How To Put Fun In Your Life

If your world feels like it's a constant whirlwind, if you feel overextended, underappreciated and stressed to the max...you're not by yourself.

Women today are sandwiched between managing kids and grandparents, long hours at work, juggling too much and are tired, tired, tired. Leisure seems impossible and having fun, even more impossible. After all, you're just too busy, right?

Having fun doesn't have to take a lot of time. It does require planning, though.

To get you started here are five short and simple ways to have fun in just a few minutes a day. There's also suggestions for a 3 hour, 2 day or extended fun activity that you can plan quarterly.

Five simple ways to have fun:

1. If you're a woman that has a loads of people calling you daily for your advice/support/help, give yourself a break. Take just one day a week away from your cellphone. Call it FREEDOM DAY. Use the extra time to enjoy the peace, quiet and beauty around you.
2. Take just 15 minutes in the morning to read the comics or do the crossword puzzle in the paper. Make it an exercise just like biking for health and realize that having fun is just as important to your health.
3. Buy Erma Bombeck, Calvin & Hobbs or other humourous books with short chapters and take to work. Plan a 20 minute break after you work 2 hours where you can get a drink of your favorite beverage and then just sit and read.
4. Plan to call one old friend a week and catch up. Rotate the friend you're going to call and make it a weekly activity at a certain time of day. Science proves that those of us who have close friends and relationships tend to live longer.
5. Shop for shoes. I say that with a laugh because most women I know love shopping for new shoes. At lunch instead of running to the local fast food restaurant or eating at your desk, take an apple and pack of peanuts or protein bar with you to eat on your way to the shoe store. If new shoes don't delight you then go to the park, the museum or other place that you can enjoy for just an hour.

Now, make having fun for just a few minutes a day a priority! Write your "appointment with fun" in your calendar just like a meeting. Plan and it will happen. Don't plan and you'll go right back to your same old daily routine that kept you from enjoyment in the first place.

Be sure to plan longer, more extended periods of fun once a quarter. We all need a break to rejuvinate and refresh ourselves. With having time out for fun we become more productive after we return or when we know we've got something fun to look forward to AND we're more pleasant to be around for family and co-workers.

Three quarterly "appointments with fun" ideas:

1. When was the last time you went to a play, concert, wine tasting or even something like bowling? Plan a night out for a unique activity (keyword: unique) with your spouse, partner or friend. It should be at least a 3-4 hour event that is out of the normal routine and one that you would truely enjoy. Begin scanning the papers or online activites today for ideas coming up in the next 3 months. Take steps to make it happen and put it on your calendar.

2. Book a hotel overnight in a city that is about 2 hours away. It can be at the lake, the beach, the mountains or even the middle of a busy city that you love, but never have time to visit! Take your closest friend or spouse and enjoy dining out, shopping, visiting sites or whatever you like to do.

3. Take a trip with girlfriends. It's one of the hardest things for women to do is to purposely take time away for their enjoyment with friends. But a girlfriends trip can be one of the most rewarding because a woman's idea of fun can be completely different than when you have a man along.

If you don't have girlfriends that want to do the same things you do, then consider making an effort to find some. One of our women partners did just that when she created the Womens Travel Club 17 years ago...and has it grown. I recently had the opportunity to interview Phyllis and learn about two unique trips she's created for women who want to join other women for exciting travel adventures. Click the arrow to listen.

Or you can right click this link, "save target as" and save it to your computer to listen.

You know that having fun can extend your health and even your life, right? So take steps today...and plan to HAVE FUN!!