How to Inject More Fun Into Your Life
How’s the Fun area on your Project Me Life Wheel looking these days? Maybe you’re feeling stuck in a rut and your fun-o-meter is registering ‘bored’, or you simply don’t have time to focus on fun.
In the wake of everything else that needs doing, it’s easy to neglect this important area of your life. And when the fun dries up, so do you.
We all have our own definition of what’s fun. And that definition changes at different stages of your life. Rather than comparing the Fun area of your life to what it was BC (Before Children), redefine what fun means to you at the stage you’re at right now.
Imagine that your life story is made into a book… It begins with your childhood, followed by early adulthood. Then starts your motherhood chapter – all about raising your family. The entire second half of the book centres on your life after your child or children have flown the coop.
Each chapter has its own subheadings. If you’re in the big, juicy parenting chapter, which subheading are you currently in? Deep in the baby/toddler trenches? Primary school with a bit more flexibility? The teenage years?
This parenting-kids-who-still-live-at-home period may feel long now, but in the bigger scheme of things, it’s but one chapter of your life.
Always remember: you have much more of your life to live after your kids become adults.
This doesn’t mean waiting until then to start having more fun again – on the contrary. The more fun you weave into your life now, the easier it’s going to be to continue to have fun later on. Fun is a mindset. Keeping a sense of light-heartedness and fun is a quality that’ll always serve you well.
Even if you don’t have a lot of spare time or energy to go out looking for fun, don’t resign yourself to thinking that your fun days are behind you. If you have an absolute laugh playing with your child, do count that time towards the Fun area of your life. All laughter is good laughter! But if you’re in need of some kiddie-free fun, don’t feel guilty about it.
Regular doses of fun will save you from morphing into a dull mama who only knows how to dish out commands and has forgotten how to laugh and let go. Your kids will love you for it. And when they leave home, the transition into the next chapter of your life will go a lot more smoothly if your fun hasn’t depended entirely on them.
Get your cogs turning about how to inject more fun into your life. Use the Project Me Fun Seeker Action Sheet to explore what fun means to you. Some ideas can happen now; others may have to simmer gently on the back burner until you have more time, freedom or money. It’s fun in itself to get juiced up about future fun and begin any preliminary research or planning. If you think of any friends or family members you’d like to join you, jot their names next to your ideas.
You may draw a blank on some of the questions at first. Don’t judge yourself for this. Leave it for now and you may find that over the next few days and weeks more ideas will flow once you’ve opened up the channels.
Don’t just look at the questions. The answers will only flow freely when you put a pen to paper. If you don’t have a printer handy, write your answers in a notebook, journal or the nearest piece of paper.
In the comments below share any ideas you have to inject more fun into your life – or what you’re already doing. How much attention do you give the Fun area of your life? Which section of the parenting chapter are you in right now? I’d love to hear from you.
ps: Head here for how to form a Power Posse with friends to work on your Project Me together. You can use the Fun Seeker Action Sheet to brainstorm together. Read more about Fun and Friendships in my book, Project Me for Busy Mothers: A Practical Guide to Finding a Happier Balance.
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Kelly I am loving your book and when I got the Fun chapter it really hit me hard what you wrote about not thinking my fun days are behind me. I started brainstorming ideas as you suggested and have now started to have fun again! I have reconnected with an old friend and we had such a laugh! 🙂 I have had two date nights with my husband (thank you for the Love chapter too which was a real eye-opener.) and I have joined a book club. All thanks to you and Project Me. A huge thanks on behalf of my whole family.
Your fun days are DEFINITELY not behind you! I’m thrilled to hear that you’re reignited the fun area of your life so brilliantly. Well done Kate! I’m also happy you’re getting so much out of my book. 🙂 xx
The fun has definitely dried up for me but it is encouraging to read what you wrote about it being one chapter of my life. It’s the baby stage and I don’t have the time or energy to go out. I am happy to hear my fun days are not behind me because it feels that way sometimes. When did you start having fun again and how old are your kids Kelly? Thank you for the encouragement and I will fill in the fun seeker and see what happens. 🙂
You’re welcome Tracey. Once you give it some focus you’ll see how the Fun begins to magically appear. Let me know how you get on with the Fun Seeker action sheet. 🙂
Ooh, fun is a big part of my life and, thanks to a few years of Project Me, I’m doing pretty well in this area!! I’ve just signed up for a 5.5 km lake swim in 2 months’ time (not everyone’s idea of fun, I know!) I also have regular fun nights out with my dear book club mum-friends and I make it a priority to catch up with friends and family in fun ways when I pop back to the UK or when old friends come to Madrid. I’m not as wild as some of my friends but I’ll have the occasional big night out if it’s someone’s birthday. We had a very fun party this weekend for a friend’s 40th, with a surprise mariachi and tequila! (I’m still grinning from the hilarity of it all!!) And yet I definitely had a few years in the “fun, what’s that?” baby-toddler tunnel. Newer mums, stick with Project Me – you’ll go far!! ????????
Love ALL of this Louisa! And I am such a sucker for a mariachi band and tequila…. This is my kind of fun!!!
Well done for making the Fun area of your life such a priority. 🙂
I definitely need to do this Action Sheet. It has also made me realise that I have lost the ability/confidence to create a social life for myself. I feel paralysed when it comes to even just arranging to hook up with a friend for coffee. I’m now moving in the circles of mums at school with all the cliques etc and it is just as nerve wracking as being back at school myself.
Do you have any blogs/action sheets on how to create new social circles/mum friends.
Hi Marion, this is a more common challenge than you might imagine and you’re definitely not alone. I write so much about all of this in the Fun & Friendships chapter of my book, along with some great resources to go along with it in my Treasure Trove of Resources at the back of my book. I truly do think it’s exactly what you need to extract yourself from those who aren’t giving you your best energy and attracting those that will.
http://amzn.to/2sQfMDF
I’m not sure which country you’re in, but here’s the Amazon UK link and you can use that to track it down where you’re based.
You can and will absolutely turn things around for yourself once you give it a bit of focused attention. Please report back! 🙂 xx