Episode 57: How to Have More Fun!

Hello everyone, and welcome to today's episode. As adults, most people don't know how to have fun. I think that people wait for some big experience that they're supposed to go on, or people rely on substances to have fun. That could be food, alcohol, or drugs. Some people, that's how they experience fun. I know for me in my 20s, having fun equated to going out and drinking, but also having fun did equate to hanging out with friends, dancing, and laughter.

So as adults, we can have fun, and it can be an everyday thing. We are not meant to be adults. We are meant to explore life with childlike wonder. And as we become adults, that childlike curiosity starts to diminish and starts to fade. We want to bring that childlike wonder back so that we can explore life through the lens of innocence, the lens of childlike curiosity. So how do we do that?

Well, one, we find moments to have fun. So for me, I like coming up with fun little curious questions to either ask myself or to ask others. These questions usually will create a laugh. It will be an obscure question, like “If you could only have one ice cream for the rest of your life, what would it be?" And for me, that ice cream is totally different than what anybody else would pick. But for me, I like coming up with fun little questions. My little sister and I will play this game too, where we will play some strange game, and we'll have a laugh.

And the questions will be like, "Would you rather have no fingernails or no toenails?" Or "If you were to end up at a party completely naked by accident, what would you do?" Coming up with just fun little questions and scenarios that would most likely never happen, but we have fun with it, and we laugh about it as well while we're doing it. My sisters and I just recently went on a trip together. And throughout our trip, we would come up with these fun little questions to ask each other about ourselves.

So, for example, "If I was a flower, what flower would I be?" And my sisters would answer that question, and then I would answer that question for them. And it's just a fun little game that we're playing that allows us to use our imagination. And as we're using our imagination, our innocence comes out. We're having fun. We're destressing the body. We're not worried about what's going on in the world at that moment in time. We are just finding a way to connect and to laugh and to have fun.

Some of the ways that you can have more fun as an adult is to find ways to laugh. What makes you laugh? I know for me, like, if I've had a heavy stressful day, the last thing I want to do is be in a super serious conversation, and I'll be in the conversation. If it's a very important conversation to have at that moment in time, I'm going to have it. I'm going to hold space for that person. But if I have the option and that is not a pressing issue for me to be a part of at that moment in time, I'm going to listen to my body and go, "I need some laughter, I need some lightheartedness."

Maybe I do a little dance, a little shimmy, and come up with little jokes to have fun with my daughter. Or my husband and I will always find ways to make jokes with one another or to laugh at one another and to laugh at ourselves. And I will find that when I'm being serious, my husband will always find a way to make me laugh, which is awesome. Even if I'm so stressed out and I don't really want to laugh, I know that I'm going to end up laughing because I'm taking myself too serious. And what he's saying is funny.

And so, for me, it's finding those moments that allow me to bring more laughter in my life, or I'll go seek out those moments. So maybe I watch a comedy special, or I read something that I know is going to be something that's lighthearted and funny, or I'll call someone that I know will brighten up my day and will have fun on the call in the conversation. That's one way to have fun.

Another way to have fun is to seek out new opportunities to learn something about yourself. So fun is, yes, laughter, but fun is also learning something new about yourself. So that process can be a little messy, but you're going to learn the way you think, the way you act. You want to invite that and set an intention that you're going to have fun while finding something new about yourself.

The other way to have more fun in your life is to create a bucket list. I know for me, I have many, many things that I want to see, to achieve, to do before I transition out of this human body. And by having a bucket list, it allows you to have something to look forward to. Any time you're bored, and you're not sure what to do, you can go and look at that bucket list. Does everything on the bucket list have to be something extravagant? No, you don't have to go and climb Mount Everest in order to have fun. No, you can have something like try a new ice cream, go check out this new park down the road and discover new waterfalls in my area. Or it could be watching this funny movie that you've never seen before. Or it could be to learn a new skill.

When you make a bucket list, then you have a roadmap. Anytime you are bored or not sure what to go and do. I know oftentimes, like, on the weekends, like, my husband and I both have off, and sometimes we're always like, "What can we do? There's nothing to do this weekend." Well, we can look at our bucket list. We can look at the things that we want to do.

So let's talk about exploring where you live as a part of fun. One of the things that I really enjoy doing is finding new places that are new to the area. Let's say like a new restaurant, a new boutique, or a new adventure center for my child. I want to go and see what this new thing is, check it out, support the local business and support having fun.

Also, I also like to go explore things that have been in the area for a long time, but I just haven't made my way to it. So I'm new to this area. But even when we lived in Charleston, we always found that we did a ton of tourist stuff when our friends and family would come to visit. We would do it when we first moved there a lot. But then the nostalgia just kind of disappears, and you're just like, "I've already done that. I don't need to go and explore that anymore."

And if you've lived in your town for a long time or you were born there, can you find new places to have fun in your town? Things are constantly changing. The area is changing. People are changing. People are opening businesses. Is there something new for you to explore where it will allow you to go and have fun either by yourself or with family?

Do things by yourself too. I want to encourage you. I find that when I go and do things by myself, I discover something new about myself that's very different than if I were to do it with someone else. I absolutely love doing stuff with my family members and friends, but one of the things that I thoroughly enjoy doing is exploring by myself as well.

Exploring by yourself, you'll realize that you get to do whatever it is that you want to do with nobody else's agenda in mind. And so what would you do? Have you gone and explored by yourself recently? I know that some people are even afraid to go and eat lunch or dinner out at a restaurant by themselves. Have you ever done this? If you have, awesome. If you haven't, I want to encourage you to go do it. It's actually quite fun, especially if you go somewhere where it's like a bar where you can sit, and you can talk to different people and see if you can strike up a conversation with someone.

Do something outside your comfort zone. If that's not fun to you and that gives you anxiety, then don't do it. But I want to encourage you to do something that's different than the normal things that you do. If you have found that you have been bored recently, or you're not really sure what to do on your days off, or you're wanting to invite more fun into your life, go explore your town or the neighboring towns around it. It doesn't have to be this really long trip that you take in order to go and have fun.

The more fun that you invite into your everyday life through laughter and exploration, the more that you are going to have happiness be embodied in every cell of your body and being. You deserve to be happy. You deserve to feel good. You deserve to laugh. Are you willing to invite more fun into your life? Come up with those weird, curious questions. Laugh. Laugh at yourself. Laugh at the situation. Just have fun. You deserve it.

Alright, guys, I look forward to seeing you in the next episode. Make sure you like and subscribe. It helps more than you know. I look forward to seeing you soon. Bye.