Last week in my newsletter I wrote about my mission to have fun this summer. When I wrote it, I had already started bringing fun to the forefront of my mind and therefore my life in some small ways, and I am happy to report that the Summer of Fun Mission ‘09 is now officially in full swing.
I am realizing that you can’t just ignore fun or think about it like twice a year and assume it will just passively mosey on over in your general direction. You really have to hold that intention to have fun front & center and let it inform your decisions as you move through your days.
This 4th of July weekend was evidence of the shift I’ve made towards embracing more fun. Holidays are usually especially UN-fun for me. I feel like there is so much pressure to do something fun and the expectations are so high, and as a result holidays have traditionally been disappointing/depressing for me. Over the past several years, I’ve somewhat given up on holidays and often don’t even try to make any plans, and then the holiday rolls around and I find myself even more disappointed/depressed that I don’t have anything to do.
This year, a friend invited me to her family friends’ home on the Jersey Shore for the 4th of July weekend, and whereas I would normally say no to anything out of my routine, this year, guided by my mission to have fun, I said YES instead, and I am so happy I did. I treated myself to a new self-help book, bought a ticket on New Jersey Transit, and headed Down the Shore.
The weekend was chock-ful of the quintessential summer fun I so miss from my childhood/college/20’s, like going to the beach, playing in a pool, hanging out on a patio in a lounge chair with my feet up, relaxing in a hammock (I have long had a theory that hammocks are the key to complete relaxation), and eating what felt like a never-ending procession of food coming off the grill. The weekend culminated when another friend stopped by and drove us home, windows down, “Freefalling” by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and various Steve Miller Band songs blasting on the radio, the wind whipping through my hair as the scenery whizzed by, totally college road-trip style.
And the quintessential summer fun was supplemented by new experience fun, like riding on a motorcycle for the first time ever, another thing I said YES to (although, full-disclosure, I only said yes after extensive convincing). Before I strapped my helmet on, I was instructed to lean into the turns instead of trying to stay upright, and every time the motorcycle turned a corner, I felt myself effortlessly leaning with it, acknowledging the metaphor that I wanted to lean into my life more and not sit up so rigidly, to just go with the flow and trust instead.
Another thing that has given a boost to my Summer Fun Mission is that I have been amping up my yoga practice and practicing more regularly which is fun in its own right, and also provides me with the energy and endorphins necessary to pursue fun like it’s my job. And I have been listening to music I love pretty much non-stop. Walking home from the subway tonight, my neighbor busted me as I was rocking out on the street to “I Want You Back” by the Jackson Five. I had just taken a big breath in and was switching my bag to my other hand in preparation to launch out into full-out choreography mode, when he walked up behind me and said hi. Feeling the need to explain I said, “Hi. I’m rocking out,” and he responded, “Good for you!” I love dance parties in any location – in my apartment, sitting in my chair at work, in the street, on the subway, and in my mind – and listening to a constant stream of energizing, uplifting music and rocking out wherever I feel so inspired provides an extra burst of fun to activities that are usually decidedly un-fun, like the rush hour subway commute.
Last week, one of my friends used the expression “all revved up” and it immediately became my new favorite expression. How often do you feel “all revved up” about anything in your life, let alone your whole life? How often do you leap out of bed in the morning “all revved up” to start your day, “all revved up” about the fun and excitement and adventure it will bring? I have gone through long periods of time on auto-pilot where I couldn’t muster one single rev, even for things that once brought me joy. That’s where I am coming to learn that fun is an active pursuit, a muscle you have to flex daily or else it will atrophy, an engine that you have to keep on revving or your vehicle will conk out on you. And this requires constantly and deliberately placing people, places, and things in your life every single day that you are super-excited and all revved up about.
So how is your Fun Factor this summer? Do you want to make fun your mission? Or is it already in the forefront of your life? Post a comment to share what fun you are infusing in your life, I’d love to hear from you!
OK Ladies & Gentlemen…start your engines!
Copyright © 2009 by Jennifer Garam
Celebrate good times, come on! (Let’s celebrate)
After dinner we moved on down to our next destination and onto the dance floor. More of our friends showed up and joined us in waves, until we were more than 10 ladies on the dance floor, shaking it from the HIP to the HOP. The DJ played the perfect mix of old school and new school hip-hop and R&B, and we threw our hands in the air for Naughty by Nature’s “Hip Hop Hooray,” and stepped on down memory lane to “Here Comes the Hotstepper” by Ini Kamoze. The DJ even took my request for “Real Love” by Mary J., and dancing to it brought me all the way back to dancing to that same song in the summer of 1993 with my high school best friends at The Pinewood in Riverdale, where you had to be “18 to party, 21 to drink,” but even though I didn’t turn 18 until the fall, I had already attended my college’s summer orientation and received my school id, which, if you had asked me that last summer before going away to school, was the best investment of college. Wearing my standard summer of ‘93 uniform - body suit/Daisy Dukes/faux Doc Martens/beaded choker – my friends and I mimicked this dance a couple guys in our class did involving taking big exaggerated steps, sticking your arms straight out in front of you, and alternately flipping your palms up and down, and sang along as Biggie came on with the breakdown: “Look up in the sky! It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no it’s Mary J., ain’t a damn thing changed!” And we would act surprised like: Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Mary J.! Celebrating in that way that comes so much easier when you are in high school, when every Friday night is a cause for celebration, and when you are in your last summer before college, where every single night is a cause for celebration.
