Do you remember when you were a kid and you seemed to have no worries? Life was much less stressful back then because you didn’t have as many responsibilities. If you were lucky, your main job was to do well in school and other than that you didn’t have to concern yourself with much else. Your parents or guardians put food on your plate. They gave you some place to stay for free and you even had clothes on your back. And that meant that you had plenty of free time leftover to do whatever your heart pleased. And so you played and engaged in activities that you liked. And this is how you were able to unwind from your really tough day at school.

Fun was an important part of your life back then, but as you got older you probably started to realize that there was less and less time for fun. When you got to junior high school, you probably started to notice that you were getting more and more homework. And not only were you getting more work, but the lessons that you were learning were getting harder. By the time you got to high school the work that you were getting in school seemed to double (triple if you were taking honors and AP courses) and if you hadn’t already started thinking about it, you needed to make sure that you were filling up your free time with activities that would help you get into college. Your free time slowly started to slip between your fingers and so you really cherished the small amount of time that you could allocate to yourself for some fun. By the time you got to college you had to learn to balance not only a full time college course load, but you also probably had one or two part time jobs that you had to work as well. You managed, but you had even less time to engage in activities that helped you to de-stress. And then after college you were thrust into the work force. You had to work full time, but you also had bills to pay. After you finished paying your loans, rent, car note, gas, food, and cell phone bills you barely had enough money left over to go and watch a movie at the local theater. And then if you started a family, you had not only yourself to worry about, but your kids and their needs as well. Soon enough you started to wonder how there was ever a point in your life when you wanted to be an adult. You missed your worry free days of being a child and you started to long for the days when you could run around and play until your heart was content.

The thing is, just because you’re older now doesn’t mean that you have to forgo time for yourself. Everybody has at least a few minutes in their day that they can allot to themselves. So take whatever free time you may have and spend it on yourself. Working all the time and not allowing yourself to have just a few minutes to breath every day is how you slowly start to hate your life, and that’s not something that you want to have happen. If you can take some time every day to read a small passage from your favorite book or to eat one of your guilty pleasures or to watch a funny video that’s guaranteed to make you laugh then do it. If you have to, get up a few minutes earlier so that you can do that thing that makes you have fun. Or stay up a little bit later if that’s what you want to do. Or carve some time out during you lunch break to sit down and do that thing that you love to do. Just get out and do something that’s going to be fun for you. It may be just what you need to help you start enjoying your life a little bit more.

Having fun is an important part of life. We weren’t put on this earth to be miserable, so make sure that that’s not happening to you. Set aside some time to have some fun positive thinker. Life is tough and complicated, but you’re getting through it, and you deserve some props for that. So, reward yourself for making it through another day because that is an accomplishment in and of itself.

You deserve to have some fun today…

So have it!