The eight irresistible princples of fun

Such a tempting title! A friend posted this link on her Facebook wall. I rarely follow links or watch videos posted on Facebook or Twitter unless they are accompanied by a compelling argument. Today, I'm glad I clicked this on link 'just because'.

We all know how to have fun and know who we are as individuals, right, just like we know what we want for ourselves? Wrong! I thought I was getting a pretty good handle on this during the past few years but now am having second (and third and fourth) thoughts.

Four years ago, I decided that my life needed some drastic changes. Making a career out of being a perfectionist and a workaholic only left two things: more work and no satisfaction. So I left a supposedly 'good' (ie stable but dead end) job in a career that was all I'd ever wanted to do and took a leap. It took quite some time but I let go of sooooo many self-imposed restrictions, as well as those imposed by others who had no right to impose them, and started doing things (or not doing things) just because I wanted to. I was the most 'selfish' I had ever been and life changed dramatically. I was genuinely happy for the first time in years!

A few months later, Café Chick was born. She had a lot of fun and allowed me to do many things that I had previously denied myself permission for. I tried new things, went out more, made lots of new friends and my lovely sweetie came along. I started my own 101 in 1001 project. Things were going great!

But Café Chick is only a part of me, not the whole me. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for the 'old' me and her stress-making, workaholic ways to creep back up and start strangling the me I was getting to know. I managed to keep things in check for a while and get back on track. However, I'm not sure I know who I really am now, let alone what I want. Don't get me wrong: I've got a pretty good idea of who Café Chick is as well as who my work persona is. I know how a lot of people around me see me. I can usually work out how they want me to be and act accordingly. I just don't know who I am.

The Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun is fantastic and just what I need at this moment in my life. I'm sure I am not alone in this. I need to have a declutter, both physically and mentally, work out who I am then be that person instead of feeling ashamed of her. I have an elaborate history of being walked over and subsequently passed over personally, professionally and in many of my relationships. I need to work out how to stop this and not feel bad about it. Maybe this is what 2011 really has in store for me? I certainly hope so - how very exciting that would be!