Coco and I are bro-ing out at the house this week while Iris is in LA for work. Mornings are filled with the usual emails and Zoom calls to do my small part to keep the world moving along. And then I look to have some fun in the afternoon.
But what is fun?
Happiness researchers, I learned recently, distinguish between happiness with one’s life and happiness in one’s life. Or to put it another way, when I look back on my life, am I happy with where I am today? And then, if I consider this very moment, am I happy right now?
Perhaps there’s a tension between fun and fulfillment? I have some friends who are happy in the moment quite often, but less happy with where they are at in life. And I have many over-achieving friends who can quickly rationalize their fulfillment, but sure don’t seem to have much fun.
If there is a spectrum between fun and fulfillment, I confess that I am not on the fun side of the equation … but it’s my intended direction of travel. So I got a good laugh from Jessica Bennett’s essay for the New York Times, “What Is Fun? Can I Have It? Will We Ever Have It Again?” I was embarrassed to relate to the kind of 1990s-elder-millennial, sarcastic writer who reads books and consults academics to understand how to have fun. Between the laughs are some useful reminders:
Fun is more fun when others are involved (the title of a research paper!)
Everyone (except your employer) knows that forced fun is not real fun
Psychologists distinguish between five kids of fun: Sociability”, “Contentment”, “Achievement”, “Sensual” and “Ecstatic”. I think this means: hang out, take naps, win races, have sex, and do drugs. That does sound like fun!
Bennett even comes to a definition: Fun is pleasure without purpose. Of course, I wasn’t surprised that her article ended with a description of cycling:
“To me, being on a bike is a crazy feeling of complete fun,” said Jerome Peel, 32, as he adjusted his bike seat, preparing to scale a ramp and soar over Nino’s head. I asked if he could describe why it was so fun, and he gave me a funny look. Don’t you just know fun when you feel it?
Having fun at 105
Last week, I marveled at the longevity of my 93-year-old grandmother and how the average lifespan in the U.S. increased 15 years from 62 when she was born to 77 today. Now, imagine being 105 and holding the world record for his age group (😂) by riding 17 miles in just one hour. Robert Marchand clearly knew how to have fun and stay healthy. He passed away last year at 109 years old (and was still riding his bike for 20 minutes each day up until his death). To think, this guy was a firefighter in Paris before my grandma was even born!
A Useful Tool: Haze Over
As much as I try to keep a clean desktop on my computer, junk piles up quick and it can distract me from what I’m working on. HazeOver is the fastest way I’ve found to sweep it all under the rug. I just press control-h and everything dims out except the window I’m working on. I can’t imagine working on a computer now without it.
Kudos: Happy birthday, Michael
We sure had a lot of fun celebrating Michael’s 40th last weekend. There aren’t nearly enough weddings once you enter your 40s, so I’m very pro-bday celebration.
Have a fun week!
David