For The Fun Of It

Have fun or die trying

Oftentimes I say too little, yet say too much in a way that somehow simultaneously makes me appear thoughtless and thoughtful. I have been taught it is focus that demonstrates care, yet I have learned it is focus that also demonstrates lack of care. Eventually you spend too much time in the same mental space, which means you encounter less of what matters. If that mental space shrinks, you get depression. Focus is a strange entity, being the best and worst of me. It can be as much a pursuit of the uncomfortable as much as it can be a masquerade for the comfortable. Personally, it is this part of me that I celebrate the most, yet it is responsible for every major mistake I have made.

Having fun means exploring the world. There is nothing amusing, enjoying, or playful about relentlessly focusing on the same stuff. It means rolling the dice and seeing what you get. It means reconsidering what may have been foolishly considered “not important”. It means being misguided and vulnerable, so that you can reach the places no one else has been.

I think it is easy to confuse having fun with having success. One is about opportunity discovery, the other is about opportunity realization. You can have fun without having success, while still being extremely rational. If you can potentially discover an infinitely large opportunity, than why is that oftentimes seen as less than realizing an infinitely large opportunity? The two are not comparable in any sort of way.

Successful people have fun not because of the realization, but the discovery of opportunity. The realization of opportunity tends to lead to the discovery of more opportunity, which is why such is typically not apparent. And so, to anyone wanting to “copy” a successful person, they owe it to themselves to make sure they are copying the discovery part of a successful journey (alongside the realization portion). The good news is that being driven by (happy from) success instead of fun always self-corrects over time because you cannot realize an opportunity without discovering it. Hence, the fun is required.

So if fun is required, how can you keep yourself going? Well, here are ways to come up with stuff:

1. Nearby - Do stuff close in your environment (ex. location) but far away in your situation (ex. comfort-level, affiliation)
2. Playful - Come up with interesting bits, tell jokes, connect things together, tinker around with stuff
3. Perspective - Try to learn more about someone else’s experiences or something else’s value. See what others deem as fun as go along for the ride.

That’s about it, having fun in interesting ways is the only way to grow as a person. I hope to do more things for the fun of them, and hope to encounter more of what matters.