Please think back on the past year and call to mind a memory that stands out to you as having been truly fun. And then please tell us about it here! We’ll be using our memories to figure out what I call our personal “fun magnets,” which we can use to generate ideas for future fun, so please take a few minutes to jot something down.
Important: the memory does not need to be dramatic. It does not need to have happened in an exotic location or have cost a lot of (or any) money. It just needs to have felt fun.
And also, if you’re coming to this thread after other people have posted their stories, take a moment to look through them, and notice how just reading about other people’s fun memories makes YOU feel.
To scrolling less, living more, and tapping into the power of fun,
In the summer I completed a 50km walk for a dementia charity - my fitness had plummeted and I was truly unsure I could do it. Not only did I do it, but listening to Orbital's 'Belfast' as I rounded the final kilometre, the sun beating down and only me and the bees in the field - it was joyous. I felt so close to my beloved Granda, who had died the year before from Alzheimer's, I cried happy and proud tears and fell back in love with the power of walking in nature. Pure joy and fun, to me.
Three generations sitting around a fire pit a few weeks before Christmas laughing about words in different languages that sound like swear words. So silly and cheeky watching my 13-year-old and his nan chuckling and saying naughty words to each other. Also, an impromptu car duet with my husband when You're The One That I Want from Grease came on the radio. We smashed it!
A small group of my coworkers and I (we call ourselves the purple sharks-back story for another time) go to dinner once a month. We recently took a long weekend trip to the Fingerlakes in NY. We had so much fun visiting wineries, going shopping, playing games in our PJs, doing our nails and of course drinking our wine! It was like an adult sleepover!! The whole weekend was a blast- I can’t pick just one activity as my favorite.
I was driving back down to the city after having decided to move out of my dream house and felt miserable, wondering if I’d made the right decision in upending my entire life or needed to tough it out. At a stoplight in a rural town, a little girl in the car beside mine caught my eye and started waving, so I waved back. Her sister joined in. We ended up keeping pace with each other in traffic for the next five or six miles, laughing and waving back and forth the entire time. That fleeting experience not only brought me back into my body, but back to being eight, nine, ten-years old and doing the same thing in the back of my mom’s car or on a bus. It was freeing, silly, and so fun.
This past year two of my friends/colleagues and I (all orchestra teachers) started playing as band. We’ve been doing covers of pop and rock tunes on our classical instruments, but with amps and pedals. We’ve been playing a brewery gig every month or so. It’s the funnest combination of time with friends, music making, a side hustle, and showing people that string instruments aren’t stuffy!
Roller skating on my birthday with my husband and son at a beautiful old rink I discovered was near my house. I loved how it felt so much I bought a pair of sparkly roller skates so I could skate on my own. Also: Meeting friends for dinner that night. Writing this, I realize I need to plan this year's birthday because it's on a full moon and I think it needs to include roller skates again.
In August, my husband, 16 year old daughter and I went to Sandbanks Provincial Park on Lake Ontario for the first time. The lake looked like an ocean and had big waves, like an ocean - perfect for body-surfing. All three of us went in and had a blast riding the waves of warm water. The joys of the ocean, without salt, seaweed, or jellyfish! Felt so free and fun!
Playing Gartic Phone with my family this past Easter was so, so fun! I hadn't had that much fun in a long time. Looking forward to more belly laughs this year! Also, smartphones are always considered being "the bad guys", so it felt great to use it for something that made us feel close to each other.
I started playing pickleball in August 2023. I'm not good at it, we play with the same people every week, the goal is fun while maybe?!? picking up new skills and we laugh and tell stories and have fun. I am so glad that I joined!
Walking through TJ Maxx with my 16 year old daughter and laughing hysterically at the weird items, strange candle smells and funny holiday soap dispensers. For some reason this makes us both laugh uncontrollably.
Going to a softplay with my daughter(3yo) and actually taking part in all her activities - basically following her all the time for an hour, was a very fun experience.
My sister and I were recently reminiscing about some childhood memories that no one but us would’ve understood or appreciated. We both laughed so hard, I thought I was going to fall over. It was so fun!
3/4 of our family was stuck for hours on end in a mall in a strange city on Christmas Eve, waiting for the other 1/4 whose flight was extremely delayed. We had no desire to be there… but somehow we ended up having fun in random silly ways: watching little kids watch huge fish in a huge tank at Bass Pro Shop; scanning the discount racks at Books-A-Million; seeing how many people dressed up —outrageously or otherwise— to roam the mall. I was amazed to have ended up with good memories of an otherwise frustrating day!
Family riding around Uluru (in the middle of Australia) on segways. First time for everyone - we were all a little nervous about driving them - then had so much fun exploring.
When visiting my cousin for the first time in many years, I decided to be curious towards my cousin's 8 years old son's toys, as a way of interesting myself to him. I ended up playing on the carpet not only with him but also with my adult boyfriend and sister, and I had much more fun that I thought I could have, just pushing the buttons for the little characters to fight with one another. So it was not really the toys that were fun nor the people, but the fact that with were playing together with the (stupid) toys in a candid way.
Playing cards with my family over the holidays. Starting a new tradition to help our grief over the loss of my mother on Labor Day. The game was quite fun and brought fun feelings!
playing games with friends and laughing so hard it hurt. This was while I was on a trip with girlfriends (where ran a half marathon and ate a lot too :)
Babysitting my grandchildren last summer, and the granddog--a Belgian Malinois. I was on the back deck watching the youngest practice his rope climbing while Drax, the dog, was chasing a tire swing. I recorded it as he barked and went in circles, sometimes sticking his head through the tire. He was just having such fun. Makes me think I should just try chasing a tire, on a rope, around in circles.
My husband received a VR headset for Christmas and I’ve had so much fun trying it out. My mind is blown by the feeling of immersion and it’s a joint activity with him as I continually need help figuring out how to do it!
I visited some friends in California last year who had been tracking the tides at a local beach. I happened to be there during low tide so we went off to check out the scene. There were hundreds of people there gathering sea urchin and mussels, spear fishing, cooking on the beach... the whole thing was so far from my ordinary experience of city life and I found it absolutely fascinating and inspiring. I also got to touch some sea anemone!
We were watching our 8 year old grandson playing basketball. The joy of watching these kids fully committed to the game, their joy in everyone’s making a basket, watching our son beaming at his son, and my husband beaming at his son. I remember thinking at that moment This is Fun! (Now I would put my finger in the air and say ‘Delight’.
I was in San Francisco for a conference and just enjoyed watching the sea lions at Pier 39. There was a younger one that was trying to get up on the dock and was having some trouble as the older and larger sea lions were on the edges and were not letting him up. When the younger one finally made it up the crowd cheered. It was apparantely a bit cheeky as once up on the dock the sea lion had a hard time staying still and was trying to get the other sea lions to play. Not too much later the sea lion was back in the water. I enjoyed being in the moment and was with some work colleagues that were doing the same.
My husband and I went night diving for the first time. Tarpon were using our light to hunt so they were dodging in and out of the beam. We even turned off our lights at one point to see some bioluminescent plankton. It was so cool and scary and new.
Catherine here -- I'll go first! My daughter has recently started feeding the squirrels that live in our little urban backyard. She's given them names -- Augustine, Lily, and Augustine II (because it's hard to tell two of them apart). I've been having a lot of fun coming downstairs with her in the morning and waiting for the squirrels to arrive -- one of them actually jumped up on a bucket the other day and stared at us through our back window, as if to ask, "Where's my breakfast?"
We've started referring to this morning show as "squirrel TV," and our shared giggles as we watch their antics definitely qualify as fun.
In the summer I completed a 50km walk for a dementia charity - my fitness had plummeted and I was truly unsure I could do it. Not only did I do it, but listening to Orbital's 'Belfast' as I rounded the final kilometre, the sun beating down and only me and the bees in the field - it was joyous. I felt so close to my beloved Granda, who had died the year before from Alzheimer's, I cried happy and proud tears and fell back in love with the power of walking in nature. Pure joy and fun, to me.
Three generations sitting around a fire pit a few weeks before Christmas laughing about words in different languages that sound like swear words. So silly and cheeky watching my 13-year-old and his nan chuckling and saying naughty words to each other. Also, an impromptu car duet with my husband when You're The One That I Want from Grease came on the radio. We smashed it!
A small group of my coworkers and I (we call ourselves the purple sharks-back story for another time) go to dinner once a month. We recently took a long weekend trip to the Fingerlakes in NY. We had so much fun visiting wineries, going shopping, playing games in our PJs, doing our nails and of course drinking our wine! It was like an adult sleepover!! The whole weekend was a blast- I can’t pick just one activity as my favorite.
I was driving back down to the city after having decided to move out of my dream house and felt miserable, wondering if I’d made the right decision in upending my entire life or needed to tough it out. At a stoplight in a rural town, a little girl in the car beside mine caught my eye and started waving, so I waved back. Her sister joined in. We ended up keeping pace with each other in traffic for the next five or six miles, laughing and waving back and forth the entire time. That fleeting experience not only brought me back into my body, but back to being eight, nine, ten-years old and doing the same thing in the back of my mom’s car or on a bus. It was freeing, silly, and so fun.
This past year two of my friends/colleagues and I (all orchestra teachers) started playing as band. We’ve been doing covers of pop and rock tunes on our classical instruments, but with amps and pedals. We’ve been playing a brewery gig every month or so. It’s the funnest combination of time with friends, music making, a side hustle, and showing people that string instruments aren’t stuffy!
Roller skating on my birthday with my husband and son at a beautiful old rink I discovered was near my house. I loved how it felt so much I bought a pair of sparkly roller skates so I could skate on my own. Also: Meeting friends for dinner that night. Writing this, I realize I need to plan this year's birthday because it's on a full moon and I think it needs to include roller skates again.
Solo trip to Sumba met some lovely ladies who took me sight seeing - was free and fun - great memory of them striking yoga poses in a hill!
In August, my husband, 16 year old daughter and I went to Sandbanks Provincial Park on Lake Ontario for the first time. The lake looked like an ocean and had big waves, like an ocean - perfect for body-surfing. All three of us went in and had a blast riding the waves of warm water. The joys of the ocean, without salt, seaweed, or jellyfish! Felt so free and fun!
Playing burraco with my youngest child. We had a few days home just the two of us and it was lovely.
Playing Gartic Phone with my family this past Easter was so, so fun! I hadn't had that much fun in a long time. Looking forward to more belly laughs this year! Also, smartphones are always considered being "the bad guys", so it felt great to use it for something that made us feel close to each other.
I started playing pickleball in August 2023. I'm not good at it, we play with the same people every week, the goal is fun while maybe?!? picking up new skills and we laugh and tell stories and have fun. I am so glad that I joined!
Walking through TJ Maxx with my 16 year old daughter and laughing hysterically at the weird items, strange candle smells and funny holiday soap dispensers. For some reason this makes us both laugh uncontrollably.
Sitting outside on a holiday ferry trip in the pouring rain letting myself get soaked to the skin (with a sauna and hot tub waiting back at the hotel)
Going to a softplay with my daughter(3yo) and actually taking part in all her activities - basically following her all the time for an hour, was a very fun experience.
Role playing games with friends! We meet regularly over Zoom and always end up making silly stories with inside jokes. I laugh so hard every time.
My sister and I were recently reminiscing about some childhood memories that no one but us would’ve understood or appreciated. We both laughed so hard, I thought I was going to fall over. It was so fun!
3/4 of our family was stuck for hours on end in a mall in a strange city on Christmas Eve, waiting for the other 1/4 whose flight was extremely delayed. We had no desire to be there… but somehow we ended up having fun in random silly ways: watching little kids watch huge fish in a huge tank at Bass Pro Shop; scanning the discount racks at Books-A-Million; seeing how many people dressed up —outrageously or otherwise— to roam the mall. I was amazed to have ended up with good memories of an otherwise frustrating day!
Family riding around Uluru (in the middle of Australia) on segways. First time for everyone - we were all a little nervous about driving them - then had so much fun exploring.
When visiting my cousin for the first time in many years, I decided to be curious towards my cousin's 8 years old son's toys, as a way of interesting myself to him. I ended up playing on the carpet not only with him but also with my adult boyfriend and sister, and I had much more fun that I thought I could have, just pushing the buttons for the little characters to fight with one another. So it was not really the toys that were fun nor the people, but the fact that with were playing together with the (stupid) toys in a candid way.
Playing with a dog: having him do tricks, tug of war, and having him. check on me in the middle of. the night.
Playing cards with my family over the holidays. Starting a new tradition to help our grief over the loss of my mother on Labor Day. The game was quite fun and brought fun feelings!
speaking on stage at DisruptHR! I was breathless and giggly at the end!
Getting on my hands and knees and playing with my dogs. I felt unguarded, free and joyous.
playing games with friends and laughing so hard it hurt. This was while I was on a trip with girlfriends (where ran a half marathon and ate a lot too :)
Babysitting my grandchildren last summer, and the granddog--a Belgian Malinois. I was on the back deck watching the youngest practice his rope climbing while Drax, the dog, was chasing a tire swing. I recorded it as he barked and went in circles, sometimes sticking his head through the tire. He was just having such fun. Makes me think I should just try chasing a tire, on a rope, around in circles.
My husband received a VR headset for Christmas and I’ve had so much fun trying it out. My mind is blown by the feeling of immersion and it’s a joint activity with him as I continually need help figuring out how to do it!
I visited some friends in California last year who had been tracking the tides at a local beach. I happened to be there during low tide so we went off to check out the scene. There were hundreds of people there gathering sea urchin and mussels, spear fishing, cooking on the beach... the whole thing was so far from my ordinary experience of city life and I found it absolutely fascinating and inspiring. I also got to touch some sea anemone!
We were watching our 8 year old grandson playing basketball. The joy of watching these kids fully committed to the game, their joy in everyone’s making a basket, watching our son beaming at his son, and my husband beaming at his son. I remember thinking at that moment This is Fun! (Now I would put my finger in the air and say ‘Delight’.
I was in San Francisco for a conference and just enjoyed watching the sea lions at Pier 39. There was a younger one that was trying to get up on the dock and was having some trouble as the older and larger sea lions were on the edges and were not letting him up. When the younger one finally made it up the crowd cheered. It was apparantely a bit cheeky as once up on the dock the sea lion had a hard time staying still and was trying to get the other sea lions to play. Not too much later the sea lion was back in the water. I enjoyed being in the moment and was with some work colleagues that were doing the same.
My husband and I went night diving for the first time. Tarpon were using our light to hunt so they were dodging in and out of the beam. We even turned off our lights at one point to see some bioluminescent plankton. It was so cool and scary and new.
Catherine here -- I'll go first! My daughter has recently started feeding the squirrels that live in our little urban backyard. She's given them names -- Augustine, Lily, and Augustine II (because it's hard to tell two of them apart). I've been having a lot of fun coming downstairs with her in the morning and waiting for the squirrels to arrive -- one of them actually jumped up on a bucket the other day and stared at us through our back window, as if to ask, "Where's my breakfast?"
We've started referring to this morning show as "squirrel TV," and our shared giggles as we watch their antics definitely qualify as fun.