Why Fun?

(Please read the first post first. It will make more sense. Need to figure out how to make them display in order!)

Fun is important to me. Life can be so serious sometimes and there is no reason a little levity can’t make any boring chore a good time. Some people prefer to just focus and get the thing over with so you can move on to something else you enjoy. But for me I would rather be a little less efficient and have more fun while doing what would otherwise be tedious. Some people have a great ability to focus but I need to trick myself into being disciplined by spinning it as Fun!

One of many welcome home/farewell parties at L&Js

We live busy lives filled with work, family, and friends, and don’t always have time for ourselves. But as I have been looking at the way I spend my own days, there are many opportunities to squeeze in extra time for things I enjoy. I have finally gotten and full-time job that starts next week. As luck would have it, the office is only 5 minutes from my house. I could look at this as a great opportunity to get more sleep in the morning and to relax after work.  But before I start I want to figure out a way to best utilize this time freed up by a short commute for the Discipline of Fun.

This exploration begins with figuring out the things I really want to spend my time on. This will differ for everyone. Also not everyone will be blessed with a 5 minute commute so try not to hate me. I also do not have children yet so they do not factor into my time management. I hope to have children one day so I need to master the Discipline of Fun by then so I am ready. For those who are already there please let me know how you do it!

So what to spend my time on and what is fun? My idea of fun has been changing. It mostly used to revolve around going to bars. Now, I am not an alcoholic, but I definitely spent a good many evenings in my 20s-30s in bars. This was just where you meet with friends and while you’re there you have some beers. They were good times and remember them fondly. But over the years we all aspire to be healthier. But that in itself is not fun. What is fun for me is looking hot and not being in pain and for me those two can go together in one category. I'll explain later!

Stay tuned for "Looking Hot, Feeling No Pain!"

Discipline of Fun - An Introduction

I am the last person that should be writing a self-help type blog...

But I was just in the shower (where as you know, a lot of good ideas originate) and I thought of this concept... fun as a discipline. Now, I am not disciplined by any means but I have recently realized that I may have become…. BORING. The horror! I have always thought myself to be pretty interesting, intellectual, spontaneous, but as I have gotten older I am realizing that a sunny disposition is not enough, you need discipline to give it a space to exist.

illustrating youthful optimism and sunny disposition:)

My fiancé, Darren and I have recently moved to San Francisco and it has been hard. I have been underemployed or unemployed most of the time despite, or maybe because of, my long work experience and advanced degree. A more disciplined person would have made better use of this free-time, obtaining additional skill-sets, learning a language or one of many things we think we will do “if only we had the time”. But honestly, faced with empty days, I sometimes watched endless episodes of Netflix! But, to my credit, this was not just free-time as in being a woman of leisure; I was stressed and under extreme pressure on the home front to get a job as soon as possible. This situation does not exactly breed joy and exuberance. I had also lost two good friends and my father, and was, for the first time in my life, actually depressed. I had always had my youthful optimism and sunny disposition to pull me through hard times but as we get older the problems get more serious and my own personal sunshine was no longer enough.

OK maybe I came by the fun-loving attitude naturally. Thanks Dad!

I am sure many of you have been through this kind of situation where the skills and charms of your youth are no longer as effective as they once were. Also I noticed that I was perfectly satisfied watching TV and eating popcorn every night on the couch. We didn’t socialize much, try new things, or go out very often. We were in a new city with so much to explore but there we were on the couch again. I think with all that was going on it was nice to have something comfortable and familiar to tether me to sanity. But over the weekend some subtle dissatisfaction was expressed, “Another movie?” and I realized… I have become boring!

I have always said that people who are bored are so because they are boring. And now it was true of me! What to do? This is when I came up with the idea of fun as a discipline. To become disciplined you need to have a goal in doing so. For some people it may be to live a more productive life, become more successful, be healthier, or earn more money and prestige. Those are not good motivators for me. The only thing that seemed to resonate, was that if I become more disciplined I can have more fun!

Stay tuned to learn more about the Discipline of Fun!