The Power of Play in Reinventing Your Life | Kristine Michie & JD Schramm

**Kristine Michie** (0:00)
Play makes for better decisions, and then I just got to give a shout out for Imagination. We talk a lot on my podcast about is Imagination like the cousin or the sibling of Play, but they're definitely connected. And in this time, and we made a bit of reference to this being a challenging time out in the world, if you can't imagine something better, it's a little hard to get up every day some of these days. So Play also sparks imagination and keeps it active for better problem-solving and better results.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:27)
Welcome to the Midlife Chrysalis Podcast with Chip Conley, where we explore how midlife isn't a crisis, but a Chrysalis, a time of profound transformation that can lead to the most meaningful chapter of your life.

**Chip Conley** (0:43)
Welcome to the Midlife Chrysalis. This is Chip Conley. Wow. This episode has two purposes in your life, for your life. Number one, you're going to hear about two people who lost their job in the same month, January 2020, right before going into COVID, both of them in midlife and both of them struggling with what's next, and they've both flourished since then.
How you do midlife reinvention in your career, we'll definitely explore that. Secondly, joy, play, and love. Can't we use a little bit more of all three of those? Well, these two specialize in that. One of them famous for creating stories and how to help people tell their story, and the other one famous for helping people to see play as an unlock for so much in their lives, in our lives.
I hope you enjoy it. Kristine and JD are going to be teaching at MEA in September. I think this is an episode made for anybody who's actually been feeling a little bit dark lately. I hope you enjoy it. Kristine and JD, we're going to have some fun because you guys are playful.

**JD Schramm** (2:04)
Seatbelts on, ready to have some fun.

**Chip Conley** (2:07)
Yeah, let's do it. The episode is based upon the power of play, and the power of story.
So let's start with your stories, and then we'll get into the play. Kristine, give us two to three minutes on how you became who you are in midlife.

**Kristine Michie** (2:23)
Thanks, JD. Thanks for having us on.
I don't know if I will be able to hold off on talking about player being playful as I tell my story. It's pretty intrinsic. So yeah, I'm Kristine Michie. Hi, everybody. I have an impact consulting firm based in Southern California, working around the world, doing social justice, consulting work with nonprofit and philanthropic leaders. Then I have a podcast called The Playful Podcast, subtitle bringing fun to the serious work of change in the world. That's what's happening right now. But if we go back 60 years or maybe 58, I'm going to be 62 coming up next month. When I was a little girl, my dad had come home from Vietnam. He was a Marine, and my mom had my brother and I, and she was getting out of the car, and she saw a car in the parking lot that said, another mom for peace. She thought to herself, well, I'm for peace even though my husband was a soldier.
She wondered about that. In the beautiful genteel days of the late 60s, she went and knocked on the door of those neighbors and said, hey, tell me about that bumper sticker. I know Chip, you're a bumper sticker guy. They ended up having this dialogue and became peace activists more actively and formally after that. I was little at the time and ended up on my first little campaign when I was four years old, walking door to door for Tom Bradley, who was running for mayor of Los Angeles. Oh, yeah.
All I ever wanted to do was make a difference.
I wanted to be a senator from California. When I was seven or eight, I thought, I'll be a US senator. I have gotten to Chip. I didn't get to be senator. I guess I could still try. But I have gone to have a career that is completely in sync. My life, purpose, and my professional life have been in sync, working in the sector for 35 years. It's a blessing to get to do that. I tell the last little thing I'll say, which is why I'm in a good mood most of the time, all I do is hang out with people who care about others. That's where I spend my time.

**Chip Conley** (4:22)
God, do we all need that today? More moral beauty, less moral ugliness.
J.D.'s.

**JD Schramm** (4:29)