Pull the Stick Out of Your Ass!

Your Right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Fun!

Celebrate Independence Everyday

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope you all have some exciting and fun plans for today whether it's spending time with friends or family, hanging out down the shore (aka the beach for you non-Philadelphians) or going to see fireworks tonight- enjoy! If you're anything like me you have a firm planted set of strictures and guidelines that run your life. These self-implemented rules help minimize risk and control and organize your life but they have their consequences as well. Structuring our lives in this way can lead to monotony, boredom, and the unfortunate inability of being able to have fun! You may say "Fun, what is that? Or fun isn't not important I have more pressing things to take care of?" But really is this true? I tend to say things like this all the time and make excuses for why my life seems to lack an element of whimsy or fun. There's always a reason: none of my friends are around, I have too much work, I tired, I just need some alone time, I need to be productive, and this list goes on...But these supposed reasons are often no more than excuses and a means to stick to my predictable routine. It's upsetting because I know what fun is, I know what it feels like, and sometime ago I knew how to both have and be fun. Somewhere along the way I lost it. It's happened before and it took a new friend to help me rediscover it by showing me that not only I capable of having fun, I can truly BE fun. I learned that not only am I entitled to fun in my life but I am both worth enjoying it and worth being around. Sometimes it takes another person to show us but right now it seems to be up to me. I need to rediscover fun, embrace it, and embody it. It is a crucial part of our lives. Without the fun event every once in a while we risk self induced isolation, sadness, and loss of motivation. Having nothing to look forward to negatively impacts not only our quality of life but also the quality of the work and tasks we complete. Finishing one thing just to move on to the other and repeating this process over and over- well everything begins to become a blur, what we create starts to become dull and ordinary, we lose ourselves in our work and ultimately the work suffers too. I have two complimentary quotes for you that express this idea I have been attempting to get across-

“Rules should always be bent, if not broken. It's the only way to have any fun.” 


- Alyson Noel

Have you ever tried chucking the day planner for a day?

Noel explains that breaking rules, I'm going to add in specifically self-imposed rules, is vital in order to have fun. We can't experience joy and thrill if we stick to the same rules every day. The only way to enjoy life is take a step of the box, pull that stick out of your ass, and challenge permit yourself to go against what you know and break the routine. If you day-to-day life is always the same and kind of boring you can't expect that repeating the same thing will produce fun. (The definition of crazy is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.) In order to break the boredom and have fun you have to do something DIFFERENT! Yes, change and the unusual can be scary because it involves chance and uncertainty however, the rewards can be astronomical and plain old fun! The second quote I have included touches more upon the importance of fun that I tried to highlight briefly.

"The more fun you have, the greater your value to yourself and to your society. The more fun you share with others, the more fun you have."


-the Oaqui


This quote speaks to the important value of having fun not just for yourself but society as a whole. Refusing or forbidding yourself to have fun is perhaps even selfish! No one wants to spend time with a downer or stickler for the rules. If you are around people when in this mind set you can ultimately bring down the mood of everyone around you. By having fun and being fun you can spread it to others, lift the spirits of a friend, save someone else from their own boring routine or depressing mood. So if you can't allow yourself to have fun just for you think of it as a means of helping others. (Sometimes it's hard to do things for ourselves because we think it's selfish.) If it's difficult for you to do something for your benefit alone try thinking of this task (if you can even call having fun a "task") as not just for you but for others in your life as well. Without fun we drain our lives of the enjoyment we are entitled to but we also drain the world and society of positive energy that it needs. It is your right to pursue fun and with fun comes happiness. Today is the perfect opportunity to celebrate this right by living it! Start today, try it again tomorrow, and then the next day and maybe this fun can be integrated to your daily routine. Before you know it fun will feel not just be attainable but normal and I can almost guarantee the we and those around us will reap the benefits our abilities to have and even seek fun!


Have a happy, safe, and fun 4th of July,
xo

Totally ok to keep it G rated!

Let loose- but no worries, you don't have to go this far...

Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Cyndi Lauper

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIb6AZdTr-A