Yes, Fun can be hard.

Yes, Fun can be hard.

Hi Fun Friends, there I said it. 

You’re not alone seeing it that way.

“I don’t have time for fun.”
“I’m so busy and overloaded, I can’t even think about it.”
“I’m just tired—surviving the day is enough.”

Sound familiar?

It sounds familiar to me, as I hear it often from people around me, and at times in my own head.

As someone who lives and breathes the power of fun—and has a toolkit packed with tips, tricks, and playful habits—I still have to work hard to quiet the noise when it creeps in.

What the?!  Yes, yes, I know. 

Lately, I’ve been reflecting on why fun feels so hard sometimes.

Here are the top 3 culprits:

🔧 Productivity Culture

We live in a “do more, be more” world. If you’re not producing, you’re slacking—at least that’s what we’ve been taught. In this mindset, fun gets labeled as frivolous, instead of what it truly is: fuel.

🧠 Brain Wiring + Stress

Stress, or burnout can literally shrink your brain’s access to joy and spontaneity. When you’re in fight-or-flight mode, fun doesn’t feel safe—or even possible.

❓ People Forget What Their Fun Is

Ask someone what they do for fun, and you may get a lot of blank stares. Somewhere along the way, adulting shoved fun out the door—and people forget what makes them amped up.

But here’s the good news:

Fun is retrainable. Fun habits can be rebuilt.

Start small.

Start with a laugh.

Then add in some easy play like a board game or throwing the ball around.

Fun moments trigger your reward system and your brain takes note.

Your brain can reshape itself in response to new experiences, habits, and thoughts. For the science type folks, this is called neuroplasticity. This is a great article from Time magazine that takes a deeper dive on it.

Just know your brain wants you to remember all that rewarding fun and has your fun back!

Yours in living lively spirit, Treena x