September: Find some Fun!
Many of us have an inclination, over time, to let our lives become fairly serious. Having ground to cover means being focused, disciplined, and diligent, but the tone that we set does not need to be sombre. Quite the opposite, in fact! If life is meant to be a journey, why not choose, where possible, to cover ground with a spring in your step, and a smile on your face?
Why wait for a holiday, or the weekend, to have a nice time? Consider finding ways of injecting more fun into your daily life. Laugh more easily, or try to see the humorous side when things go wrong. Hum a bit! Or listen to music instead of the news.
Aside from trying to be more fun-focused in the way we move through the world – there is also the world of hobbies and interests – pastimes we do for enjoyment, that we like so much that we create chunks of time in which to do them. Consider creating added dimensions to your life with activities that make you smile, give you joy, help you to blow off steam, and connect with others. The social aspect of having a hobby or a common interest is a wonderful added bonus.
Some ideas:
· Exercise: A fitness group, a yoga class, a walking group, pilates, dancing…
· Sport: Volleyball, golf, tennis, running, padel, hockey…
· Craft: Classes in art, sewing, writing, beading, woodwork, cooking, model building…
· Interests: Groups that meet socially to discuss books, photography, cars, gardening, watch birds, go to museums, art galleries…
· Games: Bridge, poker, canasta, scrabble, monopoly…
· Spiritual: Religious group, meditation group, nature hiking group…
· Music: A band, a choir, a piano lesson, a mixing group, a playlist-making group…
· Collect: Cars, art, antiques, coins, frog ornaments, dessert experiences in restaurants…
· Learning: A language, a skill, a subject…
· A support group: Getting better, sharing, finding strength in numbers…
Spending time doing what you love relaxes and releases you, and can bring you joy when you do it by yourself, or as part of a group. You may prefer to do some things alone – read, write, cook, walk, meditate, hoola-hoop. You may derive pleasure and energy from doing some of your hobbies with a group – exercise, art, bridge, dance.
The point is to find things that make you smile, and create rituals around them so that you do them regularly. Many of us use the excuse of (a lack of) time as a reason for not starting and developing a hobby that interests us. We start off with “I’ve always wanted to…. But I just don’t have the time.” When we add up the time we spend that is wasted, in routines that often involve bad habits, we will find that there is more time than we think there is. Time wasters: scrolling through social media, unnecessarily checking for messages and emails, procrastination, feeling lethargic as a result of poor health habits (lack of sleep, not eating good food, ongoing mild hangovers, lack of movement).
Mood follows action, and if you take good actions repeatedly, a mood of energy and good humour should follow. We have just one life, and if we are lucky, we realize that we can spend most of it having the very nicest time, by exercising control over what is up to us:
· Living our values
· Caring for our bodies
· Planning our time and setting goals
· Being creative
· Generating resources
· Cherishing our families
· Excellence in our work
· Caring for our spirit
· Curating fun in our lives
Aside from hobbies, fun can also mean one-off adventures that are almost as much fun to plan as to do. It could be something right on your doorstep – a new restaurant, a show, a museum or an exhibition. It could be a whole country experience that you save for – fishing in Zambia, dune boarding in Namibia, hiking in South America, walking in the winelands, cooking in France, bird watching in the Lowveld, scuba diving in Australia.
There is a world out there for us to experience – let’s consider stepping off our life treadmills, slipping off our blinkers, and gazing around us at the sheer opportunities for fun. Then, stepping back on (with a smile on our face and a hum in our throat) and working well, saving hard, curating sustaining hobbies, and look forward to the fun that we plan. It’s up to us!