Being a grown up is hard. You have to go to work. You have to take care of your friends and family. You have to hold dinner parties and be polite to those that you do not like. There are a lot of rules and expectations about what it means to be an adult and what it means to be a kid. At some point, you have to cut out the parts of your life that are “juvenile.”
Or do you?
As adults, we often put ourselves in a box of expectations. We conform to the way that people believe that we should act and feel. We give up things that are important to us and skip out on things we may enjoy for the sake of “growing up.”
But this may be a mistake. While responsibility is important, as is planning for the future, you also only live once, and you deserve to experience a life that is fulfilling, enjoyable, and – above all else – fun.
Be Less Bound By Conventional Thinking
“Having fun” is one of the most important strategies for living an enjoyable life and overcoming many of the stresses and challenges in life. But in my practice, I regularly find people that refuse, or see the idea of having fun as some sort of juvenile construct.
– They would never go on rides in Disneyworld, especially without a child.
– They would never dress in costume for a party or convention.
– They would never be goofy, spontaneous, or enjoy things that youth enjoy.
None of this is because they don’t want to, but rather they constrain themselves to conventional thinking, believing that this is not something they should do, or that it’s only for young people. They never let loose because they don’t believe that they should.
But the truth is that fun is… well… fun. Fun is something you do to make life exciting. Fun is a way to laugh, relax, and break boundaries. Fun is a way of living, and a method of ensuring that even as you are aging physically, you are not forgetting what it means to feel joy, laughter, and a little bit of craziness.
We all need to be willing to have more fun in life, because often it’s that fun that’s missing when we experience workplace stress, or relationship stress, or boredom with the day to day. We still need to be responsible, and care for both those around us and our future. But fun is what makes memories, and fun is what makes time go by slower. It’s time to start having more fun, and experiencing what it means to really enjoy and appreciate life.
