life = fun (or at least it should)...

My brother-in-law is one of the coolest people I know... by far. Here's why.

Something Jamie wrote in an email last week really, REALLY stuck with me. We were chatting about the concept of following your passion. He said this:
  

"People always ask me how long I will do coco loco and I always say until I don't enjoy it anymore. 
Life is too short to waste time."

Brilliant, and far more prophetic than I think he realized. Here's the thing, it's amazing to follow your passion, assuming you know what it is, but I think it can be much simpler than that.

It's okay to just have fun. In fact, when you stop having fun, you should really consider shaking things up. 

Many of us seem to have forgotten that it's okay to be joyous, that life is supposed to be enjoyed.

Now, the caveats:

Caveat one: define fun

• Fun doesn't have to mean quitting your job and partying away all of your money and sanity. That's not very sustainable.  

Case in point: I don't love my job - as far as jobs go, it's pretty great, but it's not my "passion". Some days it's not even all that fun BUT it affords me a life that's fun. Because of my job, I can travel to see my bro-in-law several times a year. It means I can go to yoga and out for dinner dates with great friends. Etc. My job is actually one of the reasons I can enjoy life as much as I do.


Caveat two: timelines matter

• Every day is not going to be fun. We're human, we wake up on the wrong side of the bed (even in paradise). We have bad days and heck, even bad weeks and bad months. You can't judge the fun quotient of your life on too short of a time period BUT you also can't put it off forever (i.e. "when I retire..."). Watch this awesome TED Talk. You'll know in your gut what timeline is most appropriate.

There's still part of me that thinks this is a selfish approach... but a wiser part knows that that fear is hogwash. Truth is, if more of us spent more time having fun and enjoying life, this planet (or at least the morning subway commute!) would be a far happier place.

Jamie's morning commute...

I end this really, really, really long post (sorry!) with this:  you don't always have to be going somewhere or pursuing some goal. It's okay (and great!) to just be and have fun doing it!

mxo

P.S. Thanks bro!  :)