Are We Having Fun Yet?
At some point in your life one of your kids or someone else might say, “You’re no fun anymore.” You might feel obligated to try and be more fun or you might begin to ponder how your idea of what fun is has changed.
Fun is a beautiful combination of words that comes without effort, a favorite dessert savored, or a cloud formation that looks like giant snow drifts against a surprisingly blue sky. It’s the view through a kaleidoscope, a starry night, a good dream, or a big scoring word in Scrabble. It’s hardly ever a party.
I had some big time fun recently, but it turned out to be a lot of work (effort and driving). I’m not sure I want so much of that kind of fun anymore.
For me fun is a discovery, something out of the ordinary or something ordinary that I look at in a new way. It’s something spontaneous that delights, makes me laugh, or elicits some other kind of authentic expression. Fun hardly ever cost a lot of money. I don’t have to stay up late to enjoy it.
It’s fun to be with my seven-month-old grandson Bryce because when I’m with him I’m not trying to do anything else. He’s adorable and I never know what he’s going to do next. He looks at me like he really sees me and he doesn’t care if he has banana smeared all over his face.
I still think a funhouse mirror is fun. Learning is fun. Having nothing booked on my calendar for a few days in a row is an invitation to make room for fun.
It’s all fun; even stirring up my sadness or deep rooted fears has an element of fun because it urges me to grow and gives me more material for creating a rich life.
For someone who isn’t fun anymore, I seem to be having a lot of it. So what’s your idea of fun?
Post Note: The above are thoughts inspired by a monthly woman’s dialogue group I belong to and came from one of the themes we explored.
December 16th, 2008 9:38 am
Fun, for me, is any right brained activity, art, music, dance, meditation, the list goes on and on. The left brain has it’s own kind of fun, getting things in order mostly. So as long as my brain is on, and I pay attention, I can have fun, easy.
December 16th, 2008 11:18 am
I love your perspective on this topic.
Fun = getting an “A” in a MBA class, running, waking up to a clean house, driving my car, being awake and outside at dawn, making room in a day for the company of someone I like, being tired and sleeping all night, eating pomegranates.
December 16th, 2008 1:05 pm
Wow, deep subject! What is fun anymore? Like you, I delight in the grandkids, they are always entertaining and fun. Fun this time of year is the mailman bringing packages ordered online, wrapping presents and making long curly ribbons, eating holiday baked goods made next door and delivered here, the best part is not having to clean up! Hope you have a fun day!
December 16th, 2008 3:52 pm
Hi Colleen, hope you don’t mind, I quoted you today on my blog: “I can’t help wondering if I had been jogging instead of blogging these last 3 years how fit I might be now.” ~Colleen Redman.
December 16th, 2008 4:20 pm
Sure, I just used the same quote in my Christmas letter and I still wonder about it. I’m surprised you remember it, as it was posted here a while ago.
December 17th, 2008 3:27 am
I guess I have to have laughed at least once for something to be fun for me. And while I am not the most fun person, I do get my feelings hurt if someone tells me I am not fun—unless it is a small child and we are having a discussion about something they should not be doing!
December 17th, 2008 9:15 am
I found this post to be soooo intuitive- It’s absolutely right on you, fun lady with your hats and window on the world.
Sometimes even though those dearest to me are gone- friends, husband, etc. I still smile easily at the fun times they gave me. I was fun yesterday singing to anyone who would listen to cock- eyed carols. “Deck the halls with crap from China.,.” etc..God Belss you and your this Christmas – Make Special Bryce memories !!!
December 17th, 2008 9:27 am
My idea of fun is pretty much you wrote here in your blog.
I love the GOOD dream one. When I have a good dream it lingers for a long time after, almost like good sex. Which is one you didn’t mention and is on my list. xo
December 17th, 2008 10:05 am
I think we can put sex under the category of something spontaneous that can delight me, make me laugh, or elicit some other kind of emotional response.
December 19th, 2008 12:28 pm
I have fun all through out the day, any day. My fun used to be much more intense and hard core. I had to be at trendy bars, in trendy clothes with hot guys and surrounded by friends. Now my fun is much more toned down and I have fun anytime I have energy and feel good. Whether singing and dancing alone in the house or entertaining the kids. Crowds and loud noise is not fun for me anymore. And traveling TO have fun sometimes makes me so tired I can’t REALLY have any fun at all when I get there!
December 20th, 2008 10:46 am
Perhaps, like so much else in this life, fun is an attitude. 🙂