The highway is like the shower; you never know what sorts of thoughts and realizations might come about. While driving back from a recent adventure, and thinking about how fun my life can be, it hit me: in the end, this is all I care about. Having fun. Just as the headline says, I can say with certainty that ultimately, all I care about is having fun.
At first glance, this probably comes off as short-sighted, selfish, privileged, or ignorant - or a combination of the above. Allow me to clarify, and explain that having fun is the ideal endgame of many pursuits and passions. We like to create this false reality where fun exists in contrast to goals, success, or charity when in many cases it is the driving motivator itself. Not only that, but it's not about me, it's about all of us.
Let's think about charity for a second, where we're helping people improve their conditions or the conditions of their surroundings. To me, I feel like the main reason we're doing this is to help provide others this same opportunity: to have fun. Let's ask ourselves this: how easy is it to have fun when you're falsely imprisoned, sick, or deprived of resources? Not very. I'm fortunate enough to go to work every day to help other people have fun, and at the end of the day, I feel as if our charitable contributions serve the same mindset. While "having fun" might not be the stated or immediate goal for providing somebody's education or treating their sickness, down the line, it is what we are ultimately trying to achieve. After all, health, education, resources, and opportunity are key ingredients in helping people achieve the most pleasurable potential out of their life,
Now, regarding goals, maturity, or professionalism, the concept is pretty similar. For some crazy reason, there is a stigma against saying, "I just want to have fun." Mainly, this is because we think it goes against the ideas of hard work and discipline. However, just like charity, they are actually symbiotic. Why do we work so hard for that job, diploma, pay raise, or discretionary income that we want? Simple: it affords us an opportunity to live that life we enjoy, and to help others do the same. It's like how we can all agree that money doesn't equal happiness, but there is still a correlation up to a certain point. Why? Because it can lower stress and provide for enjoyable opportunities. Pretty much every career ambition I've heard from somebody results in a life they enjoy, or the resources to live a life they enjoy. Who busts their butt in school or the workplace with the ultimate dream of living a not fun life? Nobody I've ever met, that's for sure.
Face it: as humans, we're not just any other animal. We have an inherent need for more than just basic survival in our lives, and that need is filled by pleasure. Having fun is not mutually exclusive to things such as financial success or helping others; in fact if anything it is the strongest driving force as to why we do it. From somebody who still works hard to meet career, educational, and charitable goals, I'll still be the first to say that at the end of the day, I do it all for one reason: so that myself and others can have fun in our lives.
