Have You Had Your Fun Today?

I swear mom’s actually know stuff, especially when you’re a teenager. It’s like they have gone through it before or something 😉 A phrase my mom would always tell me when I was having a rough time, a bad day, a terrible moment, “Have you had your fun today?”

Being the know-it-all teenager that most of us are I’d roll my eyes thinking, “Ya, like that is going to help the situation. I mean what is having a little fun actually going to do for me? How would my mom know what I’m going through.”

Well news flash people – moms do know what they are talking about and they have been through it before. (I hope my daughter’s read this some day to when they are teenagers to come to the conclusion faster than I did!)

While I didn’t understand what the phrase “Have you had your fun today?” truly meant until recently, I realized my mom gave me wisdom beyond my years early in life. Now here I am in my mid-thirties with three kids, a husband who farms, a full-time job and one of the busiest schedules many people have probably seen. It seems like there is always something that is needed of me.

Laundry
Dishes
Kids
Husband
Work
Housework
Farm Chores
Gardening
Kid activities
Church

I mean my list could go on and on, but what I have come to realize it the phase doesn’t need to be taken so literally. It means “What have you done for you today?” Not for someone else, not to make something better or easier for someone else.

What is something that you have done truly for you? Did you take time to step away from absolutely everything and just be? A simple 2 minutes of quiet time could be all it is for the day in a busy schedule, but I’m here to tell you that makes a world of difference. Here are a few ideas that I have used to step away from everything just for me:

Go for a walk around the block
Actually, eat lunch away from my computer
Eat a cookie even if I’m trying to watch my weight
Buy myself a hot chocolate
Jump into the shower and just stand there for 2 minutes
Find an activity that is yours (I do handbell choir at my church)

After being so caught up in a previous stage in my life trying to do everything for everyone (work, the farm, my husband, my kids, my friends, church, etc) I was burnt out. I never took the time, even 2 minutes, to recharge. Everything and all my emotions built up. I was exhausted and honestly, probably not the best person to be around. And after having the rug pulled out from under me, opening my eyes that I had been putting a lot of energy into places that could immediately be taken away from me and I couldn’t get that time back.

So I encourage you to not learn via the school of hard knocks to take some time for yourself. Start today. Just find something even if it’s just 2 minutes a day to spend time focusing on you and only you. And to ensure you get that time, ask yourself “Have I had my fun today?”