When Fun Isn't Fun Anymore

As I have reconsidered the ideas of fun and play as an adult, I have realized that at some point, fun isn't fun anymore. I have exceeded my therapeutic dose. I am expecting something productive out of my play, which makes the fun unproductive. I have regimented fun to the point that I have taken joy out of it. Or I have just lost interest. These are all factors to consider when creating a plan to incorporate more fun into life, especially if fun is to have its intended purposes.

To give some examples, I find meal planning fun. I looked forward to it before I got married, and each month, when I write out our calendar of meals, I feel somewhat excited, maybe even giddy about the fun food we can make. Then it comes to grocery shopping and cooking. The store is out of ingredients, or the ingredients exceed our budget. Maybe I do not have time to cook the meals. Suddenly, the fun goes out of menu planning and menu planning becomes work. While cooking certainly contains work, I want it to be fun. If I want it to be fun, I have to consider adding in some flexibility with my planning, meaning I get less disappointed when I cannot make the meals I planned. Similarly, I might need to break up cooking so that I am not exhausted when the time comes to make my fun recipe. If the goal is just to feed my family, I have to push through the tiredness. If I want to have fun, I might as well wait, because cooking while tired is not very fun.

I like social media. Finding new recipes for my meal planning from Pinterest excites me. Poignant quotes touch my heart. Seeing photos of friends and family on Instagram and Facebook warms my heart. At some point, though, social media proves the law of diminishing returns. There is nothing new to see, yet I keep scrolling trying to find some new stimulating content. To keep social media fun, I need to set it down. I need to step away from time to time. When I find my sense of enjoyment decreasing, I need to stop. Scrolling until I am blotchy and bleary-eyed makes me angry about lack of productivity. I know. I said fun is supposed to be unproductive. It is, in that it does not have to have tangible tactile rewards. Lack of enjoyment, though, is a signal to reassess if the activity is really fun any more.

Running is my preferred source of exercise. I like having a training plan with a race on the horizon. These keep me motivated and on track. They encourage me to care for my body rather than abusing it. I have found that rigid plans, however, decrease my fun of running. Certain types of workout really bug me. They feel like work, rather than fun. Yes, some aspects of physical health include work, but I run mostly for my mental health, both to moderate stress, and to enjoy myself. Feeling forced to run, or run in a certain way really is not my thing.

Things that are usually fun are not always fun. Sometimes fun things lose their luster. Sometimes I overdo fun.  Sometimes I need a different dose of fun. I think the thing to remember is that the concept of fun is fluid. When fun is not fun anymore, it is time to reassess what I want, what I need, and what I need to do to purpose it, both for my health, and for the health of my relationships with others.