Column: Finding the Good
by Caitlin Ludwig
Fun. A little three letter word that is actually quite odd if you say it over and over again. (Fun. Fun. Fun…. weird, isn’t it??) This little, tiny word seems to define the main goal of most of our lives. Whatever we are doing, we just want to be having fun. Fun at work, fun at home, fun in relationships, fun in the sun… We want to find fun in every single crevice of our lives. And if we aren’t having the loud, outrageous fun we see on TV and in movies?? We’ll then apparently, we aren’t living or at least we aren’t living up to our true potential.
So, I have to ask IGNITE members… are you having fun?? Well, I guess we first have to figure out what the heck fun is! I’ve often ponder this – am I having enough fun? Fun on a 5 year old is obvious. It’s written all over their faces. With little care, they whole heartily enjoy life to the absolute fullest. They laugh until they can’t breathe, they run around the room with their hands waving over their heads and they cover themselves in dirty and sticky stuff and just love it. It is all just so much obvious fun. Well, I don’t know about you, but running around with my hands waving above my head just doesn’t seem to happen as much any more. So… I am no fun?
Well, I would like to think I’ve still got a few good years of fun in me. Okay, scratch that. I’m hoping for plenty more decades filled with fun! Maybe fun isn’t as obvious as it was when I was five but I think it’s still out there. Fun now consists of curling up with a good book on a cold night with a warm fireplace. Fun consists of finding the perfect heels and the perfect dress to match both 75% off. Fun is baking chocolate chip cookies and dropping them off with a friend just to reminder her how fantastic she is. Fun is laying by the beach for the day while listening to the waves crash on the ocean shore and letting your soul wander for a while.
I think the 5 year old in my would be upset. Actually, I think some of the 20somethings in my life would be too. This isn’t the riproaring, can’t stop screaming, adrenaline rushing, time of your life fun that we’re supposed to be having! Where’s the adventure? Where’s the risk? Who hid the fun???
Well, my friends, I can tell you this. What I’ve come to realize is that fun changes throughout life. For some, fun is staying out all night long and dealing with the repercussions later. For others, fun is relaxing in a bubble bath with candles. At the end of the day, all that matters is how it makes your soul feel.
I received a piece of wisdom last night while driving home and stressing about a concert I am singing in tonight that I would like to share. His words to me were, “I’ve found that I stress the most about things I forgot were supposed to be fun.” Hmm. How about that. Underneath a few layers of stress there was a whole pile of fun hiding! Now if I only I would remember that more often. Maybe fun would find its way into my life even more.
So, the pearl in this blog post is this: don’t hide your own fun. Whether it be the quiet solace of your own company or the loud, jamming sounds of nightlife, make sure you let go of some of the barriers we put in front of fun. Let go of the stress and remember that, it’s quite possible, underneath all the stress, the hussle and bussle of the day, the chores and the have-tos there may just be some fun hidden under there.. no matter how loud and outrageous or quiet that fun may be .
-Caitlin
Posted in Finding the Good
Tags: fun, IGNITE, Rockford, young professionals