Is your life missing the fun factor?

It was Eid day, and my aunt's house was empty. Eid is a religious holiday for Muslims and is celebrated twice a year. They left for the holidays and were to come back later on.  So here I was on my own, bored, and I thought it would be a nice idea to cook something.

I had never cooked by myself before, and it was something I'd always wanted to learn. This was the perfect opportunity. I called my Aunt to ask if I could use her Kitchen, and she knew I’d never cooked a thing in my life. 

What do you think she said? 

“Whatever you do, don’t burn the house!” she said. I said Done deal. 

Luckily, I didn’t burn anything, and I cooked my very first meal. It was a butter garlic chicken breast. I put the usual Drake songs on while cooking, and the whole process was so fun.

Fun is a chapter we’ve closed after our childhood. 

You’ve become an adult, and suddenly life has gotten quite serious. You have to go to work 6 days a week. Bills are something you have to worry about, or else you’re doomed. Not to mention laundry, cleaning the house, maintaining relationships, and taking care of yourself. The list is endless. 

We can easily get trapped in this rabbit hole of adulthood, where we’re nothing but stressing over little and big things. 

And who's to blame?

We're not taught even a fraction of what we experience in this adulthood and suddenly we’re just thrown into the fire all alone, with no one to help us. 

That is why we need to re-open that chapter called fun again, and write it into our adulthood. 

Because without it, you’ll feel dull, and doing little boring tasks like laundry will become difficult. And doing big ones like taking on personal projects, learning a habit, a skill, or moving up in your career would make you scared and stagnant. 

In this article, we’ll cover 3 things to lock up fun in your daily life. They’re;

Do we all want to have fun? Yes, I doubt people will willingly choose not to have fun. But our lives tend to always be so busy that we don't really have time for it. We say to our friends, " Let's see each other this weekend”. 

The weekend comes, and we either forget… or become lazy

Somehow we manage to delay it. This is true not only with friends, but even more so with personal projects. We delay the reading habits we wanted to get on or going to the gym.

But if you actually schedule it- yes, by schedule I mean consciously and physically schedule it on paper- you’re more likely to do the things on the schedule. Even things like fun.

It all started when you were in school.

Before the school day, you knew exactly which subjects were going to be at which times. Each session was about 30-45 minutes. Lunch break was in between the 6 sessions for 15 minutes.

What does this tell?

That your body loves routine; it loves predictability. Spontaneity is also fun, but stay there for too long, and you’ll forget to have the fun most of the time. Get a notebook and pen, and just put something fun to do on the list along with the time you will do it, and see if you do it or not tomorrow. 

But what if something comes up at the allotted time?
You’ll be consciously aware of it, and if it's important, by all means deal with that first. But your mind will feel defeated if you don't get it done, so you will tend to find ways or a pocket of time on that day to fill it in. 

Worst-case scenario: if it’s not possible that day, acknowledge that life is filled with constant chaos, and move on to put it on your scheduler for the next day.

Scheduling fun sounds exciting, but what fun is it to do things alone?

The last time I cooked, which was a few days back, I decided to do it a little bit differently. My cousins are extremely fun to be around, and they always spend a big chunk of their time reading and coloring. So on this day & yes, I planned to cook this day – it was on my schedule. I went with the ingredients and told them to help me along in cooking.

I divided the tasks; my cousin helped defrost the chicken breasts, and I cut the little condiments for the Pico that we were making. And she helped squeeze the lemons while I was slowly mixing it. We made honey-lime bowl chicken with Pico on the side. My cousin had a lot of fun doing it. And we had Drake on, as usual!

Compared to the first time I cooked, which was alone, I enjoyed my time much more this time when I cooked with my cousins.

There are a lot of ways you can have fun with your friends or loved ones. You can host game nights, a dinner, or even have a cup of coffee in a small cafe. It needs to be something engaging, interactive, and, most importantly, with people you care about. 

Fun is something taboo in a workplace. You’re supposed to be focused and serious. But hey, they do impose their own fun on the workplace. Some pizza party, or some team dinner. 

But these are occasional events. They can be fun, but most of the time these events tend to be quite boring too. 

But you go to work every day. 

6 days of work- how can you really make it fun?

Special ritual: When I go to work, the first thing that I do is get a cup of Re Kafei, either alone– or with my teammates. I always go to work with enough time for me to enjoy this cup of coffee. It helps me really start the day of work well.

For you, it could also be coffee or tea– but it could also be going through your to-do list tasks, organizing your workplace, or watering a plant that you keep by your desk. 

The next one is a bit counterproductive, but I think it's just as important, if not more.

Separation from work: We tend to go home after our shift, but somehow still find ourselves answering work calls, replying to emails, checking up constantly about work even after we’re done. We make ourselves believe that we will fall behind and that it would be difficult enough for us to catch up after coming back to work the next day. 

But what you’re really doing to yourself is adding more stress to yourself for someone who already had a stressful day of work. 

And this separation is important for you to really detach yourself, but also rest up to have the energy to work.

Sam Ovens, Founder and CEO of Skool, has 30 million users, over 200k communities, and a team of 30 staff. Not to mention, a loving wife and 2 kids back at home. Imagine how busy his day-to-day operations must be. Yet he manages to separate himself from work once a week.

And the rules are simple: he gets no calls and doesn't check anything work-related. So should you. A restless mind cannot get things done and certainly cannot have fun. 

In summary; 

Schedule fun: Physically plan your fun activity, with time allotted. 

Get Contribution: Gather 2 or more for your fun activity by hosting game nights or dinner.

Install fun to your workplace: Place your special ritual and learn to separate yourself from work. 

See you next Sunday!

Do you struggle with constant self-doubt? Do you feel anxious all the time? It’s a sign you may have an unregulated self. Our 27-page guide explains why this happens, and you’ll be surprised by the dramatic change it can make in such a short time. (Click here)

Follow me on Substack: Aaish’s Substack 

Do you like my Articles? Tell a friend about it and bring them to read the weekly articles by sharing this link: https://simplehints.com/subscribe