Are We Having Fun?

Many of you may remember that one of my three words of the year is fun.  My intention of having this as an anchor word was to make sure I was focused on enjoying where, on what, and with whom I spent my time.  I wanted to consistently ask myself, " Will this be fun?  and "How can I make this feel fun?"  Almost four months into the year, I've struggled with this word selection, wondering if I picked the wrong word because I wasn’t sure what felt fun.

As this was coming up for me in my journal writing, two episodes of the We Can Do Hard Things podcast covered exactly this topic.  The guest speaker, Catherine Price, shared that it's not uncommon for women to struggle with the answer to the same question that I was.  We start telling ourselves we should have more fun or want to have more fun, but aren't sure where to start.

I loved her definition of True Fun because it felt accessible and helped me tap into the things that I find fun. Her definition is, "Fun is the confluence of three psychological states: playfulness, connection, and flow."  Fun is when you feel most alive.

Some of the things that I came up with included:

• Being at a concert where I love the beat, the music, and the vibe, and I'm singing and dancing (poorly)

• Having a car ride music fest with my kids

• Doing something that feels a bit scary, but where I'm not the person responsible for the activity like our Rogue ATV Adventures in Moab where we had a trained driver.

• A destination race experience with running friends

It was such an interesting podcast series to listen to and recognize that we all have different things that we may find fun and that not enjoying what others find fun doesn't make you not fun!

We could all probably use a bit more fun and less seriousness in our lives.  When do you feel most alive?

❓Is it cooking while listening to music?

❓Is it an athletic activity?

❓Is it having dance parties with your kids (or just yourself)?

❓Is it hosting dinner parties with friends?

I encourage you this weekend to check out the article, listen to the podcasts, or spend a few minutes thinking about the last few times you had fun and if there's a common thread across the experiences.

What can you do this week to make you feel less serious about life and that you're having a bit more fun?