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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   2830 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for January 26, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Has anyone else gone through a period in adult life where you realize you've kind of forgotten how to actually have fun?

I'm not talking about just zoning out to a video game, but joyous laugh-out-loud relaxing fun. For me I feel I've gotten so bogged down with job issues, health issues, and planning for the future that even when I carve out 'free time' I never fully relax and just have fun.

Anyone relate? Or have stories on how they got out of such a mode?

Indeed.

I have fairly specific tastes in fun, which tend to revolve around "adventure." The adventure doesn't have to be distant or expensive, but it does have to be surprising (I once had a nice little adventure getting stuck in a snowy ditch in an acquaintance's neighborhood). Once my husband and I got stranded in a distant state due to a polar vortex, and just kept driving around, finding a place to stay each nice. It was great fun.

This is much more difficult and expensive with young children.

America has a great many good qualities, but opportunities for socially interesting spontaneity (especially with children and no close relatives nearby!) are not among them, and my husband and I tend to experience that as grueling sameness.

We'll probably just continue to be fairly boring while the kids are little, I guess?

Man, I relate to this comment so hard. You probably already know this, but you likely still have the "spark" you had before the kids came along. My wife and I went on a trip a few years back without our kids to another city where we intentionally made no plans. When we got up on the first morning it was exciting (another rare feeling!), and I found myself having pure fun just wandering around, teasing, flirting, and buying frivolous snacks and taking silly pictures just like we did when dating. It was a huge relief to know that I hadn't somehow lost that capacity under the crushing burden of fatherhood and family management. It's a memory that keeps me going when I feel oppressed by that grueling sameness.

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