This is Optimal Living Daily, episode 1802, The Importance of Play, What the Christopher Robin Film Taught Me, by Danae Smith of thiswondrouslife.com, and I'm Justin Malek. Happy Monday and welcome to one of the only podcasts in the world where blogs are narrated to you for free, that's with permission from the authors, and I'll keep this intro short, so for now let's get right to it and start optimizing your life. The Importance of Play, What the Christopher Robin Film Taught Me, by Danae Smith of thiswondrouslife.com. I didn't grow up on Winnie the Pooh.
Sure, he's cute as pie and who doesn't love Piglet or Tigger, but honestly, I wasn't a huge fan. I didn't have Winnie the Pooh paraphernalia, and I can't sing any of the songs. I remember a childhood friend having Winnie the Pooh overalls, and I distinctly remember around 2010 or 2011 sitting in my literary research methods class taught by the late Kate Chandler. I remember that first day, her coming in, our seats arranged in a circle, and her sharing emphatically about her deep love for Winnie the Pooh.
I'm almost certain we read an excerpt. Other than those moments, I have no true connection to Winnie the Pooh and the Hundred Acre Woods. So when the movie Christopher Robin was being promoted, I didn't bat an eye. Did I think it would be bad?
Nope. Would I necessarily pay to see it? No. However, that was not the case last Tuesday.
I found myself, begrudgingly, sitting in a theater waiting to see Christopher Robin. I won't lie, I had my heart set on watching Mission Impossible 6, but here I was preparing to watch Christopher Robin. And y'all, oh my stars, I cried the whole time. And laughed, a lot.
If you're a Winnie the Pooh fan, then you will love Christopher Robin and should stop listening now if you plan on seeing it, because there is a spoiler in the words to come. If you aren't a Winnie the Pooh fan, then you will love Christopher Robin. Also stop listening if you plan on seeing it For the sake of this post I had to give away a part of the movie and if spoilers are your least favorite I bookmark this episode see the movie then finish listening Anyways Christopher Robin tugs on every heartstring possible But what I loved about this film beyond the fact that it was just done really well, from the score to cinematography to acting, the message and heart of this film is what we are needing. Sitting in that dark theater, a small bag of half-eaten popcorn in my lap and a tissue permanently resting by my cheek, I found myself thinking, what happened?
What happened to the freedom we experienced as kids? Our imaginations swirling and leaping, where we play with no inhibitions. As different scenes played out, my eyes burning from tears of reflection and laughter, I found myself examining my life, my world. What has play looked like?
Why has it stopped? Does growing up mean we have to give up play for the sake of responsibility or maturity? As I watched this movie, I saw Christopher Robin grow up and go through various life experiences from death and grieving to marriage to war to raising a child and the childlike wonder he had was suddenly lost. Much like we do as we get older, we experience life in all its shapes and forms and our childlike wonder and freedom, if not protected, dwindles until it's seemingly no longer there.
Christopher Robin began to adult always focused on his work and hustle he had begun to lose sight of what mattered until Pooh found him and unbeknownst to Christopher Robin Pooh invited him on an adventure of finding himself again finding play I'll never forget the scene where it hit me right between my eyes it was so powerful Christopher Robin finds himself in the 100 acre woods after at least 20 plus years he's trying to help Pooh find his friends but he's also very preoccupied with doing it the most efficient way possible with no fuss or frills anyways fast forward Christopher Robin yells at Pooh which made me mad because who yells at a teddy bear and Pooh disappears on his searching to find Pooh Christopher Robin ends up finding the rest of the gang but they don recognize him It not until he starts to play that they began to see he truly was Christopher Robin And the more he played the more they recognized him I could feel my heart squeeze and I felt a pain in my chest How often have we let life snuff out our childlike wonder and adventure? How often have we let adulting take the lead in the name of responsibility and maturity to the point that we no longer recognize ourselves, our true selves? Don't get me wrong. Pay your bills and pay them on time.
Be successful and professional with your job. Handle your business. But in all the handling, ask yourself if you lost your wonder. Ask yourself, when was the last time you let yourself lean into that wonder, your imagination and adventure?
Of course, play looks different for everyone. For a large majority, it probably does not involve frolicking through a forest playing make-believe, and that's okay. I think play can be defined as whatever allows you to connect with childlike wonder and imagination. Whatever brings you joy and replaces those worry lines with laugh lines.
Watching that film, it just reinforced my heart's desire to live a simple life where I'm able to see and invest in what matters most. It reminded me that play is important in this life journey. It doesn't make you immature or irresponsible. Even in this simple living pursuit, It is easy to get caught up in doing all the things and not actually finding rest or joy.
I'm convinced we can't be all work and no play. We can't let the weight of adulting, because sometimes it feels like a weight if I'm just honest, not necessarily bad, just real, keep us from finding joy, finding rest, finding play. All I know is at the end of the day, when I'm old and my days are spent reflecting, I want to be able to look back over my life and not see years spent simply working, but years spent doing what matters most and being filled with the joy that brings. So Christopher Robin, Winnie the Pooh, and the Hundred Acre Woods inspired me.
Inspired me to remember the importance of play, even as an adult. that childlike wonder and the beauty of my imagination are a constant invitation to remembering what matters most and living in the joy that carries I'm constantly thinking about how to optimize my health what supplements to take, hours of sleep what my diet should focus on Superpower finally takes the guessing out of it One simple lab test covers over 100 biomarkers and their app gives you a complete picture of your heart, liver, hormones, metabolism even environmental toxins Plus it used to cost $499 Right now it's just $199 And head to superpower.com and use code OLD at checkout for an additional $20 off your membership I have not seen this movie but I feel like I should now She did a great job getting me to want to see it She could be a marketer for this movie and great timing for this post with 2020 being a strange year all around and a lot of us putting play to the side as we deal with how to navigate living during a pandemic, trying to minimize the spread of a virus, taking care of those we care about all with uncertainty about businesses, maybe our jobs, of course our health, even relationships, as many of us can't see the people we'd like to see because of pre-existing conditions or high risk and because travel is difficult and risky and so on. I think a lot of us are losing that sense of play. But with some inspiration like we heard from Danae and some brainstorming, some communication, I think we can make it happen.
So don't forget that. Have a great start to your week. Thank you for being here with me and listening every day. And I'll be back tomorrow for your optimal life.
Always.