life becomes way too serious if you allow it, but I never have. I always say that we should get out there with family and friends and make memories. The game will be over sooner than you think, so have at it.
Your story here is a great one, Erica. Woven nicely into the aspects of blogging, I look forward to this series. Of course I read all of your posts anyhow, you're one of my cherished online friends.
Keep Blogging!
Singing with friends is probably my ultimate description of joy/play. Since moving here almost 5 years ago I've not met a group of people to jam with. I miss it immensely!
It sounds like your friend's party was fun for everyone! It's always such a blessing to reunite with old friends!
I love this. I completely agree. I didn't realize you were here in Dallas. So cool!
Actually, I am 2 hours north of Dallas in Paris, but came down for the race and stayed with some friends who live in Dallas!
Did you have fun Sunday?
[...] are part of the Work/Play balance. Having fun refreshes you, motivates you, and keeps you [...]
Erica, this list of three is really great and I have never heard them in this combination. Next time I'll do something I'll ask myself if I'm playing otherwise I'll just grab a snack and go to sleep. And really, because this is all about it. There are things which are a must, but if you can do it for the sake of playing more, go for it. Like paying taxes. Not much fun, but if it allows me to play next year, I'm all for it. I am fortunate that I got to a point where my work is my hobby. It makes a world of a difference. I can get it done faster, I don't mind if there's more, and the family has a happy dad.
By the way, I found your blog through David Risley's site. Great job!
Thanks, Tom! I'm so excited about winning David's contest and getting to
read Crush-It.
Now that I have spent a whole weekend playing, and yesterday totally
off-topic work wise I must get back to work. Fortunately for me, work =
play! I love what I do!