Make it a Priority: Carving Out Time for Fun

MAKING TIME AND SPACE FOR FUN

Annie says people can find fun right where they are. Sometiems it’s discovered by experimenting with new things; sometimes it involves digging into the past. In her podcasts, when she asks why something sounds fun, the answer often goes back to childhood memories, but usually stops with the memory. People don’t think that they have time for fun anymore. So, she encourages scheduling time for fun and making it a priority. 

She thinks summer, as kids go back to school, is a great time to start over and get into a new and fun rhythm. She claims that we make space for what makes us more healthy and that fun should be on that list. Ultimately, it will help to make people more at rest and more connected to God. One of her favorite quotes is by her therapist-friend Jim Cress, “The tools you use to survive are still in your toolbox. You just don’t use them anymore.” The same goes for fun.

CHASE THE FUN

Annie states, “Joy is the feeling and fun is the action. It’s like when you start a car. You have to turn the key. Fun is turning the key. And joy is the car moving forward…when you do the things that make you smile, that bring you pleasure, that help you feel peace, the outcome is a baseline of joy.” 

She has witnessed many people confusing joy and happiness. “They think that having joy means you must always appear upbeat and can never admit to being sad, mad, or down. But we know better, don’t we? While happiness may be fleeting or circumstational, joy is that deep down, unshakable sense that, no matter the circumsances we face, God is good.” 

Annie expounds, “What the combination of joy and fun builds in us is strength. It’s not the most logical or obvious conclusion people jump to when they think about fun, but it’s right there in the Bible. The joy of the Lord is our strength.” Moreover, in her opinion, fun paves the way for restoration, requires vulnerability, invites connection, helps people to remember, and tells people about eternity. She writes, “Sometimes when we’re having fun, we’re experiencing eternity. A taste of what will one day never end.” 

She challenges people to think about the last time they had an ‘I wish this would never end' experience and what made it feel that way. As well, she encourages others to not judge their own fun or someone else’s fun.

BEING AN AMATEUR IS OKAY

While the world may convey the message that making mistakes or handling things incorrectly is not okay, Annie thinks the opposite and encourages people to be an amateur and try new things. By definition, an amateur is a person who engages in a study, sport, or other activity for pleasure rather than for financial benefit or professional reasons, an athlete who has never competed for payment or for a monetary prize, a person inexperieced or unskilled in a particular activity, or a person who admires something; a devotee; fan.

Annie says she’s an amateur at everything but her job, and that’s preferable, as there’s power in being an amateur. She believes that people can be amateurs at their conversations and even create scripts to help them with their conversations.  As well, people can be amateurs at saying yes, like when she was given the opportunity to interview Jennifer Garner. At the time, she’d never interviewed someone so famous. She was nervous, but she said yes, and the interview was a success. Today, she and Jennifer are friends. “If we don’t say yes to the things that make us nervous, we steal the chance from ourselves to find the fun in them.” 

On the flipside, she encourages people to be amateurs at saying no, emphasizing that no is a complete sentence. She challenges people to try saying no and notice the space it opens up. She is also an advocate of people being amateurs at saying “I forgive you” and “I’m sorry.” Ultimately, Annie believes everybody needs to own up to their role in what’s happened and do their part to repair any damage, “Because the truth is, there isn’t much that’s more fun than having peace and freedom in your up-close relationships.”

FINDING THE NEXT RIGHT HOBBY

Hobbies are something “done regularly, in one’s leisure time, for pleasure.” Many ask Annie how long they should stick with something before they should call it a hobby and chase it or give it up. She usually suggests doing something four or five times. “If it’s a book club, read four books. Or if it’s trying new recipes, try four or five.” After one or two months, she says to ask oneself if the activity is bringing joy, and if it is, “you’ve found yourself a hobby.” 

She believes that finding and practicing hobbies is more like a river than a lake—there’s always movement and adjustments to be made. Annie likes to cross-stitch because it connects her with her grandma. Recently, she’s been cross-stitching all the cities she’s lived in. Some are harder than others, so she’s learned to make adjustments, and says that’s part of the fun. Furthermore, she says hobbies help people to learn about themselves. They help people to rest, heal, and grieve. “We don’t use our hobbies to stuff, numb, or escape tough things. Instead, we let them provide space and time for us to process, to feel, to lament, and to find moments of levity so we can keep moving forward. Hobbies are such powerful tools for healing.”

Annie believes that hobbies can create happy memories, but they can also help a person learn about God. She writes, “If it’s true that we are to love God and to love others as we love ourselves, then this pursuit of pleasurable activites to enjoy in our leisure time...it’s holy. Your hobbies grow your walk with God.” She says that a lot of times when she’s engaging in one of her quieter hobbies, she prays.

FALLING IN LOVE WITH SOME OF THE MORE DIFFICULT THINGS

Annie believes there’s power in fallng in love, whether it’s with someone or something, like learning things, growing things, being outside, reading, cooking, exercising, friends, or even a city. In a similar manner, she sees benefits that ultimately create fun in falling in love with some of the more difficult things in life, like one’s body, change, hard conversations, scars, one’s story, and one’s failures. “If there’s joy in letting ourselves be amateurs, then there’s freedom in letting ourselves fail.” She continues, “failure may not be the ONLY way to learn, but it is definitely a GREAT way to learn. It’s what rewires our brains to do something a different way, to take a new approach next time. It helps us to stay humble, reminding us that we don’t know everything.” 

Annie says that ultimately, humility keeps people curious, which has a way of creating the potential for more fun. She believes that curiosity is like a caterpillar. “Curiosity is hungry. When you feed it good things, it grows. It wants more, asks new questions, follows rabbit trails, leads to new wonderings and wanderings. As it grows, it changes and eventually transforms into something beautiful. It’s the process of learning.”