“Have fun!” he said, without a trace of irony.
I’ve had baristas hand me a drink with such phrases as,
Here you go!
Enjoy!
Have a good day!
(Any you might add?)
However, it was not until I stood at the counter of a Starbucks in the C Terminal of the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport that a barista held out caffeinated concoction, grinned, and without knowing a thing about me or where I was headed, declared: “have fun!”
The two unexpected words had wedged momentarily between the blur of racing suitcases and traveling feet. They struck a wholly different tenor than the even-toned boarding gate announcements and customer service desk squabbling. And though they seemed comically misplaced… their eagerness caught me.
“Thank you” I smiled, nodded, and turned. Our plane was actively boarding, and he was onto his next drink.
And yet for all the miles I eventually traveled, that singular moment proved to be one of the most impressionable of the entire day.
Now its true… they are not two words that work well in every situation. And to the super-focused, goals-oriented, bottom-line folks, I get it. Such an invitation probably sounds nice for somebody else out there.
And yet, “play leads to plasticity, adaptability, and creativity…nothing fires up the brain like play.”1 What business, workplace, or individual doesn’t want that?!
At the same time, there’s no need to sell ‘have fun’ on the basis of it’s potential for productivity.
Recently, the staff I work alongside took a couple hours to do a cooking class together.
(site of said cooking class)
On the way over to this event I confess that I kept wondering about the ways that the experience might become a living metaphor for our team.
We’ll learn to ‘cook’ our work together even more fully!
We’ll see afresh how everybody has a vital gift to offer in the process!
Somehow, some way we will surely be better at our work because of this!
After 90 minutes of cooking together, you know what I (re)discovered?
We had a lot of fun. And that in and of itself made every single one of those moments alive with life.
Fun does not need a reason.
The fun itself was a wonderfully nourishing meal. A grounding meal, even.
A meal that reminded me how Delight-and-Fun are not add-ons to life when we finally reach the illusive moment when we have arrived wherever it is we are racing.
Delight-and-Fun really are everyday realities, and invitations to them arrive in a myriad of ways every single day through such things as…
blithesome baristas,
barely budding flowers,
and belly-laughing children.
(Photo by Gilberto Olimpio on Unsplash)
Amid…
all the places we are racing through,
all the caffeine and calories we inhale on-the-go,
all the miles we are traveling,
all the droning and squabbling we endure,
…what does it look like to receive the invitation to a truly nourishing meal: have fun?
Is it possible the invitation can be received in a few situations that don’t immediately make sense?
Is it possible to extend the invitation in a few situations that do not immediately make sense?
In what small way might we embrace the invitation today? (cue your eyes moving over toward the fishing rod or children’s toys or instrument or garden bed or restaurant gift certificate for a date night or…)
(Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash)
—
I’ve come to believe that barista was simply making sure I enjoyed my coffee with a well-rounded meal. Hopefully you can, too.
Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown.
Our purpose statement says we help individuals and teams increase awareness and modify behavior so the can play snd work well together. Play is how adults learn. Thanks for the reference snd the story
Fun is FUN!