Finding Fun by Any Means Necessary
“ ‘Have fun’ is my message. Be silly. You’re allowed to be silly. There’s nothing wrong with it.”
-Jimmy Fallon
I don’t know about you, but I love to have fun! Many people crave some type of fun as they look longingly outside their cubicle.
I’ve been fortunate to find a workplace where fun is a regular occurrence. Miraculously, fun even seems to be encouraged.
Many of my friends have not been so lucky. They sit in white cubes with standard chairs staring at their computer screens all day. They’re not allowed to talk except to ask questions and for meeting purposes.
What kind of life is one without fun? To me, a dull life seems counterproductive and plain idiotic.
The Benefits of Fun
By now, we’ve studied the benefits of fun ad nauseam and I’m sure you’ve seen several articles belaboring this point. I’m not going to spend time going over all of them here, but this is a great article that provides a nice summary.
I do want to quickly focus on how fun encourages bonding and relieves stress.
Relationships are vital to our survival and ability to thrive. We know that people who proclaim themselves as lonely have significantly worse health outcomes and lower life expectancies. Fun plays a vital role in facilitating relationships.
Think about it, don’t you love doing fun things with good people? I know I feel closer to my friends after we do a fun activity together. These activities give us space to simply exist and become closer as people. Having fun removes a lot of the artifice we deal with in our daily lives, leaving just the present moment.
Fun also allows us to de-stress. Many of us have busy lives. An inevitable part of having crazy lives is the stress it places on us. We all know the negative effects of stress, both physically and mentally.
Utilizing fun is a low-cost way to combat an issue that exacts a large toll on so many people. As a bonus, you don’t have to be constantly searching for your pill bottle or that handle of Jack.
Between the ability to bond more closely with those we care about and to relieve stress which we know is killing us, fun seems like an amazing and necessary prescription for life.
Finding Our Fun
If fun is vital, then how do we curate it in our own lives? I believe this is a common question most people have. Since high school, we’ve been taught how to achieve goals and deadlines, but not maximize our personal satisfaction.
Thanks to our education, searching for our own fun is an act of rebellion. My advice is to gravitate towards the thing that interests you, even slightly. For some this may be dance, others may love the sparks from blacksmithing, some people may gravitate towards data analytics. It’s not my place to tell you what’s fun.
What I do know, is that almost everyone has something they’d love to do if they had the time. So, simply carve out the time to do it. We’re all busy, but often we like to appear busier than we actually are. Very few truly have lives that 100% busy by necessity every waking hour.
I dare you to be radical with seeking out your fun. If you have to not be up to date with Game of Thrones then so be it! But seriously, we should place much more emphasis on activities we enjoy that have us creating and/or analyzing.
Your Journey Awaits
In the spirit of finding our fun, I encourage you to make a list of 10 things you always thought would be cool to do. Then, pick the one that seems the most viable to do right now and do it.
Our lives are too short to not try and enjoy them as best we can. If you’re reading this article then there’s a high likelihood you have enough flexibility in your life to carve out room for more fun.
I dare you to do something for yourself for a change. You work will always be there waiting for you. When you return from your fun not only will you feel refreshed, but you’ll probably be able to do your work better.
