Muse: Finding Fun

Obsessed with fun.

And searching for ways to sprinkle it into everything I do from my day to day experiences, my life relationships, and my work.

Fun inspires creativity. It sparks laughter, joy and warmth. Whether it’s fuel to write, dust off my sewing machine, concoct some new recipe, or spark ideas for a client project, creativity is by far the best by-product of fun.

You would think that having fun is one of the easiest things to master. It’s only fun, after all. The reality is that we get so caught up in our day-to-day that the path to fun is sometimes out of the question or unknown.

What do I do to have more fun? Is it as simple as going to a movie? taking a trip? hiking up the trail? jumping out of an airplane? dinner with an old friend?

A few years ago I was struggling with this very thing. Fun seemed to be so far removed from my daily life that it began to take its toll. My husband and I had recently settled into our new home after 8 months of non-stop fun road tripping throughout the U.S.. This was some amazing fun, and I was having a hard time getting my fun back after such an experience. This was when I started thinking about all of the fun things I used to do as a kid, that for whatever reason, I no longer did, or did often enough. I made a list:

* climb trees
* write stories
* rollerskate
* play tennis
* play the piano
* play the flute
* sing in a chorus

All pretty simple things, right? Why did I give them up? How had I become so far removed from them?

I started writing again, religiously and with a new found love. Reckless at times, the stories, journal entries, a new blog, and little bits here and there seemed to flow with ease. It was an exciting release and one that caught the attention of friends, colleagues and local business owners, ultimately landing me with these new people in my life called clients and a new business of my very own.

I started playing tennis again, not as religiously as with my writing but with a new sense of sport that I hadn’t really experienced before. Playing with friends, in clinics and with my husband which turned out to be one of our favorite activities to enjoy together. We even started keeping score. Now we try and play at least once a week. And we usually keep score.

Make your list if you need to. Find your fun. It can be simple or complex. Either way, fun attracts fun, which I’ve found can only bring happiness.