Fun injection!
I don’t know about you, but I’m not one for parading my private life. It feels icky — like buttering a cake-tin with your bare fingers, which frankly I'd rather avoid at all costs.
But today, my penchant for privacy is trumped by a desire to share an important message, which I hope will make your life a whole lot more fun!
Here it goes...
A few months ago, despite a pregnant calendar and generally chaotic world, I enrolled in a poetry course.
It had been on my mind for some time, but I’d been denying myself permission to sign up. I’ll get to why in a moment, but first you should know that poetry’s been a passion of mine since childhood. In fact, I once quit a post-grad in creative writing a semester before graduation because they suddenly pulled poetry from the coursework. So much for saving the best for last!
Anyway, I’d dabbled in enough lyrics to know I was consciously incompetent and keen to level up. But still I hesitated.
Why?
The cold hard truth is: I couldn’t draw a clear line of sight from this course to my major life projects.
Poetry wouldn’t make me a better coach, friend, mother or lover. In fact, it would steal time from these important pursuits. Or so I told myself.
Of course, I was mistaken. The truth is: fun feeds success. And luckily, my partner was brave enough to point this out to me!
The result?
Courtesy of my wake-up call, I signed up to the course. It was so enriching, I cannot do it justice in an email. If you’re into poetry, you can check it out here, but the moral of the story is that:
Fun is your friend!
Many of us have this idea that playing is dead time, but it's simply not true. Playing broadens your perspective, it soothes your nervous system, it massages your creative brain — and all of this feeds into your success as a healthy, happy human being.
I got to spend over 25 hours with a celebrated Australian poet and pick his brain on the ins and outs of an art that intrigues me; be introduced to startling lyrics, old and new; and increase the volume of my voice on matters that matter to me in a gentle form that is true to who I am.
And perhaps this does not sound like fun to you, but it is to me — and by giving myself permission to take this tangent, I opened my mind to new ideas, people and a flow that couldn't be found on a linear path.
By choosing to walk off the beaten track, I am better equipped to perform in my other roles. Yes, the same ones I thought a side-project would steal from.
So, my message to you is this: as contemplate your goals for the coming months, remember to include FUN!
Ask yourself:
Which activities bring me pleasure?
What makes me laugh?
How can I indulge my curiosity?
Because when you give yourself permission to pursue these answers your brain will spark, your body will thrive and your life will be so much richer for it.
As always, if you’d like hands-on support to infuse your life with these qualities, I invite you to book a call with me.