Oh the woe: “There’s nothing fun to do.” Repeated in bored voices, young and old, across the planet and the years. It’s not just a local complaint. I’ve heard it on several continents and in many countries, from the Amazon jungle to Island-rich Indonesia to sunny southern California.
Whole industries have vaulted into lucrative positions by offering remedies. Travel. Theme parks. Movies. Concerts. Sports. Video games. Even church services. And still the continuing complaints, ironically increasing in number as incomes rise and opportunities grow.
Some people, of course, never lack for fun. It’s not because they have more money, nor because they live in fun-rich locations. I mean, it's easy to find wealthy people in fun-rich locations who aren't having much fun. So what are the secrets to having fun anywhere and everywhere?
First, fun is quite often not about “me.” There is ancient, eternal wisdom in that Biblical proverb, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” A family of middle aged siblings came to our homeless shelter to help prepare Thanksgiving dinner. Afterward one of them reported back to me, “That was the best Thanksgiving we have ever had as a family.”
It turns out that helping someone else have fun is more fun than trying to have fun ourselves. Any grandparent knows this. So do volunteers of all stripes—those who read to seniors, or mentor young children, or ring bells at Christmas, or build Habitat houses, or plan events that others come to enjoy. As an event planner myself, I gauge the fun I’m having by the smiles on other people’s faces.
Second, fun that engages our own creativity and every part of us is richer and longer lasting than fun that is handed to us on a platter, even if our culture has come to demand the latter. The funnest culinary experiences in my memory are those that involve a group of us working together to create a unique meal, rather than those that involve sitting idly and waiting for someone to bring me their world-class cuisine. I enjoy the latter, but the former is more fun in many ways.
This is why, I believe, video games and television are dead ends as entertainment, the culinary equivalent of ordering fast food, waiting for someone to bring it, and complaining about it the whole time we’re eating it. People watch TV by the year, the whole time reporting, “There’s nothing good on T.V.” It isn’t meaningfully fun, so the hunger for more increases while the payoff decreases. There is no video game on the planet that is ultimately more fun than exploring with a group of friends on a sunny fall afternoon in the park, or building a huge blanket fort in the living room.
Third, fun often isn’t. “Are we having fun yet?” I have quipped, as I slogged through rain and cold and sticky clay ruts with intrepid friends, carrying our bicycles twenty miles because the wheels wouldn’t turn anymore. Exhausted, hungry, miserable, no end in sight--in short, the best times of my life. The fun starts after it’s over. “Are we having fun?” Someday we’ll think so.
Great fun requires a great personal investment up front. No risk, no investment, no fun. Winning the lottery, it turns out, does not make most people happy. Study after study has shown that winners have no more fun after they win the big one than they were having before they won, and sometimes far less. The fun of winning a triathlon includes the months or years of experimenting with training, trying out different shoes, loading your iPod with just the right music, shopping for bicycles, sampling energy bars. The fun of putting on a play includes memorizing lines, laughing at each other’s mistakes, building sets, speaking to fellow cast members in different accents when you see them in the grocery store. The fun of taking a plateful of homemade cookies to a neighbor includes staying up late with a loud CD and a cat weaving herself around your ankles, then reading a delicious chapter while the cookies bake.
This is why those who plan events have more fun than those who participate in them. The cast of a play exults and dances and goes out to eat after a successful performance. The audience goes home and turns on the T.V.
For me, the Walk Around the Clock coming in October 2008, ten months from now, is already being a lot of fun. How? Well, to do better than last year, I need to do more training. Since I work on the computer a lot, that meant I had to figure out a way to walk while I type. That meant designing a laptop tray on our treadmill. Which meant scouring the garage for cheap materials and trying different designs. The result: while writing this column, I’ve walked seven miles.
May 2008 be full of fun that is about others, that engages all of our creative senses, and that results from our personal investment. If “Do the 52” provides inspiration, we invite you to join us.
