100 Days of Wonder – #15
Yesterday I talked about fun. When I was at university in Leicester I would frequently visit my then girlfriend who was doing a degree in PE teaching in Chichester. The way my timetable fell I could often stay for a chunk during the week. I’d take work with me and while she was out in lectures and then playing cricket or rugby, I would wade through contract law cases and work out why, as a 19 year old, I should care about Administrative Law. I distinctly remember declining to join a game of rounders and not even joining the spectators sitting in the sun sipping something pink and alcoholic. Instead I opted for a book. My girlfriend’s comment was: Well you’re no fun. It was a theme that came up repeatedly and at the time I remember being defensive about it. I was fun. Of course I was fun. But was I?
I don’t know. I think it took me a long time to work out ‘fun’. I was bookish and serious and independent and ‘grown up’ as a kid. I continue to be fiercely independent but those moments of silliness and laughing so much that you (nearly -hm) pee yourself that I had always treated as rare and very private moments are now moments I embrace and I’m proud of. I no longer take myself or anything particularly seriously. Fun for me has never been about parties, big groups, playing sports or pranking each other which is I think what Rachel was referring to when she put me in the ‘not fun’ box. Fun for me has been about stories, about shared moments that touch the soul, about seeing others light up and mostly about seeing the ridiculousness of most things in life. Sometimes teaching and researching in law doesn’t lend itself to being fun. I bump up against inequality at best and atrocities at worst all the time in my work, some student stories a re heartbreaking and law is, after all a serious business… but finding your brand of silliness and fun seems to me to be crucial to making sure we look after ourselves when we’re doing work that can be emotional and hard. So if you think I’m mad as a hatter and a bit juvenile – you’d be right, I just don’t think that’s a bad thing.
100 Days of Wonder – #14
Fun. Why do we so often think of work and fun as 2 different things that never really come together? I’ve had a really busy work week with my teaching, teaching cover, a workshop in Worcester, meetings, head of school stuff and general administration plus an Open Day today. Looking at my calendar and the lack of gaps suggests anything but fun. I’m tired, sure but I had soooo much fun this week. I taught something I didn’t think I knew anything about or understood and I loved learning it, I had a really great discussion about Constitutions with our LLM students, I had references to and pictures of the Disney Castle, the Avengers and Figment in my keynote on Wednesday. Many of my meetings gave me chance to check in with wonderful humans and hear about, plan and reflect on exciting things to come. When we get caught up in the busy-ness of life, it seems to me to be even more important to stop and consciously look for the joy and fun in what we’re doing. Pause a minute, stare out into your life in wonder and I hope something makes you smile!
100 Days of Wonder – #8
I promised you yesterday I’d be back in the Happiest Place on Earth today but, for those Disney Nerds amongst you, you will know that I haven’t actually posted anything from there yet! The Happiest Place on Earth is Disneyland in California. So today’s picture is from the Disney California Adventure in Anaheim. It’s from November 2016 when the ride in the photo was called Mickey’s Fun Wheel (now Pixar Pal-A-Round). I quite like the photo but that’s not why I chose it. It makes me laugh because it is a reminder that sometimes I can be impulsive, not think things through, have a panic as things unfold but then just get on with it because there’s no choice. I don’t like ferris wheels, I don’t like heights, I get motion sick and did I mention I don’t like heights… well for some reason I decided, much to Kath’s surprise and bemusement, that on the 12th November 2016 I had to go on Mikey’s Fun Wheel. As the universe would have it, there was no queue to make me pause, think it through and make me change my mind. We were pretty much at the top when the reality of my decision hit me. WTF was I doing on a ferris wheel (there was much more swearing than that). I couldn’t do anything about it though so while swearing and breathing a little too fast, I settled in to admire the view. So even though I hated the ride and being up there, like high up there, in a moving thing… and have you read the horror stories about ferris wheels (neither have I but I bet they exist)… the view was fantastic, the laughter drifting up to us infectious, the holiday we were at the end of absolutely amazing, the company perfect. Even in really uncomfortable moments there is so much joy to be had, we just need to stop hyperventilating for long enough to see it. Would I go on it again – hell no. At leas that’s my answer sitting here on my sofa but once at Disney, anything can happen.
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