If It's Not Fun, You Are Not Doing it Right

I just bumped into this quote by Bob Basco (I don't even know who Bob Basco is, really. But he sounds like my kind of guy!) and he said 'If it's not fun, you're not doing it right.'

FUNtastic, if you asked me.

I love holidays and traveling and having fun and living it up to the moment and throwing caution to the wind and believing in unicorns....you know, those types of things so, Telecoustic it really took me by surprise one time when I took a 'holiday' with the kids to a beach-side resort and then suffer the whole experience.

I wondered if there was going to be a tsunami. I wondered if a bike is going to ride over my kids' toes when we are crossing the street. I wondered if the hawkers had proper hygiene standards. I wondered if there was going to be an insane, suicide bomber who is going to march into the hotel lobby and bomb us all. I wondered if the cab we were climbing into is going to self destruct just as we are getting into it. You know...all those normal things.

It occurred to me that I wasn't having much fun.

You see, to take a vacation knowing that I love vacations and I love my kids and see things from such a negative perspective made me think. Why on earth am I having a vacation with the kids when I am having an absolute 'ball' in my head. If I was going to wonder about so many things, why can't I just save the money and do it at home? Why bring the kids out on a holiday when mom's in a knot?

A vacation is supposed to be fun. If it is not fun, then you are not doing it right.

The same principle applies to everyday life. For instance, your work. If it is not fun, then you are not doing it right. Laundry...if it is not fun, then you are not doing it right. Playing golf....if you are....well, you get what I am trying to get at.

The point is this...it all starts right up there in your gray matter. If you decide that you love putting the laundry up and enjoy it, you will. If you decide to enjoy walking around in the hot sun, chasing one ball, hitting it and repeat the process, then you will. If you love your boss (GASP!!) and your work, as impossible as it sounds, you will.

It all starts up there.

You know how we all hate Mondays? Right. We go to bed on Sunday night moaning and our friends are all groaning in unison about tomorrow being Monday and start of work week - is it any surprise that we tend to behave like Monday is an 8-hour sans anesthetic tooth extraction procedure?

The right mental attitude would be 'This is going to be FUN' and you will be surprised...you are going to start believing that it is. Curve balls and all.

Marsha Maung is a Malaysian-based freelance writer with two kids. She spends her time ferrying her kids around, watering her plants, writing web content, SEO stuff, ghostwriting books and also indulges in the occasional Facebook-ing. Visit her blog for more dirty details on the life and times of a mother, writer, designer, housekeeper, coffee-maker, poop-wiper, chef...and just about everything else under the sun.