Not having enough fun?

Read this.

This is a developing insight. Normally, I wait until an idea of mine is (mostly) formed before sharing it with you, but this one seemed too important to wait.

The word “Abracadabra” literally means, “I create as I speak,” so I want to create this by speaking about it with you. What that means for you is that I’d really like to hear from you. All you need to do is comment below or email me at vanessa@vanessabroerscoaching.com.

I don’t think I know one person who could say that they have enough fun in their life. Or that their life is fun. As in, fun is the default, and sometimes it’s not.

I don’t know about you, but my life is not mostly fun. I love my life — it’s fulfilling and beautiful and I’m grateful for every moment in it — but an abundance of fun, it is not.

This is totally self-imposed. I work too hard, am too hard on myself, and I put a greater emphasis on work, working out, and eating well than anything else (in that order). Everything else comes after that. And that doesn’t leave more time than those take up.

Fun doesn’t just happen. (Maybe I’m late to the party, but my head exploded when I realized this.)

I’m telling you this because for a long time (until VERY recently), I subtly assumed that I was being cheated of fun. Or that I was somehow just entitled to it, and because I wasn’t experiencing it, I felt cheated and victimized.

Once I realized that unless you’re in college, backpacking the world, or in daycare, fun isn’t the center of your life… unless you make it so.

This is my year of love. The question I’ve been asking myself is, “If I truly loved myself, what would I do / be / create / think / believe?”

And for f*cking sure, one of those answers would be: I’d have more fun.

Stated otherwise: I’d create more fun in my life and allow myself to enjoy it without earning it.

I will keep sharing this with you as WE develop it, but here’s my current 3 step system for what I do now to create NOT ENOUGH fun:

(This is also a sneak peek into my brain and how I DO create what I want in my life. Start with your perfect system for what you DON’T want — then reverse it.)

1. Plan my week by the work goals I want to reach. From there, I set my schedule of time spent working. Then, I factor in where I want my workouts to go and what I’m going to eat (ok, I’m actually not that organized, my husband and I are using Hello Fresh right now because we’re too lazy to grocery shop, so we’re giving ourselves a few weeks off).

2. Get most of the things done from #1.

3. Convince myself it’s not enough. Do more.

4. Wait until the weekend to take space to do anything else.

Here’s what I’m going to be doing instead for the next few weeks:

1. Make a list of the things I’d like to do for fun and who I want to spend time with this week.

2. Schedule it in.

3. Look at remaining time. Schedule work outs. Consider work goals and then fill in gaps with when I’ll work on those.

A to-do list / work will expand to fill the time we give it.

Let’s give it a little less.

What do you do for fun?