Fun is a mindset..........

-Are you coming dad? I asked excitedly.

-I will, he answered.

Looking at his face I could see that going

down the slippery dip did not seem to excite him

as much as it did me.

So I asked him if he didn't think that going down

slippery dips was any fun.

-What you think is fun now will change

as you grow older, he answered. 

At the time I did not realize just how profound

his statement was, but his words found a place to linger

in my subconscious and every now and then, they

pop up in my consciousness.

What do we mean when we say that we are

having fun?

As far as I can ascertain, we are having fun when 

we are doing something we enjoy.

Thing is, us humans are fickle and what may be fun

right now, may be boring and uninteresting tomorrow.

My father was right, our concept of what we experience

as fun changes as our life experiences changes us.

Some people say its fun to troll people, some

people say its fun to make fun of others, some

people say its fun to prank others, some people

view bullying as fun, some people say its fun

to catfish, some people say its fun to scam others, etc. etc.

Fun is subjective, it can be interpreted in many different

ways. It is a unique experience to each of us and 

therefore tricky to give a universal definition.

However,

Personally, if hurting others in any way is ''fun'' to

us, then I think we need to do a bit of self-reflection

and figure out why causing others pain makes us

experience this as ''enjoyment/fun''.

Trying to figure out what fun means to me

these days, I have come up with a few ''ingredients''

that I think needs to be included in the definition

of the word fun:

novelty, curiosity, spontaneity, and a sense

of timelessness.

(Timelessness as in while having fun there is

no sense of time.)

I have also come to the conclusion that to

have fun does not have to include other people.

The bird in the above image is made up by

a number of different cardboard pieces, like

a puzzle, and when put together made this

beautiful little Fairy Wren. Putting it together

was great fun for me.

Discovering that if I hosed down the beach umbrella 

on my deck at a specific angle it started to spin at

great knots spraying water all over the place, was

also great fun.

Chasing our cat around the couch, up and down 

the stairs when she is in a frisky mood, also fun.

Sitting down at the piano and just improvising,

fun.

Watching crazy Brit comedies, fun.

Listening to Djent/Fusion music together with my son, fun.

Painting, sketching, taking photographs, fun.

Doing and trying new things, fun.

My father was right, what I today experience as fun

keeps changing every day.

Fun, it seems, is a mindset.

A mindset that is malleable, open, curious and

brave.

''You don't need an amusement park nor a party to

have fun, all you need is a bit of curiosity,

imagination and gumption.

Fun is a mindset.''

(Citizen Z)

about the image: A photo taken with my crappy old Canon

camera