Catherine Price, author of The Power of Fun, created a framework with the acronym SPARK to help guide people to their “personal fun North Star.”
The first step is to make space for fun, by clearing mental and physical clutter. This might mean clearing out the garage to have room to roller skate, but it can also mean freeing up time, mental bandwidth, or emotional space bogged down in resentments.
Next is to pursue passions. “Hobbies and interests tend to result in relaxation or pleasant engagement,” Price says, but passions invigorate us. “They’re essentially interests or hobbies that have been turbocharged.” Set aside any embarrassment and purse a passion you’ve harbored. Who cares if the neighbors don’t like accordion music.
Consider how you can attract fun. Opportunities for playfulness, connection, and flow surround us all the time, she says. “The better we are at attracting and appreciating them, the more fun our lives will be.”
Think about the fun people you know. Are they spontaneous? Fearlessly silly? Vulnerable? Consider ways you can open up and let yourself play a little bigger to attract more fun.
Rebel — within reason. In the proper doses, writes Price, “irresponsibility and indulgence (and pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones) are very good for us.” She’s not recommending anything illegal; there are many ways to rebel, including playfully. If you’re raising teenagers, pretty much everything you do will break one of their rules — so wear those ’90s jeans proudly and let them wince. Consider it practice.
Keep at it. We need to continue to prioritize fun, she argues, so it doesn’t become lost in the sea of things competing for our attention and time. “And we need to commit to [making fun a priority], not just for the next day or the next week but for the rest of our lives.” In the end, we’ll be glad we did.
