If Life’s A Game, Why Not Have Fun With It?
I recently talked with a first time mom of a 15-month-old son. She mentioned to me how between her and her husband’s job, that it is tough to get in time to just have fun together. As with most relationships, they have been putting “getting things done” in front of fun. They run to Target, go to the grocery, take care of things around the house, etc. Sometimes it turns out that the one day they have together they end up spending it apart, as they can get more done that way and even salvage a little time for one to go to yoga while the other is at the gym. Thus far it has worked and served them both, as to get in a little yoga or gym time here and there has been much appreciated for their individual sanity and health. However, the mom mentioned, “but now it is time to find the time for fun.”
We often put fun on the back burner with the rest of our goals and other things that need to get done. We put fun behind the all too familiar statement of “when this, then that.” In the case of the first time mom, she noticed that for a while she had been saying, “when we get this done or run that errand or take care of this or that, then we will have fun together.” But as with all our desires, we must come to understand that there will always be something to do and get done. We will always have perpetually growing grocery lists, bills to pay, emails to send, phone calls to make, etc. And fun may find itself on the end of that list until it is us who brings it forward. But how to bring fun back? What is fun anymore?
A great way to begin having fun again is to remember that fun isn’t another thing to figure out or something to add to the “to do” list. Fun is spontaneous. Fun is joyful. Fun takes no effort or planning at all. Fun just is. And it can be found in this very moment from the mundane chores of life to the grandest of adventures. Our favorite British nanny reminds us in her song, A Spoon Full of Sugar, that,
“In every job that must be done there is an element of fun.
You find the fun and snap!
The job’s a game.”
Her classic remedy of a spoon full of sugar reminds of how simple fun can be. We can often get caught up in feeling like Jane and Michael Banks, being told by the world what we must have things done well before fun, however it is the presence of Mary Poppins that awakens the children, and our inner children, that we need not wait. Fun is here, now, for our enjoyment, for it is our birthright. Remember, we did not come here to earth merely to survive, but thrive and part of a thriving livelihood is FUN!
In the start of a new year with many embarking on new endeavors, we can get caught up in the planning and prep as we steer our lives in a new direction. In the example of nutrition, we plan meals, think ahead, budget, crunch the numbers, and organize ingredients. We stop the momentum of the autopilot when it comes to how we eat and begin to do things differently, stopping a train in its tracks in order to go in a different direction. Although this may feel tedious and, sometimes, arduous, this is so good for us. It wakes us up like a cold splash of water in the morning. It is that brisk bite of cold air that captures our attention to all that is happening around us, calling us to see more of what our experience could be, for example, more fun, even when it comes to nutritional changes.
To continue with the example of nutrition, and in the spirit of my personal experience with Whole30, figuring out new, creative recipes can be fun, so can finding new ingredients on a shelf in the grocery store that has been gazed upon several times to, alas, discover something new, and not to mention the excitement of experiencing how the body responds and begins to teach you in a whole new way. Change truly never provides a dull moment. Change is alive and pulsing with newness, creativity, inspiration, and wonder, if we but only allow our attitude to mirror its magnificence.
Life’s medicine of getting things done does not have to be a pill (pun intended) to take. It is our personal attitude that is the sugar, the sweetness we add to life’s adventures. We find that element of fun in each moment that is waiting to be discovered. In recent years, I have traveled a good bit to where people often ask, “when is your next adventure?” I respond the same each time: “Right now. Each moment is an adventure and I am always living it.” In a non-compartmentalized, integrated life, remember we tear down the walls of “Vacation Sue, Worker Bee Kathy, Sporty Spice, Family Focused Felicia, and Mother Martha,” and connect with the consistent thread that is woven throughout our daily lives beyond the roles we play. We recognize there are things to do in life and to get done but we always bring the element of fun. Because after all, isn’t life a game? Isn’t it about time we started having fun with it, don’t you think?
Namaste.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLkp_Dx6VdI