How much fun do you have each day?

Have you ever been told, “Don’t wait for retirement to have the life you want?” These words are wise but not necessarily helpful. If you’re working hard to design your best life, the last thing you need is guilt that you’re not enjoying it all the time. How much fun do you have each day?

I encourage you to think of the weekend, your vacation, or your retirement as an extension of the life you’re creating right now. 

Start small. Imagine the weekend as a time to do what you wish you had more time for during the week.  

Sometimes, during the workweek, I don’t have large chunks of time to play. So I get a little creative. My son and l will play a quick game of tag for five minutes. We have a few good laughs and then I go back to work. On a good day, we’ll have a dance party after dinner that may or may not turn into a dance fight with some karate moves!

I benefit from the little moments of play, it energizes me. It’s also reassuring to know the little moments of connection are future invitations to play.  On weekends when my son asks  “Mom, wanna play?” I know I’m doing okay. 

Adults and kids benefit from play.

Science tells us to play, helps us not take ourselves too seriously, gets us thinking creatively, and can heal our emotional wounds. Here are five ideas to get you having some fun as a family in under five minutes. 

5 Fun Activities in Under 5 Minutes

  • Music: Listen to a song you heard when you were your kid’s age and see if they like it. Bonus if you dance too!
  • Look for Joy: One of my son’s teachers encourages students to look out a window for half a minute. I will sometimes join him and look for birds, squirrels, or other animals that are passing by our yard. 
  • Share Pop culture: Pick one of your favorite TV show intros and share it with your kids. Next, wait and see how long it takes for them to one day in the not-so-distant future, show you a reference to that same intro on one of their shows. 
  • Move: Challenge your family to see who can run the fastest for 5 minutes continuously.  
  • Word Play: Create a one-word story by each of you saying one word and coming up with a beginning, middle and end. 

There is power in pausing, laughing, and having some fun.

What fun activity are you going to try for five minutes today?