A few days ago I wrote about passion. Having passion, bringing passion, doing things you are passionate about....but what about plain ole fun? Sometimes when we think about the things we feel passionately for we get so darn serious! I don't think passion is about being serious...seriously! (lol) I know I can get the two things mixed up sometimes.
You can have fun with things you feel passionate about and you can have a ton of fun regardless of any passion! Fun is the feeling of lightness! In a time when we are all so busy and stressed out, feeling as if we "have" to find our passion, our purpose, can get, well, tiring and stressful!
What if our only "purpose" was to have fun? I'm not implying that we quit our jobs to frolic in the sun. At a certain point, with no money, no food or a place to live, frolicking wouldn't be any kind of fun at all!
One of the reasons I love leading my KB Swing classes is because they are so darn fun! They are freakin fun as hell in my opinion! I'm never bored or disappointed with any of my kettlebell workouts, ever. But my yoga practice....good Lord. All of a sudden things get serious (argh!) Bikram's yoga is hard....there I said it..."hard". Even though I know better.....
I know better than to set myself up to make my training harder by simply thinking it's hard. Sure it can be challenging, but it can be awesomely rewarding too. Too often I put pressure on myself have a great practice. One where my balance and strength is prefect, my stamina is good, and I sweat enough. And if I screw up one or more of these things then it affects how I feel in a negative way. If I look at the challenge as fun maybe it will turn into one that's more rewarding!
My practice currently consists of three days of double, back to back, practices (sometimes I train on Sundays, that would be my 7th practice). That equals 3 hours of yoga, in one day, not including travel to and from and wait time in between classes. Three hours is more time than most people spend in an entire week exercising! I have "good" days but mostly lately I've been having "bad" days....what am I thinking?
I can tell you what I'm NOT thinking! I'm not thinking that life is supposed to be fun! Whoops...forgot that one....
So, this morning I admit I was having a hard time during my first class....and then it hit me! I forgot to have fun with it! Good-ness! Wow, once I remembered to lighten up Iwas actually looking forward to the second class. First thing I did was I stopped judging myself and my practice! My focus was to have fun with my practice and I stopped thinking about all the things I could be doing (instead of yoga), and I stopped making the lists in my head of what I needed to get done that day.
So what if I couldn't hold standing bow for one minute! So what if I fell out of head to knee posture on my left side....again (I didn't btw). So what, so what, so what. None of that mattered. The only thing that mattered was that I was lucky enough to be able to spend my time in my body, in the heat, in my cute yoga clothes, with fresh water and a clean towel...how much fun is that?
What are some things you tend to look at in a negative way that if you applied the "fun" factor would change how you feel?
I have to say, after just completing my first (and last) Tough Mudder here yesterday, in the cold, soaking wet, I couldn't agree with you more! If I wouldn't have remembered that I was there to have fun, I NEVER would have made it over the finish line! A huge accomplishment for me! But I laughed as much as I could through the entire course. I completed it with my husband and daughter but boy was it a challenge. I couldn't have done it without THEM (this is a team event for sure!) but I'm not sure how much they would have laughed along the way without ME!
ReplyDeleteMarie,
ReplyDeleteIf you can't have fun at a Tough Mudder then what's the point? Congrats on your accomplishment!
hmmm...what if "hard" is what makes it fun? "Hard" doesn't scare me...well, when YOU say "hard" it's definitely scary...but at the same time it's a challenge to look forward to. And in the end, regardless of how I did in that challenge, the fact that I tried was fun. And you're right, our class is fun, but we still get down to business.
ReplyDeleteMaribel,
ReplyDelete"hard" is our kind of fun....but I think you have to already have that as the definition. for instance.
"hard" work is what gets results...interpreted as, "fun" work gets results...the result of feeling accomplished, capable, strong, unstoppable, etc. The "fun" IS the result! (I'm not sure if I am being clear in thought...)
"fun" does not mean "funny"...it's a matter of interpretation.
first off, that is the cutest picture. and the fun attitude factor plays a lot into if i'm delighting in my boys during the time I am with them at home. i forget how much i love them sometimes, just because they are "bugging" me and whining. They are so much more fun to be around, if I am fun to be around.
ReplyDeletegood reminder! thanks tracy!!
Candice,
ReplyDeleteWe all take life so seriously, including me....which is fine sometimes.
But really....if we can just get in the habit of reminding ourselves of the "fun factor" then maybe we can start to "lighten up", figuratively and literally.
Thank you for the comment.