"If you are not having fun, you are doing something wrong."
It can be easy to get bogged down by life sometimes, especially when we feel overwhelmed by our commitments. We tend to our careers, families and friends, all while making sure we keep our affairs in order. It can seem like a non-stop, full-time job when we treat it as such. When we do get bogged down by life, it may become difficult to enjoy the simple things life has to offer and find the fun that can help us to remember that life is what we make it. We can treat it like a game or a chore.
Recently, I have been treating life more like a chore than a game. It has not been fun, for the most part. At times, it feels crippling. I go back and read all of these posts I have written over the past six months and wonder how my perspective shifted from enjoying life to avoiding life. I have not been participating fully in the areas of my life that used to bring me the most joy, whether it be at home or at work.
Photo by Levi Guzman on Unsplash
In my career, I love connecting with the at-risk youth I work with. Even on the toughest days, I would make sure to do my part in helping to cheer them up, especially when it did not seem like there was anything for them to be happy about. I saw it as a game, not a chore. When they would crack a smile, I felt like I was winning. It was fun! I noticed that when I started treating my interactions as a chore instead of a game, it became tougher for me to cheer them up. I would find myself getting sucked into their world of negativity. It was unpleasant. I felt like I was giving in and giving up on the game, only creating more chores for myself.
I realized I had to put my perspective in check. My outlook was all off. By feeling defeated, I turned the game of life into a series of chores. That is one way to look at life, but to me it feels like the wrong way. Just because I may not be winning, does not me the game is over. It is those times when we feel defeated that we need the game of life the most. We can see the challenge for what it is. But if we approach life as a series of chores, we suck all of the fun out of it. It can feel like a game we no longer want to participate in. That's no fun.
I am recommitting to treating life like a game instead of a chore. I know it comes down to my perspective. I have stated how my glass is not half-full, it's overflowing. I lost sight of that recently, while feeling overwhelmed by my responsibilities and commitments. Everything still has to get done. I get to choose my attitude while doing it. By being more mindful of this, I can make the most of whatever it is on my plate at the moment. It never has to be as bad as we make things out to be. We can have more fun in life when we see it as a game we play instead of an endless chore.
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