You're Too Scared of Being Useless to Play with Cas Holman • 427
Mind Love™ • Consciousness, Spirituality, and Science for Awakening
Melissa Monte | Conscious Coach
4.9 • 906 Ratings
🗓️ 11 November 2025
⏱️ 70 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this conversation, you'll discover:
- Why your achievement addiction is actually a fear response in disguise
- How play unlocks the creative parts of yourself productivity destroys
- The real reason you can't rest (and how to finally stop running)
When was the last time you did something just because it was fun?
Not because it would advance your career. Not because it would make you a better parent or partner. Not because it would optimize your health or expand your network. Just because it brought you joy.
If you're sitting there drawing a blank, you're not alone. Most of us have turned our entire lives into one giant to-do list. We've optimized the fun right out of existence.
I realized this recently when I noticed that every single thing on my calendar served a purpose. Work meetings. Kid activities. Workouts. Networking events. Even my "fun" plans were really just relationship maintenance or personal development in disguise. There was literally nothing on there that was pure play. Nothing that existed just because it lit me up inside.
We've been sold this idea that adulthood means being serious. Responsible. Productive. But somewhere along the way, we confused being an adult with being joyless. In Vedic philosophy, there's this concept of lila. Divine play. The idea that creation itself is an act of joyful expression, not serious business. That the universe is literally playing itself into existence. And yet here we are, treating our one precious life like a performance review.
Links from the episode:
- Show Notes: mindlove.com/427
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This question might hurt, but when was the last time you did something just because it was fun? |
| 0:09.0 | Not because it would advance your career, not because it would make you a better parent or a partner, |
| 0:15.0 | not because it would optimize your health or expand your network. Just because it brought you joy. |
| 0:22.6 | If you're sitting there drawing a blank, you're not alone. |
| 0:26.6 | Most of us have turned our entire lives into one giant to-do list. |
| 0:30.6 | It's almost like we've optimized the fun right out of our existence. |
| 0:35.6 | I realized this recently when I noticed that every single thing on my calendar served a purpose. |
| 0:41.3 | Work meetings, kid activities, workouts, networking events. |
| 0:46.3 | Even my fun plans were really just relationship maintenance or personal development in disguise. |
| 0:53.3 | There was literally nothing on there that was pure play. |
| 0:57.0 | Nothing that existed just because it lit me up inside. |
| 1:01.0 | Our priorities tend to be kind of, we need to be efficient, we have to be productive, right? |
| 1:07.0 | Everything needs to be kind of in search of like, well, why would I do that if it |
| 1:11.8 | doesn't relate to earning money or, you know, leveling up? Like we even now track how much we |
| 1:17.5 | walk, not because it feels really good to take a walk, but because we need to reach our |
| 1:22.2 | steps for the day, right? So that's a, that has extrinsically motivated something that actually intrinsically, |
| 1:29.4 | we could be quite in touch with because it's really nice to take walks and like listen to birds |
| 1:33.5 | and look around and talk to strangers, right, to see our neighbors and say hi to our neighborhood. |
| 1:38.9 | So, yeah, in free play and everything that I design and advocate for is free play related. |
| 1:44.9 | It's really about connecting with what you inside are driven to do and kind of staying in touch with that. |
| 1:52.7 | We've been sold this idea that adulthood means being serious, responsible, productive. |
| 2:00.1 | But somewhere along the way, we confused being an adult with |
... |
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