Fun as a self improvement tool

By Irene Conlan -

Last week was a tough week at my house. My son, in trying to help a friend, was bitten by a feral cat and had to go the emergency room. He was admitted to the hospital and was given massive doses of antibiotics in an effort to save not only his hand but his life. He finally had to have surgery on the hand to remove as much of the infection as they could. It wasn’t a pretty sight. He is fine now and the hand is healing nicely but it made for an intense week.

I preceded that with my own incident and spent a morning in the ER followed by a round of MRIs, lab tests, visits to doctor’s offices – you know the drill. I now have four doctors instead of one and it all gets a bit confusing. The bottom line is that I’m fine now but it made for a scary week.

Half way through the week I realized that everything had gotten extremely serious and rightly so. But we needed some fun – some laughs. I looked around YouTube and some of my friends sent me funny things. I had conversations with people who always make me feel joyful and I made it through the week. It made me think about the importance of fun and laughter in our lives.My son, often a brilliant comic, although he doesn’t make his living in comedy, kept the hospital staff entertained and brought laughter into his room and into his life. We both needed some fun and laughter.

Fun. That’s a word we generally associate with children. They have “lottsa fun.” But what about adults? Do we have fun? We go to movies, cocktail parties, formal dinners, have back yard cookouts and other “adult” things. Some sit in bars while others go to every sports event. But do we have FUN? Isn’t fun supposed to make you laugh? Doesn’t fun allow you to “let your hair down” so to speak, and be yourself – relaxed, involved, enjoying the moment?

It seems to me that as adults we get far too serious for our own good. G.K. Chesterton said, “Angels fly because they take themselves lightly.” We don’t fly and most of us don’t take ourselves lightly. We often make life a grueling, serious ordeal. We make time for work and tasks that must be accomplished and by the end of the day we’re too tired for fun. Some don’t even know how to have fun. If they ever knew, they’ve forgotten. Many have forgotten how to make work fun or at least enjoyable.

Think about this: what is “fun” for you? What makes you feel better, lighter, more energized? What makes you laugh all the way down to your toes? It doesn’t have to be sophisticated and it doesn’t have to be expensive.

Watch children. They know how to have fun and it doesn’t take much. This morning my 5 year old grandson wrapped himself up in a blanket and was inching across the floor to my chair where I sit working on the computer. I made a comment about something coming toward me and mentioned a beaver, an armadillo, and a few other strange animals I thought it might be. Pretty soon he was cracking up with laughter and so was I. It was better than any of the medicine the four doctors gave me. It will keep me going until Jack comes up with something else that hits my funny bone. It didn’t cost anything and we didn’t have to leave home in search for a good laugh. But laugh we did (with some giggling thrown in for good measure).

Fun and laughter are essential elements to growth and well being. I cannot imagine tackling a self improvement project without the resource of fun and laughter.

Get over yourself long enough to laugh and let all those wonderful endorphins out to do their job of making you feel better. If you have nothing to laugh about, go to YouTube or find a child.

About Irene: Irene Conlan has a master's degree in nursing, with a major in nursing administration and a minor in psychiatric nursing. She taught nursing at Arizona State University, served as Director of Nursing Administration at St. Luke's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix and served as Assistant Director of the Arizona Department of Health Services for the Division of Health Care Facilities and Emergency Medical Services. She is also a certified hypnotherapist with a practice in Scottsdale, AZ. She is an avid blogger and manages http://www.theselfimprovementblog.com, http://www.theselfesteemblog.com, http://www.thepositivepsychologyblog.com Irene lives in Scottsdale AZ and has two sons and three grandsons.