It’s possible to be going through something challenging while still having fun.
For several years now, I’ve been a devout patron of Ride Indoor Cycling, a fabulous cycling studio that started in Austin and now has a few locations around Houston.
In just the last few months, I’ve noticed a couple guys at the studio that I’d never seen before. I don’t think they know each other - they don’t ride together - but they’re sort of changing my life.
Both of these men are always in the front row, and they always have smiles on their faces. The whole time. Every. Single. Class.
This is mind-blowing to me. The workout is hard!
I’ve only made it up to half of the happy duo in the lobby so far, but I had to ask: “How do you smile like that the whole class?!?”
He continued smiling as he answered: “I don’t know! It’s fun!”
The thing is, he’s right. I try lots of different workouts. I’ve taught group fitness and yoga for years. Exercise is a big part of my life, but this particular workout is one that I’ve practiced several times a week for years — because it is fun. I just don’t ever think about that, and I rarely act like it, because it’s challenging, too.
That’s where I get stuck. I do it because it feels good after-the-fact. I put my head down and charge through, occasionally shouting a “woot woot” to support the teacher and keep up my energy, but having fun didn’t seem in the cards. It’s possible, I just didn’t think of it.
When I was a kid, I remember becoming super homesick during a trip with my aunt, cousins and grandmother. I really wanted to go home.
One morning, I moaned in bed, lamenting my grief to my poor captive younger sister, when my aunt overheard and came in.
“Marci, you’re not even trying to have fun,” she said.
Huh? I could try to have fun?!
That comment had a big impact at the time. The message clearly faded from top-of-mind over the years, but it got me out of bed that day and shifted the tone of the trip.
It’s easy to forget that having fun and enjoying ourselves is ultimately a choice. We tend to think that fun depends on circumstances or how we feel, and that it’s certainly not possible when things are hard. But it is.
Those happy cyclists are reminding me of my wise aunt’s truth bomb. They’re proof that it’s possible to be out of breath, exerted, sweaty and smelly and still jamming — if we’re open to it.
Trying to have fun may not magically create spontaneous bliss, but it could. It opens the door for good times and can inspire others. Or maybe it just makes hard things stink less. That’s very cool, too.
Marci Izard Sharif is an author, yoga teacher, meditation facilitator and mother. In Feeling Matters, she writes about self-love, sharing self-care tools, stories and resources to know and be kind to yourself.
December 15, 2021 at 07:06PM
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/lifestyle/renew-houston/wellness/article/Even-hard-things-can-be-fun-possibly-16691391.php
Even hard things can be fun, possibly - Houston Chronicle
https://news.google.com/search?q=hard&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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