Do you remember when you were a child? Do you remember the constant desire to play? To make believe? To consistently have fun?  No one taught you that fun should have been a priority, yet the undeniable desire for fun is built into the day of every child; play dates, story time, recess, day care, and summer camp are all examples of how fun is the sun that the earth child revolves around each and every day. 

As you grew older, your ‘play’ time was slowly and methodically lessened while your work load was simultaneously increased until, by the time you were a teenager, you were encouraged to think about AP classes, college submissions, major criteria, and essentially your life’s plan, a plan for a life of work, was mapped out in front of you, all by the age of twenty-five.

My partner Adam and I just recently moved from North Carolina to Florida. I became astutely aware that by checking in on my Waze App (the GPS mapping system on my phone) ever so often, it would update the time estimated arrival based on the various routes that were available to us to take at any given time. The factors that go into these estimations are factors that are subject to change…things like: time of day, the amount of traffic on the roads at that time, road closures, construction work, accidents on the road, etc. By consistently checking in on the status of the estimated time arrival and assessing the variables we could choose to alter our route, or stay on the route we were on. On this particular road trip, our goal was to get home as quickly as possible and so we chose to look at freeways and highways with higher speed limits and multiple lanes of traffic to increase our odds for faster travel. On other road trips, however, we may choose that we desire to experience a more laid back, less trafficked, and scenic route. If I’m really wanting a leisurely drive with beautiful things to look at, then bumper to bumper traffic on I-40 through the heart of Orlando is definitely not the route that I want to choose. 

This process became an analogy in my mind of how we have the ability to check in with our own internal GPS and alter our routes to our destination of happiness accordingly.  Just like any destination that you could type into your GPS app has multiple routes of arrival, so too does your happiness level! 

To get to your feeling good destination your route of choice may change depending on what you’re desiring to experience versus what you are currently experiencing. Sometimes I may want to get to a happiness destination of having a glass of wine and eating delicious food while having stimulating conversations with friends and loves ones. Sometimes my happiness destination may be a romantic evening alone at home with my partner. Sometimes my happiness destination may be a hot bath with some soft music playing to help melt the stresses of daily life away. There are always multiple routes to arrive at our desired destinations…but the one factor that you can always depend on is the factor of fun. Fun is like that express lane that you can use on the freeway to bypass all of the other people and get you to your exit even faster. Fun is like taking a bullet train instead of a bus. Fun is like a private jet versus a commercial flight with 5 layovers. While your desired happiness destination can vary depending on the day, the fastest way to get happy is to ask yourself in any moment “what would be the most fun thing to do right now?” Children ALWAYS look for the most fun and enjoyable route to any destination. 

Today I encourage you to tune into your inner childlike wonder and sense of play by considering the following journal prompts: 

Do I know what is fun to me? Am I clear on what brings me joy?

Do I play often?

Do I set aside time for fun and play in my schedule? 

Three things that I love doing that makes life more fun:

In what ways could I build in more play time into my daily schedule? 

What things did I love to do as a child for fun? How can I begin to incorporate those things into my life again?