We do many things in the pursuit of fun. The man who gave that famous speech on Oprah just before he died cited 'fun' as being high on his priority list even though his days were numbered. Randy Pausch's lecture will be in the video below or see it here. http://digg.com/d1N1vs

Yesterday I was doing some thinking and journaling about the nature of fun. I quickly realized that fun is a very subjective term. One person's fun might be another person's folly. I've found that a lot of disappointment in my life has come about from repeatedly doing something described as fun and finding it wasn't fun for me. Take drinking for example. I hear almost weekly someone saying that they can't wait to go out drinking, or bar hopping, or wine tasting or some type of getting plastered. When I think of drinking I think of a co-ed bent over a toilet getting sick while a friend or a stranger holds her hair. I wonder if these people are really having fun.

Now let's think about Disneyland. Well known for a lot of fun, right? Not fun to me. Not fun to stand in line, to feel like I'm being stalked by security, and Space Mountain makes me sick about once every decade. Rollercoasters, while very fun, aren't fun for me. Not even when I was a child and everyone was telling me how much fun it was.

Many people, especially women, say shopping is fun. Or at least that's what the media wants us to believe. But for me, being out of debt, while not fun, at least creates less anxiety. Debt is NOT fun. So if the shopping includes feeling bad about myself and getting into debt, again, not fun for me.

If I could define 'fun' my life might improve swiftly and dramatically.

So, I had to ask myself, just what IS fun for me. If things that are normally fun for a great many people, but are not fun for me, what is fun for me. (Or since you are reading this, what is fun for you).

Things that have been fun for me:

Learning to juggle. That was way fun, but not so much fun as I kept struggling to get better and better. The moment of learning was the fun part.

Performing for an enthusiastic audience. Again, very fun when you feel like they are on your side.

Seeing my children grow.

Exploring new places.

Burying myself in creative projects.

So at this point these are the things I think might be fun:

1. Having my own successful talk show.

2. Being in a successful major motion picture.

3. Publishing successful books.

4. Being really fit.

5. Doing a voice in a cartoon.

6. Winning awards that I worked hard for and feel I at least somewhat deserve.

7. Getting progressively healthier and more like the ideal self I picture in my brain.

8. Being adored. Having people treat me like I'm a big deal.

9. Being altruistic. To me being able to hand people money would be really really fun.

10. Being listened to. Nothing is more life affirming than saying something and having

 someone sincerely hanging on to every word.

11. Playing a musical instrument really really well.

 For something to truly qualify as fun, I have to be aware of things that cancel each other out.

Here are some examples:

1. Drinking might be fun, but hangovers are not.

2. Shopping might be fun, but being in debt is not.

3. Eating cheesecake every day may be fun, but being fat is not.

4. Being a weekend warrior might be fun, but being too sore to move on Monday is not.

So balance must be achieved for something to be really fun.