Take Fun More Seriously!
People love talking about having fun. Listening to them, I’ve often wondered if maybe I was missing something. When asked what I do for fun, I’ve been reluctant to answer. I’ve learned by the look on people’s faces it might not be what they expect to hear. Or maybe it just doesn’t sound like fun to them.
Growing up during the 60s was an exciting revolutionary time. The hippie era flourished and free love, sex, drugs, and rock & roll became part of the lifestyle of the day. It was a time when people enjoyed life, indulging themselves in fun and pleasure. Some people at least. Just not me.
When I channeled the title for my book Confessions of a Middle-Aged Hippie, I was excited, as it made perfect sense to me. After all, my “hippie” was all about the values of peace and love, music and art, exploration and transformation. The more serious stuff. It was my brother Niel, who broke the news to me that I wasn’t really a “hippie.” Hmm. My idea of fun has always been, well, much more serious. Fun for me is all about learning new things.
What Does “Fun” Mean Anyway?
When I went to the dictionary to look up the definition of fun, I was curious to see if maybe what I got from learning new things would qualify as “fun.” Fun means enjoyment, amusement, or lighthearted pleasure as in “the children were having fun in the play area.”
Fun is about jollification, merrymaking, recreation, diversion, leisure, relaxation; a good time, a great time; high spirits, laughter, hilarity, glee, gladness, lightheartedness, levity. You get the idea. Learning definitely brings me enjoyment and pleasure, often amusing me and offering a diversion too. This reassured me that learning does officially qualify as fun.
Bringing Childhood Fun into Adulthood
Children are fascinating to observe. They live from a place of wonder and joy, finding pleasure and fun in even the smallest of moments. They appear to simply have fun just from being.
Curious how we bring fun into our lives as adults and the importance of actually taking time for it in our stressed-filled 24/7 non-stop world, it was time to look deeper. Albert Einstein’s quote, “Play is the highest form of research,” opened the door.
Understanding Play and Fun
A wonderful Psychology Today article offered me new ways of understanding play and fun. Researchers have found that unstructured play, where partners have to negotiate the rules, is most important in creating beneficial effects on the prefrontal cortex of our brain. The article states: “Play is serious business.” My point exactly.
It goes on to say, “This sounds paradoxical and it is, in so much as something that comes so naturally to large-brained mammals (and birds, according to some authorities), that is so much fun, is so vital. Play is a banquet for the brain, a smorgasbord for the senses, providing nourishment for body and spirit: sad then that as a society we seem to be starving ourselves of it.” Indeed.
So why is this and what’s the impact of not enough fun and play in our lives?
Why Fun And Play Are Important
The research of Stuart Brown, founder and president of the U.S. National Institute for Play and author of Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul (2009), reveals that severely play-deprived children manifest multiple mental or behavioral disorders. On the flip side, the histories of successful, creative people show social play’s vital part in healthy development. It seems that emotional control, social competency, personal resiliency, and curiosity accumulate through developmentally suitable play experiences.
Other studies have found that play-deprived children manifest responses on a scale ranging from unhappiness to aggression. What happens to these children as they become adults? Could this lack of play as children possibly be a contributing factor to much of the unhappiness, depression, and pent-up anger in our world today?
Creativity Declines Without Play and Fun
Besides the link to possible mental or behavioral disorders, there is also a price to pay in terms of declining creativity. In their book Play, Playfulness, Creativity and Innovation (2013), Bateson and his Cambridge colleague Paul Martin argue that playfulness facilitates originality in nature and society, meaning a lack of it should be a warning sign to educators and academics that there is a dramatic need for change. Perhaps this isn’t news to the 33 million plus people who have viewed Sir Ken Robinson’s Ted Talk, “Do Schools Kill Creativity?”
“Interventions that provide children with greater opportunities for play make them more creative,” Bateson says. “Conversely, fears about safety and the pressures of school curricula are reducing opportunities for free play. These trends are associated with a decline in the ability to come up with new ideas.” It’s no secret that creatives will rule the future, which makes it all the more crucial that children are given this opportunity to play and have fun. Our future could depend on it.
Your Funprint is a Unique Expression of YOU
Then I came across a piece by author and coach Martha Beck that offered some interesting insights about fun and how it expresses in us individually. She says that each of us is born with an inclination to have fun doing certain types of activities, in certain proportions–you may love doing something I hate and vice versa. I totally got this. Maybe you love partying with lots of people around, yet that isn’t at all fun for me, as I prefer a small group of people having one-on-one conversations. Hopefully learning new things.
She refers to the pattern of activities people enjoy most as their “funprint,” and likens it to your thumbprint, in that it’s unique to you. More and more the research shows that we are most productive, persistent, creative, and flexible when we’re engaged in precisely the combination of activities that brings us maximum fun.
The Benefits of Having Fun
Having fun has a list of impressive benefits. It helps to relieve stress, improves brain function, stimulates the mind and contributes to our creativity, improves relationships and our connection to others and keeps us feeling young and energetic. Who wouldn’t want their life to include all of these? Is it any wonder then that people living life with little or no enjoyment, are operating at less than their most productive and creative selves? We see this reflected everywhere in our world today.
Beck also says that your funprint isn’t at all a frivolous indulgence. It is very important to your soul, as it is the map of your true life, an “instruction manual for your essential purpose, written in the language of joy.” Loved reading this, and realized we all would be wise to take fun more seriously.
Taking Fun Seriously
Beck believes that learning to read and respond to your funprint is one of the most crucial things you’ll ever do for yourself. Now I see that if learning new things is fun and stimulates my imagination and creativity, then that is perfect for me and who I am. It’s part of my overall funprint.
Although we have more leisure time in our lives, we are having less fun. We could reap the benefits throughout our lives if we would give ourselves permission to indulge in some childlike fun. Realizing that I might not have been taking fun seriously, I’m committed to now share freely my own particular brand of fun without hesitation with anyone who asks. And to keep exploring and living my own funprint to the max.
How about you? What does your personal funprint look like and what fun things do you include in your day-to-day life?
Category: Health and Nutrition, Psychology
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Sweet! I love the Einstein quote… and that you make space for everyone with the term “fun print.” (I have a pretty introverted version of fun.) Thanks for posting.
Thanks for your thoughts Andrea! I’m pretty introverted too, definitely not the wild party kind of gal, so I get your “pretty introverted version of fun” comment. Funprint is compliments of Martha Beck and it seems to resonate with a lot of people. It offers a lot of choice when it comes to our individuality and fun!
I think that a curious thing about having fun is that we can really FEEL the conversion, almost as if we are eating with our non–dominant hand. If, for instance, we are stopped at a red light and do a quick 10-digit finger dance on the steering wheel with our hands, we can feel the fun happening – at a neuromuscular level!
Love this simple exercise you shared here, Joan! I must try the 10-digit finger dance on the steering wheel and see if I can illicit some fun during my driving time! Fabulous observation and I appreciate your sharing it!
Wonderful post, Beverley! I love how you highlighted the paradoxical relationship between fun and seriousness. A teacher of mine told me once that all ‘great’ truths have some element of paradox in them. I related to you saying: “Fun for me is all about learning new things.” Yep, that’s my ‘funprint’ right there! I love the term “lifelong learner’ and when I’m learning it rarely seems like something ponderous and heavy. It’s lighthearted and fun, a skipping though of facts and ideas that excite me, and that led me on to the next jewel, and the next.
Reading your comment you really do sound like an air sign, Dave. Or maybe you have strong air influence in your chart. Love how you called learning, “lighthearted and fun, a skipping though of facts and ideas that excite me, and that led me on to the next jewel, and the next.” Oh yes, I truly do relate to that. Thanks so much for reminding me of the polarities or the paradoxes that we experience relating to “truths”. Yes, fun and seriousness somehow fit perfectly together in life!
Agree, having fun is important and to not always take yourself too seriously, but being able to have a bit of a self-ironic distance to your own importance etc. And I liked very much the theory of the ‘funprint’. :-)
Having fun is really important as it turns out Katarina. So much so that it really makes a difference in how healthy we are. Being able to distance yourself from yourself is always a good thing. The “funprint” is a very cool way of looking at our own unique ways of having fun too!
What is fun? So many different things depending on my mood and of course it changes throughout me life. But overall there has been consistent for me is reading, playing the piano, being with my dogs and hanging out with a few good friends. What I do for work, and my never ending learning about exercise and nutrition I also find fun, I’m just lucky enough to be able to call it work.
I strongly believe too many people spend too much time “at work” and not enough time “playing” I don’t know how it could even happen but I would love to see the typical 9-5 work day with weekends off come back into existence.
You sound like you are very clear about your own “funprint”, Lisa, which is wonderful. I know I love learning and lots of subjects and topics fit into that. Like you, health and nutrition which has been such focus in my life too. Music was also a big part of my life and I am craving it now again. I loved roller coasters when I was younger and now I love hiking in Sedona, although I only visit once a year. I think we all have to find our own fun and make sure we are not only thinking about it, but living it too. The 9-5 workweek might be a thing of the past, making it even more important for people to be conscious of “scheduling” fun and downtime so they aren’t working all the time!
I just love this article, the title, and all the comments, too. Really like how you coined “funprint”. Appreciate the honoring of our uniqueness. Often times I find I’m struck by something which I thought would be fun and should be fun, but it wasn’t. Sometimes I can’t figure out why I didn’t enjoy it. (Sometimes it’s my own attitude).
I’ve often looked at other people, Denise, and wondered why what they called fun, doesn’t seem at all like fun to me. I also try different things and like you, just don’t find the fun in them. That’s why when researching this piece, I found it fascinating to see that fun = enjoyment, which really does mean we all have our own unique “funprint”. Glad you like that and wanted to make sure the credit goes to Martha Beck who coined it. The key for us all is to uncover the things that are fun for us…and then make sure to do them more often!
Hi Beverley, I had to laugh at your description – I totally identify with considering learning fun, and even some of the looking within that maybe some people want to avoid like the plague – I think it is tremendously exciting!
But, there is also a kind of pure joyous fun that both adults and children are starved for – as you so rightly point out. It’s a combination of freedom and relaxation that feels far too rare.
Thanks for a truly important post! xo, Reba
It’s so interesting to read how many people actually totally identify with my “learning is fun” description, Reba. I think I have always been that way though, so am revisiting what other fun things to make sure I do as often as possible. You’re so right that both adults and even children are so driven and so busy, that we all need to include that pure joyous kind of fun in our daily lives. Glad you enjoyed this post, Reba! xo
I take fun very seriously…but my definition of “fun” has changed over the years. However, I would disagree that we have more leisure time. We are always connected — which makes it even more imperative to get serious about having fun.
I agree that we really do need to get serious about fun, Jackie! I find I have a lot of time, yet am having less fun and am online more than ever. I have been rebooking at what would be “fun” to me now, and think I would be wise to make a conscious effort to include those in my life this summer!
When we were kids, the best fun time was recess or after school activities. When you get older you need to find those things which make you the happiest in life. Everyone’s fun will be different but fun is a goal to be actively pursued.
It’s amazing how our childhood memories of what we found fun, stay so vividly in our minds and hearts, Joyce. Yes, life changes as we get older, but I’ve also heard that what we loved when we were kids, is often the things we should look at doing as adults as well. Yes, everyone’s fun is different and the key is to make sure to include it in our lives. It’s essential for health and balance.
My funprint includes international volunteer travel, sitting quietly watching the sky and writing.
Fellow sky and cloud watcher as well, Patricia! And writing, yes, I arrived here this time as a writer. Love that you enjoy international volunteer travel too. What a wonderful way to see the world.
Funprint! I love it, and I love that it’s unique to me. Thanks, Beverley, for shining a light on fun and it’s critical importance, even if/especially when things feel serious and challenging.
xoxox
Love this idea of a funprint too, Sue! Happy I found that to share with others, as it really seems to resonate. Yes, it is becoming increasingly important to make sure to include fun in our daily lives, even when life is challenging. Maybe those times are the times to activate your funprint even more. xo
I’m with you…I have fun when I’m learning something new. As a pre-teen, I’d be inside reading a captivating book while others were outside playing! I love puzzles, mysteries, board games…things that stimulate my brain. That’s not to say I don’t love an amusement park! As a child, my favorite ride was called “The Merry Mixer.” To this day, I can’t help but laugh when on that ride. :-)
You sound very similar to me, Tae! As a young girl I loved to read and was reading to my kindergarten class at age 4. Learning is on the top of my list and I never seem to run out of questions to ask. When I read you love amusement parks, it reminded me how much I love old-fashioned roller coaster and how thrilling and how much fun they always were for me! I must find a roller coaster this summer and revisit that feeling. The merry Mixer sounds like a lot of fun too and sounds like you have very treasured memories that bring the experience back to life! :)
Hula hooping is one of my favorite activities. I am mesmerized when I see people that can make them come alive and dance. I so want to be able to do that all day one sunny day in the park. One of the funnest things I have ever done was when I did my kids yoga teacher training. It was like we played all day. I definitely need to do a fun print
Although I haven’t thought of hula hooping for awhile, Christy, as few people have mentioned it and it makes me smile to think about my spastic days trying to hula hoop. It sounds like you have some wonderful activities that are fun for you and I imagine when you do your funprint, some of those will be very prominent. Maybe revisiting hula hooping is one of them!
I love having fun, Beverley, it keeps me mentally alert and agile and while the definition of fun things to do has changed over the years for me, I’d say it has worked for me and kept me going, even when the chips have been down or I’ve been faced with a challenge that seemed insurmountable at the time.
My dachshund family led the way. It amazed me how 4 dogs could be sleeping one moment and then one wakes up, barks and they all start chasing each other and playing. Nowadays Miss Coco, my Muse, is in charge. If she feels I’m working too long, she’ll bring her ball or just gently growl and I know we both need playtime.
I’m so glad you’ve written about the importance of fun and play. Without it, life would be so dull.
I love hearing how the dogs in your life, have been an inspiration for the fun in your life, Vatsala. I feel the same way about my daughter’s dog and her two cats who now all live with me. What joy and what entertainment and if we stop and take a lesson from them, we all would be lighter and having more fun in our daily lives. Like you, my idea of fun seems to keep changing and although I’ve heard that whatever you enjoyed doing as a young child is still your idea of fun, that I am not too sure about. Thanks for sharing how you do incorporate fun into your life! It is so very important for all of us “adults”.
My fun print includes God, family, close friends, music (piano and singing), recording family memories with word and photos, and I have to include learning, especially about nutrition as it fills a passion of mine to help others have good health.
Your funprint is so lovely, Pat, with so many rich and wonderful things that fuel your soul. Like you, I do love music and realized I am not doing it enough. Learning is a big one for me and like you, all things to do with health and nutrition are on the top of my list too!
Hey Beverley :)
Really enjoyed this “fun” post, thank you for sharing as it is really what I needed to read today. Was having one of those days ya know the ones where you feel sorry for yourself……well I am over it now, and since reading your post, I would agree with you that making fun a part of your daily life is so important and just stop being so serious all the time…..life can be really sucky sometimes, but reading posts like yours, helps me to realize how fun life can actually be if I stop being so serious and just enjoy being in the moment and stop worrying. I definately NEED more fun in my life :)
Great post and thanks again for making me smile as I needed it :)
So happy this post arrived at a perfect time for you Joan! Funny how that happens and how something simple like reading a post, can flip perspectives for you. I think life can be challenging and yet it is so important to make time for whatever fun looks like for you. Like you, I am often very serious and that is what prompted me to write this post in the first place. I was questioning what is fun to me and thought maybe something was wrong with me. As it turns out, we all have our own unique funprint and as long as we are enjoying it…that’s our kind of fun. I appreciate hearing that this post has you smiling again! :)
I really enjoyed this post Beverley. Why? Because having fun has always been right up my alley. When I was in my 20s, my dad looked at me and said “I don’t know what your mother and I did to make you think that life was supposed to always be fun”. Ha ha…no one ever has to tell me twice.
And thanks for introducing me to the term “funprint”…love, love it!
chel recently wrote Gremblins Got You Trembling?
Love this Rachel! It’s so awesome to hear that fun is just something you are and do. It sounds like your dad and mother aren’t necessarily fun oriented so bravo to you for being the example in your family. Glad you liked the idea of a funprint too! Seems to really resonate with everyone. Keep being fun loving, as it seem to serve you and the world well!
My funprint centers around my family, we love to play cards; my hobbies, I love scrapbooking and reading; and just getting outside and playing with my dog. I totally believe in self care to have a healthy life and that includes fun.
You have such a wonderful list of things that comprise your funprint Karen! I also love being outside and in nature and our dog and cats are always entertaining and bring joy. Yes, I also know that we are wise to take care of ourselves and from my research, I see how important fun is, whatever that looks like for each of us.
I’m a learner myself, Beverley, and I completely understand where you’re coming from. A few weeks ago, my husband and I had a date. We played putt-putt and rode bumper boats (like the cars, but with water!). We had fun for a couple of hours. Then we went home and we both went into our offices. And had fun for the rest of the day!
Love this Carol! I totally get it and like you, have done things for the sake of doing them because they are fun for others and yet, although I enjoy them in the moment, I can’t wait to get back to my home turf and seeing what new things are there for me to learn. I do love being in Arizona, especially Sedona, to be in nature and to hike and enjoy the lightness I feel there. That for me is fun!
Dancing. And as of late, dancing to 80s music while I’m working on my new business plan, because it pulls me back to a time a place when I felt strong, confident, and had that “I can do it” attitude. Love this!
That’s a beautiful image you painted Melanie. Dancing seems to be fun for a lot of people and I am thinking that I would be wise to get up and dance more often. I love that the 80s music has such powerful memories for you too, and that being pulled back to that place in time, is propelling you into your future!
You know, this is ‘ironic’ because every Christmas I want to put ‘fun’ things on my Christmas list but… struggle with what is fun. What is fun for me is hanging with friends, having a rita, riding my motorcycle or maybe playing softball… but I think guys have it easy.. buy them some video games… I don’t know.. but insightful post Bev.
Even though you say you struggle, Kristen, is sounds like you do have a lot of “fun” things you love doing. Maybe thinking about what is fun makes it more difficult to articulate, but what you describe, from what I know of you, is truly how I see you and what things you would do to enjoy yourself. That’s the key to fun. Something you enjoy doing. Glad you found this post insightful too! I appreciate hearing that.
I think there’s a huge part of me that never grew up – or I’m in my second childhood as I find I have fun with most of my activities. Playing with the Goddesses is fun, gardening, my job teaching arts and crafts, learning new things, dates with Hubby, laughs with friends, travelling – so many fun things. The trick sometimes is to be in the moment and not let stresses from other areas of your life impede on the activities that you normally find fun. I love the idea of a ‘funprint’ as a unique expression of you.
You and I sound similar Tami! I still have a childlike wonder and curiosity, although you sound like you are having more “fun” most of the time than I am. :) I can imagine that playing with your Goddesses is pure fun for all of you. I love puttering in the garden as well and I know with how much you love children, that teaching arts and crafts to them must be amazing. You are overall a happy and fun-oriented person and that you are able to stay in the moment and enjoy whatever life is bringing your way. Yes, I love the “funprint” idea as well, as each of us truly does have out own unique way of expressing who we are!
My funprint definitely includes travel to new places, doing new things, meeting new people. Sounds similar to yours, Beverley.
For many of us, whatever we enjoy doing, is really what is “fun” for us, Jane. Yes, I love learning things, meeting new people, great conversations and of course traveling too. Yes, we do sound like we have a very similar funprint indeed.
Great post, Beverley. I love to take walks on trails and sitting down and just observing my surroundings. I also love growing things and taking care of Gardens and plants. People may think it’s work but to me it sheer bliss. Thanks for sharing your research.
You’ve shared exactly what makes each of us unique when it comes to fun, Sabrina. Whatever we enjoy…is our kind of fun. I also love to garden and love walking or hiking in nature. I’m less of a party girl, which is so often how people equate as “fun”. Glad you enjoyed the research too!
FUN! It really is what you make of it. I have FUN cooking – a task a lot of people find to be work. I also have FUN gardening – something a lot of people look to with dread. I have FUN going to yoga or zumba. I guess to me these are all escapes from being to close to a computer. They are grounding.
Thanks for the nice article…
Agree Audrey! Each of us is unique and has our own definition of what is fun. Sometimes I see people out and partying and do wonder if that is really “fun” and then I remember the research that says that whatever you enjoy, is your version of fun. I also love walking, being in nature and gardening…or puttering in the garden. It takes to back to the natural world and like you, grounds me.
I would not expect an article on fun to elicit many serious thoughts, my own included. Dancing was the most fun for me & I don’t do much of it anymore. Playing with our grandkids is still fun. Clothes shopping used to be fun, now I don’t go from store to store searching for my special item & at a good price too.
So what has happened? Life & the usual ups & downs, physical changes too. And I’m happy to say that I truly have fun talking with a few close friends who make me laugh.
How about a shift in thinking? Instead of things to do to have fun, let it be a mindset, that life itself is fun. Stimulating ideas, creativity, relationships, enjoying nature- maybe fun isn’t meant to look the same today as it did 40 or 20 years ago. Fun is how it feels & fuels us. I must be having fun daily.
My sense of you is that you have a curiosity for life, Roslyn and a joie de vivre. I can see how playing with your grandkids would be fun. I imagine as we get older what used to be fun, might not be fun, anymore. The fact that you see Life as Fun and find that in stimulating ideas, conversations, nature truly is a testament to who you are and how you inject your own version of fun into each day. Thanks for this amazing and in-depth comment, as I know you looked at your own life after reading the article and I appreciate your reflections.
I too think fun includes learning from a self growth perspective. Others have thought me a bit odd for that…ha! Lately I have been thinking of this topic of fun too and how much I love laughing and being silly, yet I seem a bit too serious lately. Thanks for being there with a nice article just when I need a little inspiration.
It sounds like you are very similar to me, Teresa. I am often serious and and love learning and growing, but when it comes to “fun” I am challenged to find things that are pure “fun” to me. Although I love laughing, sometimes those laughs are hard to come by. As spring approaches, I am excited to be outside more often and to consciously choose things that are just plain fun! Glad this came at a good time for you too.
This is a huge sticking point for me, Beverley! Although I truly do realize all the benefits of fun, especially for creativity, unstructured fun just isn’t part of my world! Now and then, I explore this :)
My fun tends to be all around dogs–showing, training, breeding, etc.–which isn’t unstructured at all. Hm. Need to start building that back in!
Notice how I just turned it around to be work again?
Thank you for this–you’ve made me think about it again!
You sound very much like me Susan! Mostly everything I do does somehow tie back to “work” of one kind or another. I often wonder what even is fun to me anymore. I heard someone say they had just gone kite flying and that sounded like so much fun to me! Our animals do bring me laughter and enjoyment, and yet if asked what I would do on a “fun” day..I might be hard pressed, as it would be about learning something that probably I would take into my writing or work. Glad this gave you some food for thought for yourself!
There were a couple of years in my life where “fun” wasn’t possible due to life circumstances. After my family and I came up for a breath of air after such a difficult time, we realized that we weren’t really living. Rather, we had spent a large chunk of time existing. Looking back, I do believe it was because, at that time, the element of fun was absent. You’re so right: leisure time doesn’t equate with fun. Last year we made a dedicated effort to incorporating fun into our lives. Even in the midst of some fairly challenging and emotional events, we scheduled fun time. And it made a world of difference in dealing with the ugly, adult stuff. (Laughter helps too.)
Love your last line, Meghan. “Laughter helps too”. That’s one thing I find is so transformative in my life too. Sometimes the animals make me laugh. And yes, leisure time doesn’t equate to fun, so the key is always to find the things that are fun to you, and then do them. Being a more serious type of person, I do need to schedule more fun things into my life. Happy you and your family were able to rise above the challenging times, as often when we are in the midst of them, we don’t come up for air, when that is exactly what we need the most. Congrats on making a dedicated effort to incorporate fun into your life!