Ep 134 Having Fun
Episode Notes:
Join me today as I discuss having fun – in all areas of your life! When we can incorporate more fun we have the ability to increase productivity, reduce stress and improve relationships. Listen in as I talk about why it’s to your benefit to have more fun today!
In This Episode:
- How fun can help relationships
- Benefits of fun at work and in life
- Having fun daily
- Health benefits of fun
- Let’s connect! @michellebourquecoaching
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Episode transcript:
Hello hello hello
Welcome back friends
What is going on in your world?
Like seriously – I want to know
I love to hear what is going on with you
So I know more ways to help you
Feel free to like screen shot this episode
And tag me with
What is up in your world
@michellebourquecoaching
Hey – could I also ask a favor
While we are here
If you are digging the podcast
Would you just drop a quick 5 stars
And review on itunes?
I hear it can help others find the podcast
And if you think it is helpful
Maybe someone else would too
You know me
I am all about the ripple effect friends
And if you share
You could be changing the life of someone else
You never know
Ok
Now that the housekeeping is out of the way
Let’s dive into todays topic
Having fun
And I mean
Having fun
In all aspects of your life
And not just
Friday night
Saturday and Sunday
Like everyday
I know, I know
You have to work during the week
How can you have fun?
Well friend
That is a great question
How can you have fun
And work
Today
See – I think a lot of times
We look forward to things like the weekend
Or vacation
And that’s when we will have fun
But during the week
We have to be serious
Because we have a j-o-b
But
What if that wasn’t the case?
What if you really can have fun
Every single day?
Having fun is good for you because physiologically,
it helps to balance out our stress and feel-good hormones,
It helps to prevent diseases long-term.
It helps to boost our creativity, energy, productivity, and overall cognition. …
Just take a minute to think about when you are dreading doing something
It takes forever
If you can find a way to jump in
And have fun
You are usually more productive with it
But we think
We can’t have fun
We don’t have time
Or we feel guilty
If we do something that we enjoy
Our brains are really so cray cray
Wasn’t it George Bernard Shaw who said
We don’t stop playing because we grow old
We grow old because we stop playing
And fun
Can be different for everyone right?
What is fun for Marc lets say
Is watching endlesss hours of football
Not exactly my first choice
I would say fun is
Peloton of course
Not exactly his first choice
In fact,
I am quite confident
He will never know my boo Cody Rigsby lol
And that’s ok
But here is what I want to ask you
Do you even know what you
Would want to do for fun?
It’s a serious question
When I first started all this work
I wasn’t sure
I remember my coach asking
Well what do you want to do?
And you know why that is sometimes a challenging question?
Because we have been soooo programmed
To put everyone else ahead of ourselves
And listen to me
Taking care of yourself
Is not selfish
Think about how it would be for people around you
If you started showing up having more fun in life?
It’s contagious
Having fun can actually improve relationships
At work and at home
Think about how increasing fun at work
Could increase engagement
And retention
And you own job satisfaction
Having fun
Can help reduce stress
They also say
Laughter is the best medicine right?
I’ll be honest
I’m not sure who “they” are ..lol..
But I’m going with it
And in line with that
Michael Rucker Phd
Says fun makes us smarter
He writes
According to science, one way to improve our memory and concentration is to have more fun.
Partially, this has to do with the stress reduction that happens when we engage in something we enjoy.
However, the benefits of fun activities seem to stretch further than that. The British Cohort Study — a study that has been following 17,000 people born in 1970 — found that reading for fun improves our language skills, and more surprisingly our proficiency in math as well.
He continues
It appears that fun activities that introduce us to new ideas and concepts foster self-directed learning.
The rewards we gain from these experiences might expand beyond the obvious benefits. Scientists are now also exploring if reading for fun can also protect us against cognitive decline as we age.
I am all about that my friend
Let me share a fun fact with you
Did you know
On the scale of emotions
Joy is at the top
Why is that important?
Because the more you feel joy
And maybe that’s from having fun
The more you will attract in your life
I think a lot of us
Have been programmed
To live from achievement to achievement
It’s like an addictive behavior
That we need to achieve to feel good
And then off to the next
And I’m not saying don’t set goals
I’m saying we have it all backwards
We have to feel the joy
Feel the fun
Along the way
I shared something recently on IG live
That really resonated
And it seems appropriate here too
I was listening to an Oprah super soul Sunday podcast
And she had Julianna Margulies on
And Julianna was talking about how spiritual her mom was
And she said
You know –
Sometimes when we are looking for ourselves
We miss what is already right in front of us
Isn’t that so true sometimes?
We think once I get the promotion
Once I move to the beach
Once I can take vacation with my phone off
That’s when I’ll be happy
But we don’t have to do that
We can have fun
In this moment
I really want to encourage you to look for it
And watch how your life changes
Why are you doing anything you are doing?
Because you want to feel good usually
So start feeling all the goodness now
And see how much more becomes available to you
Ok friends
That’s my fun for this morning lol..
Let’s circle back next week
But for now
Stay safe and
Make it a great day!
Take care.